Scarfes Bar At Rosewood London - Stories Told Through The art Of élevage -

My name is Martin and I'm Director of Bars for Rosewood London. We are here in Scar's Bar, which is our main bar here in the hotel, and it's named after the famous caricature, Gerald Scar. I've been working with whisky makers at No. 5 from the Lakes Distillery. Sherry lead is good for wort whisky. It gives a nice layer of the flavour, so using the lavash system, same like the cognac makers are using, how you can create the flavour profile that you're really looking for in your whisky. You've got this apple, red apples and chocolatey notes on the nose. You've got beautiful sweet notes, the chocolate coming through. It has almost a creamy taste, nice finish. Good length, a bit of spiciness in the back. Perfectly balanced, beautiful liquid. I think there's a lot of common things in between how we're developing our cocktails and how Lakes make their whiskies. We created this signature cocktail named No. 5 and it's a twist on old-fashioned. Using whisky maker reserve No. 5. Inspiration behind this cocktail is, we follow two rules in a bar. And the first rule is, never forget where you come from. And that actually goes to our first ingredients, which is the barley, which we roasted to get the chocolatey notes and using it as a syrup. So that's your sweetener. And barley, obviously, that's the main ingredient for making whisky. And the second rule is, don't forget where you are and how you get there. And that's where the Oloroso comes from. Because the whisky is aged in three different casks. Oloroso is the main one, and then Pedro Ximenez in the red wine cask. We add a bit of saltiness through the Japanese seaweed, nori. And a bit of acidity with the pear juice, which is American grape juice. And as a garnish, we're using dark Sardo chocolate, which we grated on the top of the ice block. When you have a first sip, these chocolate notes come straight away to you. And also, it will elevate all the flavors in it. And it's just beautiful, beautiful whisky. And it's just an amazing liquid to work with.