July 2012 Dear Friends of Broker’s Gin BROKER’S GIN NEWSLETTER HOT NEWS FROM NEW YORK - Broker’s Gin has just triumphed at the 2012 Ultimate Cocktail Challenge. This is the sister competition to the Ultimate Spirits Challenge, which Broker’s Gin won in 2010 with 97 points, a score higher than any other gin ever. At the Ultimate Cocktail Challenge, Broker’s Gin was judged to make the WORLD’S BEST DRY MARTINI and the WORLD’S BEST AVIATION, beating Tanqueray, Bombay Sapphire and an array of the world’s finest gins. Andy made a new friend at the beginning of May, in Chicago. He attended the International Wine, Beer and Spirits (IWBS) event, together with Kurt Boustead and Keri Eliason of Hood River Distillers and Allison Showalter of French | West | Vaughan (our US PR agency). Unbeknownst to any of them, a young lady called Patti Frank had entered a cocktail competition called Star of The Bar, held under the auspices of the IWBS. Her cocktail, the “Drunken Flower”, was based on Broker’s Gin. The judges included cocktail legends Tony Abou-Ganim (The Master Mixologist) and Dale DeGroff (King Cocktail). To cut a long story short, Patti (Andy’s new friend) won the competition, garnering a prize of $5,000. Well done, Patti!

You can see Patti in action at http://youtu.be/-DwQs9b92k0 . And here’s her winning cocktail: Drunken Flower

1½ oz Broker's Gin ¾ oz fresh pomegranate juice 1 oz St Germain elderflower liqueur Dash fresh squeezed lemon juice 1 oz simple syrup

Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker and shake with ice. Strain into a Collins glass filled with ice. Top off with Prosecco and garnish with a sprig of thyme. Andy and his cohorts manned a stand at the IWBS for two days. There was a huge amount of interest in Broker’s Gin from all over the USA and indeed from some foreign countries too. Andy also conducted several media interviews over the two day period. Above all, it was a lot of fun.

Allison, Andy and Keri manning the stand Keri and Andy at Whole Foods

Apart from the IWBS event, Andy engaged in several other activities organised by local distributor, Stoller Wholesale. These included consumer tastings at two prestigious Whole Foods grocery stores, several account calls and “meet & greet” events at some of Chicago’s top bars. That’s Andy, on the left, spreading the message at Union Sushi. Broker’s Gin sales in the Chicago area are growing rapidly. Many thanks to everyone at Stoller Wholesale for making it happen. Andy and Keri celebrated this success with a delicious apricot martini and lunch at Michael Jordan’s Steakhouse, where Broker’s is the house gin.

There were several visitors at the IWBS from New York state. Many of them were already customers of Elmira Distributing, who handle Broker’s Gin in upstate New York. Elmira have recently decorated one of their trucks with a Broker’s “Don’t Forget Your Hat” image. Nice! At the beginning of May, Martin had the pleasure of hosting Dave Kross and Mike Dalton of Elmira for a long weekend in London - they were the winners of a 2011 sales incentive scheme. Congratulations!

Meanwhile over on the other side of the country, in Oregon, they too have been creating new Broker’s Gin cocktails. The beautiful photo on the left, taken by Ariane Vitale, shows the “Clement’s Curse”, created by Mark MacMinn at the Portland bar, Kask. Many thanks to John Pazera of Hood River Distillers for bringing this cocktail to our attention. We have tried it over here in London and it tastes as good as it looks. Cheers!

Clement's Curse

1½ oz Broker's Gin ¼ oz Bénédictine ¾ oz Lillet Blanc 1 dash Regan's orange bitters

Build in a mixing glass, add ice and stir well. Pour into a cut glass goblet or other fine glassware. Express lemon zest over the top of the cocktail and garnish with a spiral of lemon peel. Over on the other side of the Atlantic, Martin has continued working hard in Germany.

Martin giving a presentation at Bonnie Bar in Munich Genuine gin & tonic weather at Kaefer

Martin recently spent a few days in the beautiful city of Munich, capital of Bavaria, in southern Germany. Munich is a long-established destination for tourists from all over the world and is probably best known for BMW cars, the Bayern Munich soccer team, and the annual Oktoberfest which attracts several million visitors. With the help of Steen Risom, Schlumberger’s sales manager for Munich, Martin hosted Broker’s Gin tastings at the famous Kaufhof, Karstadt and Kaefer stores. The tastings all went exceptionally well and several cases of Broker’s Gin were sold. Martin was taken by Steen to visit a number of premium hotels including the Vierjahreszeiten, Bayrischer Hof and Palace Hotel, all of which now offer Broker’s. Martin’s visit went so well that he has already booked a return visit for July. At this rate, he will soon be fluent in the challenging Bavarian dialect F and be driving a BMW. The prestigious Kaufhof store went to considerable lengths to give Broker’s a prominent display in their gin section, which can be seen in the photo on the left.

Andy spent the last two weeks of May clocking up American Airlines miles. He spent the first week in Texas with Chris Dains, HRD’s new Dallas-based sales manager. There, amongst other activities, they ran Broker’s Gin cocktail competitions in Dallas and Houston. Andy spent the second week in Detroit, working with the General Liquor Company team, the major event being a Broker’s Gin dinner at 24 Grille, a fabulous restaurant in the Westin Book Cadillac building. And between the two he made a long weekend side-trip to Barbados, where he ran yet another cocktail competition. He also took the opportunity to watch some of the Mount Gay regatta in which his old oil industry friend, Les Thomson, was competing. The yacht which Les was crewing, Legacy, won the regatta. A fine legacy. Well done, Les! Collision course? “Legacy” on the right

Andy with Louise Owens, owner Kyle Hilla, Dallas winner with Set-up at Hearsay Speakeasy, of the Windmill Lounge, Dallas “Sage It Ain’t So” Houston

The Dallas competition was held at the Windmill Lounge, the hub of mixology in that city. There were twelve competitors, a lot of spirit and creativity, and it was a great event. Top prize went to Kyle Hilla of Bolsa restaurant. Many thanks to the Windmill Lounge, the organisers, participants and fellow judges Sly Cosmopoulos of RNDC and Brian McCullough from The Standard Pour. Sage It Ain't So

2 strawberries ¾ oz St Germain 4-5 sage leaves 2 oz Broker's Gin ½ oz lemon juice 1 oz heavy cream ½ oz simple syrup 1 egg white 5-6 drops orange blossom water Topped with soda water

Muddle the strawberries and sage with lemon juice and simple syrup. Add the orange blossom water, St Germain, Broker's Gin, and heavy cream. Fill the glass with ice. Separate the egg white on top of the ice and shake vigorously for several minutes to create a good froth. Serve in a Collins glass with no ice. Top with soda water to extend the froth to the top of the glass. Garnish with a sage leaf.

Andy with fellow Houston judges Katherine Whaley, KHOU11 reporter, Forrest deSpain Jr, Houston winner and Michael Garfield, the “High Tech Texan” on 950 AM Radio with “Omaha Beach”

The Houston competition was held at Hearsay Speakeasy, the number one supporter of Broker’s Gin in the city. Again there was a great set of contestants, a great atmosphere, and a good time was had by all. Top prize went to Forrest deSpain Jr of The Marque. Many thanks to all the participants, judges, staff at Hearsay Speakeasy, and especially to Nick Babcock of RNDC for making it all happen. Omaha Beach

1¼ oz Broker’s Gin ¼ oz simple syrup ¼ oz yellow Chartreuse ½ oz Silver Oak Napa red wine 1 oz St Germain ¼ oz Aperol

Combine Broker’s Gin, yellow Chartreuse, St Germain and simple syrup in a Boston shaker. Shake with ice and strain into a champagne flute. Float Aperol. Add Silver Oak Napa. Garnish with a sprig of rosemary. From Houston Andy headed to the city of College Station where he conducted two Gin Masterclasses at the Twin Liquors store. Everyone nosed and tasted five different gins chosen to reflect a variety of ingredients and processes used in gin-making. Then it was south to Barbados where Andy was extremely well looked after by Allister Straker and Jayshree Kessaram of our importer and distributor, Stansfeld Scott. They are making great progress with Broker’s Gin; so much so that it is now the house gin in two-thirds of the island’s top restaurants! As well as making many account calls, Andy held an education session on Broker’s Gin for a large group of Bajan bartenders and then was one of the judges in a very colourful and skilfully choreographed cocktail competition.

Jamal Bowen, left, from the famous Sandy Lane resort, demonstrated to the group how to make five classic cocktails using Broker’s Gin. Then ten contestants each had to make two different cocktails against the clock. The event was very lively with a lot of joking and laughter, but what else would you expect with cocktails like these? Andy was delighted to discover that the cocktail competition had

been co-sponsored by Claytons Kola Tonic, a unique and flavourful locally-made mixer that goes very well with Broker’s Gin. A big thank you to everyone who made the event such a success.

David Barker (first prize), Allister Scott, Narissa Beckles (second prize), Andy, Cardinal Fields (third prize)

The ingredients in David Barker’s winning cocktails are:

Dark & Stormy Recreation Broke It Down

1½ oz Broker’s Gin 1½ oz Broker’s Gin ½ oz simple syrup 1 oz lychee juice ¼ oz Claytons Kola Tonic 3 dashes Angostura bitters ½ oz lime juice ¼ oz Stone’s ginger wine 2 oz ginger beer ½ oz strawberry puree ½ oz lime juice Andy’s final stop on this trip was Detroit, where he had a lot of success making new sales with General Liquor reps, and visiting and thanking existing customers. The highlight of the trip was a Broker’s Gin dinner at 24 Grille, organised by

Nicole Nassif. Chef Christian Borden prepared a superb seven course dinner, each course paired with an exquisite Broker’s Gin cocktail. There were 24 paying guests, the feedback from whom was universally excellent. Andy has offered to repeat the exercise.

Andy with Chef Christian Borden and Nicole Nassif

With best wishes

Martin Andy

Martin Dawson Andy Dawson Broker’s Gin Limited Broker’s Gin Limited

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Broker’s Gin is now available in the world famous Harrods store in Knightsbridge HOT OFF THE PRESS…HOT OFF THE PRESS…HOT OFF THE PRESS… HOT OFF THE PRESS