Unique Grey Goose cocktail catered for your personal taste buds

Boasting the title of ‘The World’s Best Tasting Vodka’, Grey Goose brought their unique ‘Taste by Appointment’ event to Gordon Ramsay’s Bread Street Kitchen on Tuesday 22^nd May. The three-hour occasion comprised invaluable insights from three industry experts, unique tasting experiments, delectable locally sourced canapés and of course, exquisite cocktails, all within the lively atmosphere and authentic warehouse style interior of the St Pauls based restaurant.

Upon arrival, we were greeted by refreshing Grey Goose Le Fizz cocktails, which were continually topped up throughout the night by the personable and always-on hand staff. Joe McCanta, the brand ambassador for Grey Goose, opened with a brief history of the brand. He pointed out what sets them apart from the extensive competition that brag about how many times their vodka’s have been distilled, is their sleek simplicity. The drink begins with fine wheat and spring water ingredients from France, which is then filtered through Grand Champagne limestone to create incomparable quality.

Joining Joe a little later were some of the country’s most influential tastemakers, Stuart Giles; Managing Director of Gordon Ramsay Holdings and former Executive Chef at The Savoy Grill and Boxwood Café, and Josh Baxter; Head bartender at Bread Street Kitchen. The three of them discussed their personal experiences with taste, their likes and their dislikes, from family traditions to top chef secrets. All united in dedicating their time to help guests discover their unique preferences and heighten their taste appreciation.

Next came the taste experiments, on everybody’s tables laid a tray with a selection of pipettes, sprays and jars labelled in conjunction with ‘Your Taste Profile’ cards. The cards were to be filled out for each experiment and to be scored and totalled up to find out if you reached ‘Supertaster’ level. Much to my dismay, I scored the distinct average. The experiments explored how taste is the most complex of our senses, often relying heavily upon our other senses, whilst also being affected by genetics and previous experience.

Following the experiments and a couple of Le Fizz cocktails later, we journeyed upstairs to the main part of the restaurant. The raw bar, wood burning oven, open kitchen and impressively large wine cupboards made for the perfect setting to get hands on in a cocktail master class. Various mixologists from Grey Goose visited each table individually with their taste trollies type minibars. Everybody was then able to test out measurements and ingredients to create a unique flavour to their own appreciation.

The evening closed with a one to one appointment with Grey Goose’s Joe McCanta. The renowned taste expert created a bespoke cocktail at that very moment based on earlier preferences from the experiments and taste testing trollies. I was warned beforehand by another mixologist to ‘think outside the box’, and here’s the final result. It was beautiful, the rosemary made for the perfect personalised touch. Many thanks to Grey Goose for having us; it was a truly revelatory experience.