SNAPP AND TAMARILLO COCKTAIL

How did I end up with cans and cans of Snapp Apple? Long story…

It was a crazy week. I’ve had my share of ups and downs. By Friday evening I was tired and worn out. What I had really envisioned for my Friday night in, was to make myself a great meal, have a glass of wine and watch ‘mixology’ or ‘the 100’ under a warm blanket. I’d say ‘sit by the fire’ in a bid to sound more poetic or moving but I have no fireplace YET. When I got to my house, it was like the walls were closing in on me. I need some excitement. Some release. A simple sleepover with my pals or hanging out for an hour or two would do. We all have that friend on speed dial. That friend who you call when things go south or when you have a crisis like mine. Cate picked up the phone and said that she was bored too. And because misery loves company, I smiled when I heard that and we met in order to machinate a random plan.

Ever since my campus hey days, my desire to go for a night out in town has diminished considerably. I think we shook it all back then. Now I’m all for a good conversation, a good drink and great company. Call it growing up or growing old. We decided to go to a place in Thika Road so that we would be home early. Plus we didn’t feel the need to go to a place where kids would be yelling TGIF and listening to whatever music is in this season. We went to Saape Lounge to meet some friends then headed to 'the local' for lack of a better catchphrase which I won’t mention because their service was terrible. By 11pm we decided to head home and since we had some unopened drinks we asked for the waiter to subtract that from the bill. He went on and on about how their system does not have that provision. He told us that the only way was to exchange our drinks for canned Snapp Apple. 

I went home with cans of Snapp and I didn’t know what to do with them. On Saturday afternoon, I had a friend over and I decided to make us Snapp Cocktails. This was interesting because Snapp is already an apple cocktail and it was like making a cocktail out of a cocktail. I intended to make a fruity drink. The drink had to be potent enough to be a sipping drink and that’s where the vodka came in. The tree tomato fruit (Tamarillo was great because it added a lot of flavor, colour, plus it is nutritious). We called it the blood fruit when we were younger because of its characteristic deep red juice.

Ingredients
2oz Snapp Apple
I part Maya Green Apple Vodka
The juice of 6-8 tamarillos (With or without seeds)
Apple wedges for garnish

Procedure
Use the back of a spoon to gently push the tamarillo puree through a large fine sieve into a container Set aside. Put the first three ingredients in a mixing glass, stir with a bar spoon. Fill a glass with ice (It’s up to you whether you want to use a highball, a Collins glass, etc.). Pour the mixture on the ice. Garnish with an apple wedge, straws etc.

 

It was a splendid drink for an afternoon. It was very fruity and fresh. I skipped the ice because it was a chilly day. You can get Maya Vodka in Chandarana Supermarket and Tamarillo at the fruit vendors. I got the inspiration for this recipe here.

Enjoy.

MY TWO DAYS WITH BAR PROJECT KENYA

The Barproject is a company in Kenya that deals with Bartender Training, Bar Catering events and Consultancy. This company has a team of experts that focuses on responding to the customer needs while offering different services.

I met these two amazing guys, Alex Dalesandro and Sabino, who are the founders of Bar Project. 

   

They are currently based in Malindi, Kenya but they plan to set up shop in Nairobi. They will be having mixology and bar-tending classes but they can only accommodate 7 people per time. They began the project 6 months ago and they plan to tap into the Kenyan market. I was very impressed by their cocktail sets since I have been looking for one since for ever. It is very hard to get the set in Kenya. The only thing that the supermarkets stock are cocktail shakers. Well they had three types of sets. They had the complete set with everything from the ice bucket, jiggers, bar-spoons. They also had another set that had the basics. This included the strainer, bar-spoon, peeler, shaker, jiggers and chopping board among others. This went for a price of  Kshs 7000 (negotiable). The other set did not have the kitchenware( chopping board and peeler)because you can get these things readily in the supermarket. I didn’t get the exact price for that set but its roughly Kshs 5-6000.

MIXOLOGY SESSION
 Day 1 was very amazing. People thronged the Bar Projects work station where Sabino was showing his prowess in flaring and making cocktails.  They made everyone some vodka Cocktails. They used different flavours of Smirnoff. They also had different fruit mixers that characterized the different cocktails that they made. This was a very interactive session and I'm glad that Kenya is getting sensitized on different ways to take drinks. Here are a few photos to showcase Bar Project Kenya at work.

 Bar Project with lovely fans

 So this is how you hold a shaker.

 And this is how you pose for a photo.

Sabino making a cocktail.
 I really had fun. For more info Check them out here.