This cocktail celebrates the artistry of Japanese drinks and the past of Campbeltown’s whisky distilleries.
45 ml Springbank 10 Jahre Single Malt 20 ml Cherry Heering 10 ml Chartreuse Verte
Preparation: Stirred, sprinkle with lemon zest.
As Mike Aikman told us, the drink needs to be stirred longer than, for example, a Manhattan Cocktail or a Rob Roy, because the Cherry Heering and the Chartreuse are quite viscous and you therefore need a stronger dilution.[7]
Alternatively and currently preferred by us:
45 ml Glen Scotia 15 years 20 ml Boudier Guignolet de Dijon 10 ml Chartreuse Verte
Preparation: 3 ice cubes, stirred for 25 seconds (75 times), sprinkle with lemon zest.
The Campbeltown Cocktail was created by Mike Aikman, who opened the Bramble Bar with Jason Scott in Edinburgh in 2006. [1][2][3][4][5] We got to know and love the drink there during our Edinburgh holiday in 2013.
Mike Aikman has told us:
„It was inspired by 2 trips I took fairly close together in 2009/2010. The first was to Campbeltown and the second was to Japan. From Japan I took the simplicity of some of their cocktails and was determined to come up with a classic style of drink using only 3 ingredients (a challenge in itself). From Campbeltown I was saddened by an area that was such a bustling hub of whisky making in the past and how quiet it was when I visited. It was almost haunted by its own past. So I wanted to come up with a drink using a whisky from Campbeltown to celebrate the area and its heritage and the amazing liquid that comes from there. Many experiments later I finally came to what is now the Campbeltown Cocktail. It had been on the menu at Bramble since 2010.
I used Cherry Herring as it is my favourite Cherry liqueur, giving sweetness, richness and depth. The Chartreuse brings herbaceousness and almost acts as a buttering agent as well.
The name was easy as it was a deliberate attempt to put Campbeltown on the map at a time when it was struggling! (I think it is faring better these days!)“ [7]
The rich past and the present emptiness that Mike refers to is shown by the fact that currently only the distilleries Springbank, Glen Scotia and since 2004 Glengyle produce whisky in Campbeltown. Glen Scotia has been on the verge of going out of business many times. There were just under 30 distilleries in 1825, but due to the Great Depression, many distilleries closed abruptly in the 1930s, leaving only three distilleries, and finally only two distilleries before the reopening of Glengyle. [6][8][9][10]
But as we discovered, there is another dimension to Mike’s explanation. When Mike explained that he had been inspired to make this drink by Japanese bar culture and we saw that he had chosen a cherry liqueur as an ingredient, we immediately had to think of the Japanese cherry blossom festival. Hanami, “blossom viewing”, is the Japanese tradition of celebrating the beauty of cherry trees in blossom every spring with the so-called Cherry Blossom Festival. The Japanese are particularly interested in the aspects of beauty and transience: without bearing fruit, the tree lives, so to speak, only for the few days of blossoming per year, when its beauty is outstanding. After a longer maturing and only a short time of blossoming, the blossom falls at the moment of complete beauty. [11] This cherry blossom, called sakura, is one of the most important symbols of Japanese culture and stands for beauty, awakening and transience. [12] Closely connected to this is “mono no aware”, the “heartbreak of things”. This is understood to mean the feeling of sadness that is caused by the transience of things and yet resigns oneself to it. As compassion for all things and their inevitable end, “mono no aware” is an aesthetic principle that primarily describes a feeling, a mood. [13] For the scholar Motoori Norinaga, born in 1730, “mono no aware” is also the motivation for poetry, because man begins to write poetry when he “can no longer bear mono no aware”. [13][14]
The use of the cherry liqueur in the Campbeltown cocktail thus refers us to the aspects of beauty and transience. On his trip to Campbeltown, Mike was gripped by a feeling of sadness, as the former whisky distilleries were a thing of the past, and yet one has to come to terms with that. Out of this feeling of “mono no aware” he then began not to write poetry, but to be creative as well – by creating the Campbeltown Cocktail. But the aspect of awakening is also included, because the situation in Campbeltown has improved in the meantime.
https://www.thedrinkshop.com/cocktail/1253/campbeltown-cocktail. Campbeltown Cocktail. 45 ml Springbank 10 Year Old Whisky; 15 ml Cherry Heering; 10ml Green Chartreuse. Garnish: Lemon Twist (Discarded). Stir all ingredients over ice for 1 minute (needs quite a lot of dilution).
2010https://www.esquire.com/uk/food-drink/news/a1824/top-five-warm-winter-cocktails/. Campbeltown Cocktail. 45 ml Springbank 10 Year Old Whisky; 20 ml Cherry Heering; 10 ml Green Chartreuse. Add all ingredients into mixing glass and fill with ice. Stir all ingredients for approximately one minute. Strain into a cocktail glass and garnish with a lemon twist.
2012 World’s Best Cocktails. Seite 181. Campbeltown Cocktail. 40 ml Springbank 10 Year Old Whisky, 4 tsp Cherry Heering, 2 tsp Green Chartreuse, lemon zest.
2013 Bramble Bar, Edinburgh, Juni 2013. Campbelltown Cocktail. 40 ml Springbank 10 Year Old Whisky, 20 ml Cherry Heering, 10 ml Green Chartreuse. Mit einer Zitronenzeste abspritzen.
2019mitgeteilt von Mike Aikman. [7] Campbelltown Cocktail. 45 ml Springbank 10 Year Old Whisky, 20 ml Cherry Heering, 10 ml Green Chartreuse. Needs more stirring than “normal” too as both Heering and Chartreuse are viscous so need to get more dilution than Manhattan/Rob Roy for example. Express the oils and then discard the lemon zest.
45 ml Springbank 10 Jahre Single Malt
20 ml Cherry Heering
10 ml Chartreuse Verte
Preparation: Stirred, sprinkle with lemon zest.
As Mike Aikman told us, the drink needs to be stirred longer than, for example, a Manhattan Cocktail or a Rob Roy, because the Cherry Heering and the Chartreuse are quite viscous and you therefore need a stronger dilution. [7]
Alternatively and currently preferred by us:
45 ml Glen Scotia 15 years
20 ml Boudier Guignolet de Dijon
10 ml Chartreuse Verte
Preparation: 3 ice cubes, stirred for 25 seconds (75 times), sprinkle with lemon zest.
The Campbeltown Cocktail was created by Mike Aikman, who opened the Bramble Bar with Jason Scott in Edinburgh in 2006. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] We got to know and love the drink there during our Edinburgh holiday in 2013.
Mike Aikman has told us:
„It was inspired by 2 trips I took fairly close together in 2009/2010. The first was to Campbeltown and the second was to Japan. From Japan I took the simplicity of some of their cocktails and was determined to come up with a classic style of drink using only 3 ingredients (a challenge in itself). From Campbeltown I was saddened by an area that was such a bustling hub of whisky making in the past and how quiet it was when I visited. It was almost haunted by its own past. So I wanted to come up with a drink using a whisky from Campbeltown to celebrate the area and its heritage and the amazing liquid that comes from there. Many experiments later I finally came to what is now the Campbeltown Cocktail. It had been on the menu at Bramble since 2010.
I used Cherry Herring as it is my favourite Cherry liqueur, giving sweetness, richness and depth. The Chartreuse brings herbaceousness and almost acts as a buttering agent as well.
The name was easy as it was a deliberate attempt to put Campbeltown on the map at a time when it was struggling! (I think it is faring better these days!)“ [7]
The rich past and the present emptiness that Mike refers to is shown by the fact that currently only the distilleries Springbank, Glen Scotia and since 2004 Glengyle produce whisky in Campbeltown. Glen Scotia has been on the verge of going out of business many times. There were just under 30 distilleries in 1825, but due to the Great Depression, many distilleries closed abruptly in the 1930s, leaving only three distilleries, and finally only two distilleries before the reopening of Glengyle. [6] [8] [9] [10]
But as we discovered, there is another dimension to Mike’s explanation. When Mike explained that he had been inspired to make this drink by Japanese bar culture and we saw that he had chosen a cherry liqueur as an ingredient, we immediately had to think of the Japanese cherry blossom festival. Hanami, “blossom viewing”, is the Japanese tradition of celebrating the beauty of cherry trees in blossom every spring with the so-called Cherry Blossom Festival. The Japanese are particularly interested in the aspects of beauty and transience: without bearing fruit, the tree lives, so to speak, only for the few days of blossoming per year, when its beauty is outstanding. After a longer maturing and only a short time of blossoming, the blossom falls at the moment of complete beauty. [11] This cherry blossom, called sakura, is one of the most important symbols of Japanese culture and stands for beauty, awakening and transience. [12] Closely connected to this is “mono no aware”, the “heartbreak of things”. This is understood to mean the feeling of sadness that is caused by the transience of things and yet resigns oneself to it. As compassion for all things and their inevitable end, “mono no aware” is an aesthetic principle that primarily describes a feeling, a mood. [13] For the scholar Motoori Norinaga, born in 1730, “mono no aware” is also the motivation for poetry, because man begins to write poetry when he “can no longer bear mono no aware”. [13] [14]
The use of the cherry liqueur in the Campbeltown cocktail thus refers us to the aspects of beauty and transience. On his trip to Campbeltown, Mike was gripped by a feeling of sadness, as the former whisky distilleries were a thing of the past, and yet one has to come to terms with that. Out of this feeling of “mono no aware” he then began not to write poetry, but to be creative as well – by creating the Campbeltown Cocktail. But the aspect of awakening is also included, because the situation in Campbeltown has improved in the meantime.
Sources
Recipes
https://www.thedrinkshop.com/cocktail/1253/campbeltown-cocktail. Campbeltown Cocktail. 45 ml Springbank 10 Year Old Whisky; 15 ml Cherry Heering; 10ml Green Chartreuse. Garnish: Lemon Twist (Discarded). Stir all ingredients over ice for 1 minute (needs quite a lot of dilution).
2010 https://www.esquire.com/uk/food-drink/news/a1824/top-five-warm-winter-cocktails/. Campbeltown Cocktail. 45 ml Springbank 10 Year Old Whisky; 20 ml Cherry Heering; 10 ml Green Chartreuse. Add all ingredients into mixing glass and fill with ice. Stir all ingredients for approximately one minute. Strain into a cocktail glass and garnish with a lemon twist.
2012 World’s Best Cocktails. Seite 181. Campbeltown Cocktail. 40 ml Springbank 10 Year Old Whisky, 4 tsp Cherry Heering, 2 tsp Green Chartreuse, lemon zest.
2013 Bramble Bar, Edinburgh, Juni 2013. Campbelltown Cocktail. 40 ml Springbank 10 Year Old Whisky, 20 ml Cherry Heering, 10 ml Green Chartreuse. Mit einer Zitronenzeste abspritzen.
2019 mitgeteilt von Mike Aikman. [7] Campbelltown Cocktail. 45 ml Springbank 10 Year Old Whisky, 20 ml Cherry Heering, 10 ml Green Chartreuse. Needs more stirring than “normal” too as both Heering and Chartreuse are viscous so need to get more dilution than Manhattan/Rob Roy for example. Express the oils and then discard the lemon zest.
explicit capitulum
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