UK: Cocktail Ingredients and Equipment

[Mr Flibble]

I've put UK in the title of this because it's talking about brand name ingrediants not generic, and the production methods of the same brands often vary from country to country. Just because something is vegan in the US it doesn't mean it is in the UK etc.

I thought I'd start a thread so that those of us who enjoy making and drinking cocktails can share info. Before I go any further I'd like to point out that I'm well aware of outdated lists floating around the web of vegan spirits and utterly useless/misleading bits of info like the vegan society's "most spirits are vegan" animal free shopper quote. Anyone posting links to such sites will be made to stand in the corner for not reading the first post

The thread is designed to serve these purposes:

1) Share which ingrediants we know to be vegan, where to buy them and what price to expect to pay per litre
2) Request info about where to source vegan ingrediants
3) Share info about equipment, books etc
4) Share recipes and info about making them (although for classic cocktails you're better off just buying a book off amazon)

The only rule is that if you post that a spirit or ingrediant is vegan you state why you think this is so and whether it's a hunch or something verfified.

[RedWellies]

Great thread, Mr Flibble!
OK, I must go to bed, but just quickly...I just bought a book cheap (£4.99) from one of the supermarkets. It's called "Cocktails" (!!). Published by Hamlyn and has "over 200 recipes".

Mount Gay rums are vegan, had conformation email from them.


I'll just add on that Britvic cannot guarantee that their juices are vegan (their suppliers reserve the right to filter using gelatine).
Tesco and Del Monte juices are vegan and the fruit has not been waxed before juicing.

[Mr Flibble]

Spirits I know to be vegan, as they are labelled as such on the bottles, all generic, average quality and from co-op's own brand:

London Dry Gin
White Rum (Fair trade) - (Edit 11/7/06 - doesn't seem to be available anymore, replaced by non fair trade that is not labelled vegan)
Scotch Whisky
Brandy

Estimated guesses, and why:

Cointreau - The ingrediants are listed on the back. The 35cl bottles ingrediants differ from the 70cl - I guess they are made in different places. Both are made from alcohol, sugar, vegetables and orange. The alcohol is extracted from sugar beet. It's listed on several restuarant menus as vegan, although no info can be found from the manufacturer. One site claims it is not kosher in the US, however it's unclear as to why or whether the interpriatation of Kosher status for the list requires jewish workers to be involved with the production of or not. Averages at £10 per 35cl, £17 per 70cl, and I've used about 60cl so far this year
Tia Maria - It's been sold at vegan festivals and I've heard from several vegans that it's OK. Average £10 per bottle
Smirnoff Red - Smirnoff was the first distillery in the world to use charcoal for filtering. Several people have written to them and been told no animal products are used in production. Unfortunately the UK website is shite, aimed at piss heads and 14 year olds.

Requests:

I'd like to know where I can get: Cherry Brandy/Kirsh, Apricot Brandy, Tequilla, Sherry, Port, Shnapps (inc Peach), Chartreuse, Absinthe/Pastis, Advocaat, Creme de cacoa, Amaretto, Sloe Gin, Bitters (various), Vermouth, Marsala, Madeira, Grenadine

I think i need a bigger cupboard

Fruit:

Sainsburys do not seem to sell (in the Midlands) either lemons or limes that are stated as waxed or unwaxed. Morrisons do.

Book:

Title: The Complete Guide to Cocktails and Drinks
ISBN: 1843099373
Publisher: Hermes House
Author: Stuart Walton
Year: 2003
List Price: Unknown
Price Paid: £2
Comment: An excellent book which is well recomended, but not available through amazon. It's approx 250 a4 sized full colour pages long, has tonnes of recipes, pictures, information about spirits, history, equipment information etc. I paid £2(!) for it, but I've bought books for £15 before which arn't as good. It isn't a vegan book, but most of the info is relavent to us - it isn't a book obsessed with the current UK binge drinking faishon of creamy alcopops like vodka mudshake etc.

Equipment:

Martini Glasses - I've just acquired some LSA Jazz glasses (priced at £35 for 4). I shopped for approximately a year for some decent martini glasses and I think I've found them. To some they arn't worth the money, to me they are . They're handmade, not dishwasher safe, a good shine, size and weight. They hold approximately 120ml, so a double measure of an average cocktail recipe or 6 standard 25ml shots.

Non standard/Vegan Recipes:

Hot Chocolate: a few cubes of 70% cocoa chocolate warmed in a mug of soya milk till almost boiling and blended with triple sec to taste. Topped with squirty vegan cream and chocolate shavings. Works well with Green and Blacks, So Good, Cointreau, Soyatoo and Cocoa Tree shavings

[Cherry]

We want your cocktail recipes Mr F

I like fruity cocktails on the whole but I'm quite fond of Kahlua milkshake
(Kahlua is vegan according to several vegan sites). It's like Baileys if you make it strong enough.

I prefer to get my fruit juices from the coop as it says on them if they're from waxed fruit or not. I can always find unwaxed lemons in Morrisons , but can never get limes Does your Morrisons have limes? It's very annoying when you want to make margueritas.

[Mr Flibble]

Mount Gay rums are vegan, had conformation email from them.

Cool, can you say what date this was and cut'n'paste the email you got from them if you still have a copy?

[VeganJohn]

I used to love a tequila sunrise :>

Also like Manhattans and Long Island Ice Tea.

[RedWellies]

Here's the mail from Mount Gay. Received this month...

We did receive your message on our web site and we thank y=

ou for your interest in Mount Gay Rums. We do not use dairy or anima=

l products as ingredients in the manufacture of our rums. All of the filtra=

tion media for rum production eg. cellulose filters, activated carbon, are =

of plant origin.

[Mr Flibble]

Mail from Bols 6/4/06

We thank you for your interest in Bols products.It is hard to give you the right answer because we understand that there areseveral kinds of vegans with different opinions.But we are pleased to let you know that almost all Bols products aresuitable for vegans. Only Bols Advocaat and Ponche Cuba are containing eggsor milk/cream, which is related to animals.Kind regards,Lucas Bols Brand Group

--

Interestingly I didn't state vegan in my mail to them, i posed it as an allergy information request. Think they need further poking though for a more verbose responce, they haven't said anything about refining methods. Would be good thou, I need something blue

[Pob]

Perhaps your reputation precedes you

The organic lemons and limes in Sainsburys are unwaxed (as are all the organic citrus fruits they sell). Obviously they may not stock them in every branch.

Tesco, as I recall, sell non-organic unwaxed lemons - not sure about limes.

[Cherry]

Thanks Rob : ) I'm glad not *everybody* is ignoring my limes request

Mr F.

[RedWellies]

I'm sure I've seen unwaxed limes in most supermarkets but I haven't bought any since last summer.

I have re-checked with Captain Morgan that their rums are suitable for vegans. They are, so...

Take a glass, fill 1/3rd with Mount Gay rum, just over 1/3rd with orange juice and pineapple juice, lots of ice, then carefully pour in Captain Morgan's spiced rum to top up the glass. Very nice!!

[Cherry]

I'm sure I've seen unwaxed limes in most supermarkets but I haven't bought any since last summer.

Penrith isn't exactly great for supermarkets. There's a coop, a morrisons and a something else...somerfield I think. Morrisons do unwaxed lemons in packs, but not limes, and coop strangely don't seem to have unwaxed either.

I get around though and do visit sainsbury's now and then.

I think that your recipe may have to be tried Red Wellies

[saucyvegan]

Great thread, Mr Flibble!
OK, I must go to bed, but just quickly...I just bought a book cheap (£4.99) from one of the supermarkets. It's called "Cocktails" (!!). Published by Hamlyn and has "over 200 recipes".

Mount Gay rums are vegan, had conformation email from them.


I'll just add on that Britvic cannot guarantee that their juices are vegan (their suppliers reserve the right to filter using gelatine).
Tesco and Del Monte juices are vegan and the fruit has not been waxed before juicing.

Ooh ive got that book Redders!! Yes great thread mr flibble. Im having a party soon and want posh cocktails to go with all my lovely vegan food!!

[Mr Flibble]

I have re-checked with Captain Morgan that their rums are suitable for vegans. They are, so...

I just bought a bottle of spiced. I had a tiny swig in the office carpark to see what it is like - hopefully no one saw me! Tis nice, quite vanilla'ry. Can you paste the email with date if you still have a copy?

[RedWellies]

Glad you like the rum, I love it! Don't you trust me when I say it's vegan? I'm very careful, honest!

From: "Lucas, Kevin" <Kevin.Lucas@diageo.com>
Date: 3 April 2006 15:56:39 BDT
Subject: Captain Morgan


I am glad to inform you that Captain Morgan does not contain any animal products, also none are used in the production process. Enjoy!!

Thanks,

Kevin Lucas
Consumer Relations - Supply Quality
DIAGEO North America

[Mr Flibble]

cool

I emailed diageo yesterday, no reply yet. May hafta email Mr Lucas direct if i've heard nothing by the end of next week

[Mr Flibble]

I just bought a bottle of spiced.

We've managed to get through half the bottle in under a week

Take a glass, fill 1/3rd with Mount Gay rum, just over 1/3rd with orange juice and pineapple juice, lots of ice, then carefully pour in Captain Morgan's spiced rum to top up the glass. Very nice!!

Do you mean 1/3rd white rum, 1/3rd spiced rum and 1/3rd a mixture of orange and pineapple --or-- 1/3rd white rum, 1/3rd orange, 1/3rd pineapple and a splash of spiced? We tried the first and it was very pleasent, although somewhat strong! A large glass each lasted the whole evening and i was falling asleep on the sofa by 11pm

Tonight's experiment of 75g melted chocolate, 600ml fresh so good, several dollups of vanilla icecream and 100ml spiced rum blended, chilled and topped with squirty cream was rather successful

[RedWellies]

I meant 1/3 Mount Gay DARK rum (much nicer!), 1/3 mixed pineapple and orange, then ice, then the spiced rum. If you add the spiced carefully after the ice, it kind of floats on the top so you drink the rest through it....mmmm...

Yes, sorry, should have mentioned I love my rum and like it strong! Glad you liked the spiced...I had a laugh at the image of you in the car park swigging from the bottle like a drunk!!

[Wildflower]

4) Share recipes and info about making them (although for classic cocktails you're better off just buying a book off amazon)

I know I am not in the UK, but your letter verifies that all Captain Morgan's products (in the UK at least) are vegan. Do you have Captain Morgan's Parrot Bay Coconut Rum?

If so, this is my favorite fruity drink recipe -

1/3 Captain Morgan Parrot Bay Coconut Rum
1/3 Pinapple juice
1/3 Orange juice

Pour over ice and enjoy!

[Mr Flibble]

Mail from dekuyper 28/04/06

Can you please tell me from which of our products you want to know this, because we do have a very big product-range.
It's not possible for us to investigate this for all our products.

--

So, any suggestions? Now I have a contact address that seems to work i'm going to reply with the main things they sell in the UK, such as tripple sec.

[RedWellies]

Can you ask about cherry brandy and cassis?

[twinkle]

Vintage Roots do a lot of vegan stuff, as well as it all being organic. I have had vintage port from there a couple of times and it's always been very nice.

[Mr Flibble]

Lurgashall make a selection of wine, mead and liquors using traditional english methods and flavours. You can get their stuff in the gourmet shops in London/the South, mail order and at country/re-enactment fayres. I used to live a few miles from their base, have bought their wine several times in London and via mail order. None of the mead is vegan as it's made with honey, but the rest with a few exceptions is good. I first checked several years ago, the last time i contacted them about their wine and liqour (not mead) nothing had changed. As it's been a year now I'm going to contact them again and perhaps buy some spirits, but here's last year's email:

Mail from www.lurgashall.co.uk - 12/04/05

All of our products are suitable for vegans with the exception of Apple Wine and Elderflower Wine.

--

I've just seen on their site that the ginger is listed as containing honey now. Good example of why out of date info really shouldn't be trusted as current

[Wildflower]

Mail from dekuyper 28/04/06

Can you please tell me from which of our products you want to know this, because we do have a very big product-range.
It's not possible for us to investigate this for all our products.

--

So, any suggestions? Now I have a contact address that seems to work i'm going to reply with the main things they sell in the UK, such as tripple sec.

Heee hee, I can't stay out of this alcohol thread. Ask about the peach schnapps, and then mix half and half with oj for a Fuzzy Navel.

[Mr Flibble]

Luxardo make various italian liquors available in the UK including limoncello and amaretto. I'm gonna get a couple of bottles tonight

Mail from Luxardo - 22/05/06

There are no animal products used in our liqueurs, and the alcohol is filtered with carton filters.
I hope that this answer you questions,
Regards,
Matteo Luxardo

* Update: I surveyed 4 large supermarkets this evening - Morrisons, Sainsburys, Tesco and Asda (yes, i feel dirty) - Sambuca is available in all, Limoncello in Sainsburys - all about a tenner for 50cl *

[Mr Flibble]

Lurgashall are now labelling wines vegetarian (I got a bottle of silver birch last weekend), but no vegan labelling yet.

I found a bottle of Luxardo Amaretto in a polish deli in Coventry for about 15 pounds. Was quite dusty, think it'd been there a while! I got a bottle of Luxardo Kirsh 'de cuisine' from Soho Wine Supplies off Tottenham Court Road in London. It says it's designed for cooking but it tastes pretty good neat to me! They also sold another Luxardo Cherry Liquor too.

I've yet to find grenadine made by a company who will state its vegan, although I found that supermarkets are now selling Pomegranate & Raspberry cordial. The ingrediants are roughly the same as grenadine although I'm not sure of the consistancy. I've got a bottle and will experiment with it - it may need more sugar adding and to be reduced.

[RedWellies]

I've got a bottle and will experiment with it .

Haha, I'm sure you will!

[Mr Flibble]

The grenadinesque stuff isn't quite the same, so I'm still on the hunt! Campari definately has crushed beatles in it, so I'm as sceptical as ever over red licquors / cocktail ingredients that are not confirmed vegan.

On a happy note I found luxardo Passione Ambra (cinnamon sambuca) in the foodhall of house of fraser in Birmingham for about &#163;18. I'm sipping some now as it happens

[Mr Flibble]

Is grand marnier vegan? I've written to the makers and to the company who owns the makers and had no replies. I found in a vegan book a recipe that includes it, so I tracked down the email address of the author and emailed her asking whether she had any evidence to say it is vegan. That was almost 4 weeks ago and I've had no reply from her.

[RedWellies]

I don't know if it is. I've just looked on their webpage and it looks promising as they said stuff like "slowly matured". But if they haven't replied to you then that doesn't seem as promising.

[Mr Flibble]

Mail from Remy Martin - 04/08/06

We are pleased to confirm to you that Remy Martin Cognacs are all suitable for vegans as we do not use any ingredients derived from animals in our production process.

[Mr Flibble]

I am now the proud owner of a bottle of Remy VSOP (with about a quarter missing since saturday)

Mail from Jack Daniels - 09/08/06

We appreciate your interest in Jack Daniel's. We use no animal by-products when making our Tennessee Whiskey, so it's perfectly OK for vegans to enjoy. Furthermore, we use only brand new white oak barrels when making our whiskey.

--

I asked about the barrels because some whiskey (particularly scotch) is matured in barrels that have been used for sherry. They didn't reply to my question about charcoal, however from wikipedia:

The charcoal used by Jack Daniel's is created on site, from stacks of two by two inch sugar maple timbers called ricks. They are primed with 140 proof Jack Daniel's, and then ignited under massive hoods that help prevent sparks. Once they have reached the char state, the ricks are extinguished, and then run through a grinder to reduce them to bean size pellets. They are then packed into a 10 foot vat, where they are used to filter impurities from the 140 proof whiskey (bourbon is aged at no more than 125 proof).

[Mr Flibble]

Interestingly I didn't state vegan in my mail to them, i posed it as an allergy information request. Think they need further poking though for a more verbose responce, they haven't said anything about refining methods. Would be good thou, I need something blue

I contacted bols again and got almost the same reply! I've emailed them a further time trying to spell it out as simply as possible. Anyone else fancy contacting them? They're famous obviously for Bols Blue, but the make a tonne of liquours available now (Cherry Brandy, Amaretto, Tripple Sec etc).

[Mr Flibble]

Mail from Diageo Brand (Gordon's Gin) - 08/08/06

Gordons Gin is suitable for vegans.

--

Obviously not a very verbose response, I've mailed back asking clarification as to what they think the word vegan means and whether it covers all gordon's products. Interestingly this rather out of date page that doesn't quote sources says that it isn't vegan. I'm trying to track down the author so we can compare notes.

[Cherry]

Can I hijack your cocktail thread with a single malt whisky?

Dear Cherry

With regard to your recent enquiry which was received on the Highland Park Website. No animal products are used in the production of HPK spirit and any fining of sherry would be done prior to bottling i.e. after emptying from our casks so there should be no concern in drinking Highland Park if you are a vegan.

Hope the above answers your question.

Result!

[Mr Flibble]

Ace - it's always nice when people post in my threads other than me

[Mr Flibble]

Mail from Absolut - 15/08/06

Please find below a list of all of the ABSOLUT products, produced by us and where we can stand for quality on the market today. All of these are vegan, thus they do not contain any animal products and no such products are used in the production process. The ingredients for ABSOLUT VODKA are grain (wheat), enzymes, yeast and water from our own well. For the flavored versions, only natural ingredients from berries, fruits and spices are used.

List of our products:

ABSOLUT VODKA (launched 1979)
ABSOLUT PEPPAR (1986)
ABSOLUT CITRON (1988)
ABSOLUT KURANT (1992)
ABSOLUT MANDRIN (1999)
ABSOLUT VANILIA (2003)
ABSOLUT RASPBERRI (2004)
ABSOLUT APEACH (2005)
ABSOLUT RUBY RED(2006)
and ABSOLUT VODKA 50%

We also have a super-premium vodka, Level. (www.levelvodka.com)

Furthermore we have a product called ABSOLUT CUT which is a Swedish spirits tonic with a fresh sparkling citrus taste that combines lime, orange and mandarin. You may find more information on www.absolutcut.com

[Mr Flibble]

NOT CONFIRMED VEGAN:

Incase anyone thinks I'm insane and wonders why I'm bothering emailing all these poeple when I only ever get positive replies, there's quite a few companies who will either not reply my mail or won't reply with any meaningful information (i.e. cut'n'pasted replies). Whether this is because their products aren't vegan and they don't wish to give themselves bad press or not is anyone's guess. An incomplete list includes:

Jim Beam Brands - Knob Creek, Jim Beam, Aftershock, Sourz etc
Midori
Hennesey
Campari (stated as containing cochineal on some websites)
Martini
Diageo - Archers, Bells, Gordens etc
Cinzano
Martell

Anyone heard from any of these?

[Gorilla]

i love Southern Comfort, haven't bought any new bottles since going vegan but i might contact them myself so that i can hopefully buy more!

i was always under the impression that Campari isn't vegan but i don't know for sure.

[Mr Flibble]

I had a reply from southern comfort today about 6 weeks after contacting them last:

Mail from Southern Comfort - 19th September 2006

Thanks for taking the time to write to Southern Comfort. I am very sorry it has taken me a while to get back to you.

I am happy to tell you that Southern Comfort does not contain any animal products or by-products. Nor are any animal products used in the production of Southern Comfort.

Thanks once again for writing and for your interest in Southern Comfort.

[Mr Flibble]

"no" and "neither" make a double negetive......are they trying to say animal products are used?

Mail from Noilly Prat - 27 October 2006

Thanks for your interest in our Noilly Prat.

I am very pleased to confirm that there is no animal product used neither
in the production nor in the fining of Noilly Prat.

Kind regards,
Noilly Prat Webmaster

[fiamma]

Regarding the reply you got from Highland Park, Cherry, they say:

"there should be no concern in drinking Highland Park if you are a vegan."

That should worries me - it's not the same as will, is it? Drink our whisky and hope for the best? It gives me the impression they're not sure themselves! Or am I just being pedantic?

[RedWellies]

Here's a couple of Mr F's lovely cocktails...

[veganlinda]

More favorite recipes please I have been making a variation on a mr flibble recipe with Kahlua, rum, soya milk and (chocolate) icecream addictively for the last year but I think it is time to try something new.....

[scarlett]

Does anyone know of any vegan-safe:

Chocolate Liqueur
Violet Liqueur
Cherry Liqueur
Anything fairly exotic !!

(save me having to email around, yes, I am very lazy )

Thanks

[Mr Flibble]

There's a chocolate liqueur available that I can't seem to see online at the moment. I find it a little thin and it's expensive; prefer kahlua.

Do you specifically want cherry liqueur rather than kirsh or maraschino? If the latter then both are available made by luxardo. There's confirmation of their veganness in an email i posted to this forum. Their "kirsh de cuisine" isn't very good neat (it's pretty low quality, as with most de cuisines), but is ok mixed.

Edit: I read on a site the other day that the luxardo maraschino recipe contains honey, despite being told by luxardo directly twice that there are no animal products. To be safe I'd avoid it.

[Elahiya]

ooohhhh great thread!!!! good to know what is vegan, what not ans how much it costs. i love cocktails.... an i´m doing a lot on my own LOL

i am currently at work with a vegan cocktail blog. i just started, so there´s not that much s far, but if you like to check out sme recipes....

http://ankescocktails.blogspot.com/

[scarlett]

Thanks for the info Mr F




I wish I could find out if the Lejay-Lagoute violet liqueur was vegan or not ! Their website is under construction and there is no email address
The search for violets continues .....

[Mr Flibble]

contact@lejay-lagoute.fr ?

[Rakey]

Oh thank god Luxardo sambuca is vegan
I tried mailing Jim Bean for info on apple sourz but no response.

Tried global brands for info on VK & Corkys (odviously strawberries & cream, cream egg, chocolate orange & white chocolate aren't as they contain milk)