JOE MCCANTA WINS GREY GOOSE DREAM BAR COMPETITION!
Joe was recently announced as the winner of the Grey Goose Dream Bar Competition. This was a very innovative competition sponsored by the folks at Grey Goose in which a brief is created on the PERFECT Bar and the winning brief (along with a matching cocktail) gets the bar built as well as to keep it! Joe is now in the process of designing the ULTIMATE fully-sustainably built Green House Bar--a bar on which all items used in the cocktail can be grown. If you would like to read his winning brief and cocktail recipe click here. Location and launch of the bar is to be announced soon so stay tuned for details of this exciting project and many thanks to Grey Goose as well as the genius Richard Vine who is helping consult for this exciting project.
click for details

HITTING THE SLOPES
Joe is heading to Vail, Colorado for the exciting Vail Mixology Summit sponsored by Grand Marnier and Navan Liqueur. He will be mixing and presenting along side some of the nation’s top mixologists as well as discussing new industry trends--if you're in the mood for some snow, pop in!

A NEW FAVOURITE THING?
We are pleased to announce that on January 29th, 2009 the venerable (nay, holy even!) Oprah Winfrey was celebrating her birthday with a PurSip Cocktail in hand! That’s right, the O wanted to ring in another year with the freshest cocktails on the planet and Joe was pleased to be a part. What cocktails, you might ask?? Well after learning her favourites Joe mixed up the following:

Moroccan Lemon drop
50 ml (2 oz) Apricot-Anise Organic Square One Vodka**
25 ml (1 oz) Agave Simple Syrup***
15 ml ( ½ - ¾ oz) Fresh Lemon Juice
1 thin slice of fresh ginger
OPT: Garnish with1 tablespoon Citrus Sugar*

If using the citrus sugar, take a lemon wedge and rub around the rim of a chilled martini glass. Lean the outside of the rim only against a plate of citrus sugar and rim the glass about 2 cm thick making sure that none of the sugar gets inside the glass. Combine Vodka, Ginger, Lemon and Simple Syrup in a shaker. Shake vigorously for a slow ten count and straining contents through a tea strainer into glass. Garnish with either an edible flower or a thin orange spiral & halved vodka-soaked apricot.

*2 parts fine sugar to one part lemon zest—dehydrate over night and blend to a very fine consistency in a Vitamix machine or Cuisinart
**Infuse a 75cl bottle of Organic Vodka with ½ kg of Sulfur-Free (brown) dried apricots and 3 Whole Anise Pods for 1-5 days. May infuse longer but dilute mixture to keep a balanced flavor.
***Agave Simple Syrup: Mix 1 part Agave Syrup with 2 Parts Water. Shake Well and refrigerate stored in a glass container.

For 10 cocktails:
300ml simple syrup
225ml Fresh Lemon Juice
½ cup Fresh Ginger 100ml
50 ml of mix to 60 ml Vodka and shake. Follow instructions above.

This builds off the standard flavours of the lemon drop with the addition of some delicious eastern spices and a slight natural sweetness from the Apricot infusion. Of course, no refined sugars are used to preserve the purity of the drink.

Himalayan Blossom
50 mls (2 oz) Goji-Orange Organic Utkins UK 5 Vodka*
10 mls (2 tsp) Cherry Heering Cherry Brandy
10 mls (2 tsp) Pomegranate Juice
10 mls (2 tsp) Briottett Kumquat Liqueur
20 mls (¾ oz) Fresh Blood Orange Juice
3 tarragon leaves

Shake all ingredients and tea strain into a martini glass. Garnish with cherries or goji berries and a flamed orange twist.

*Combine the peel of 1 orange with about 60 grams Goji berries and infuse a bottle of Organic Vodka (Utkins 5 or Square One) overnight

This is the PurSip take on the drink, using fresh pomegranate juice but mixing it with seasonal Blood Oranges and a hint of softness from Tarragon. Of course, the main focus of the drink is the Goji-Orange Vodka, with Goji’s replacing pomegranates as one of the world’s top super foods and creating a very innovative flavour.

BUBBLY WITH A BITE
Joe has recently teamed up with the creators of a very interesting new product Camitz Sparkling Vodka–an all-natural and fully-sparkling (80 proof) vodka just released out of Stockholm! The folks at Camitz are truly thinking out of the box and the fact that they use organic winter wheat and 1000+ year old protected water for their product makes it as PURE as it is dangerously POTABLE! Stop by Saf London to try the new cocktails or give it a go yourself with a couple PurSip recipes:

Orchard and Spices
50 mls Camitz
Juice of 1 Green Apple
10 mls Lemon
20 mls Rosemary-Kumquat Liqueur
teaspoon Ginger
Stir and top with a little Camitz on the rocks

Mistral
4 eighths of lime
4 cucumber wheels
25 mls Mint Syrup
25 mls Pear-Apple Juice
10-12 fresh tarragon leaves
Shake all contents and empty Caipirinha style into a Double Old Fashioned glass
Top with 50 mls Camitz, stir and serve

Dark Passions
4 Raspberries
1 Shiso Leaf
Juice of 1 Quarter Lime
20 mls Simple Syrup
20 mls Passion fruit
Shake and double strain into a martini glass
Top with Camitz

The Guilty Husband (Episode #2)
10 mls Creme de Violette
25 mls St. Germain Elderflower
3 dashes Bitter Truth Orange Flower Water
50 mls Camitz
Stir and strain into a martini glass.
Garnish with edible flower

The Heart Martini
1 Violet Leaf
3 Fresh Blackberries
10 mls Lemon Juice
10 mls Apricot Brandy
20 mls Chamomile Syrup
Shake and Double Strain
Top with Camitz and serve