… we will remember him.
It was last Summer that I conjured my last creation, in the form of a rum based cocktail to mark the occassion of Jimmy Anderson’s 500th test wicket. That was a Summer of rum, the West Indies were in town and while the weather wasn’t all that great the cricket sparkled.
This year we’ve seen a real Summer of soring temperatures and, while the batting exploits have seldom been scorching, we’ve been treated to an enthralling series between England and India. Bowlers have been in the ascendancy all series with low scoring matches producing tense cricket and eventually seeing England closing on, what seemed at times, an unlikely 4-1 winning margin.
But the focus now is on one man only, an undoubted great of the modern game, Alistair Nathan Cook. Son of Essex and England, our all time record run accumulator is calling it a day after a seemingly never ending run of test matches and scoring that it’s difficult to imagine we’ll see the like of again.
Calm, modest, utterly dedicated to his craft, he’s the antithesis of the other end of the cricket spectrum with the booming power, noise and glamour of the shorter versions of the game with its guns for hire.
I suppose being an Essex boy myself there’s a tinge of extra melancholy seeing Cook say goodbye but at the same time he’s clearly much loved throughout the game judging by the reception he’s received since announcing his international retirement. Just about universal respect, in fact, save for the nasty revisionist bile from a disgraced ex newspaper editor and professional attention seeker who felt that “We Need to Talk About Kevin”!
And there we link into those fine people – authors and readers – at the Guardian’s over by over coverage who’ve been exchanging cricket based movie title ideas all weekend.
And for them, as well as Alistair Cook, here’s a little creation to mark the occasion then.
I wanted something Eastern to mark this Indian Summer but wanted also to avoid the hackneyed gin frenzy and the links to days of the raj. So I headed even further East to the land of the rising sun to mark this very emotional setting of the sun.
Sake is a clever little creation and deserves some wider exposure. In fact I read recently that it’s starting to attract a lot of focus in the “spirit world” both to be drunk neat or mixed in cocktails. It’s not as strong as many other spirits so sits somewhere between wine and a clear spirit like gin. And it has a wide range of styles, from creamy to bright and citrusy, largely depending on the extent to which the rice used in its fermentation is “polished” removing levels of starch.
For this celebratory mix I’ve chosen Isake Classic, a premium sake developed at Tatsuuma-Honke, considered one of the finest sake producers in Japan. It’s light and bright enough to be good for pairing with food but also as a cocktail ingredient. Here I’m combining it with a little Yuzu juice, a dry vermouth and a little simple syrup to round off the citrus edge. Shaken over ice and served very cold but short and simple.
A drop of something red, here I’ve used Raspberry and Basil syrup but Grenadine will do, for effect gives us …
“The Setting Son”
(I’m reliably informed that in Japanese the word “son” has connotations of “something lost”)
