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Swig takes over The Remedy to showcase Caperitif
Online wine merchant Swig is set to take over Fitzrovia wine bar The Remedy to showcase Adi Badenhorst’s uniquely South African take on vermouth – Caperitif.
Adi Badenhorst will be at The Remedy wine bar on July 6 to present the Caperitif vermouth he co-created with Danish mixologist Lars Erik Lyndgaard Schmidt (Photo: AA Badenhorst)
A recreation of a lost South African vermouth recipe from the 1930s, Caperitif is made using Chenin Blanc and Muscat, fortified and then aromatised with a variety of native Western Cape botanicals.
Once a staple of the thriving early 20th-century London cocktail scene, Caperitif disappeared without trace around 1940. The drink has been created by Badenhorst together with Danish mixologist Lars Erik Lyndgaard Schmidt.
Caperitif featured in around 70 classic recipes in cocktail books from the 1930s including The Savoy Cocktail Book by Harry Craddock, The Official Mixer’s Manual by Patrick Gavin Duffy and The Bartender’s Bible by Gary Regan.
Then around 1940 the company behind Caperitif vanished, along with the precious recipe.
More than 75 years on, Caperitif has been reincarnated thanks to the inquisitiveness of Lyndgaard Schmidt and a maverick South African winemaker Badenhorst.
“Caperitif is a raider of the lost cocktail cabinet from 1930s bar scene in London,” Lyndgaard Schmidt explained.
“After the bank failures in 1929, American bartenders choose to travel to London after prohibition occurred in the States.
“The 1930s was a unique period for drinking and a lot of the cocktail recipes we drink today were created at that time.
“Among the famous ones was Harry Craddock, R de Fleury and Patrick Gavin Duffy. They were authors to cocktailbooks that included Caperitif in their recipes.
“We brought the Caperitif back to tell these stories from the past and enjoy their great recipes.
“For us Caperitif represent a local revolution of honest winemaking in the Swartland, creativity from the mixology world today. The taste is unique because it contains local botanicals/fynbos that are only found in the region of Western Cape.
Vermouth is enjoying a revival in cities such as London and New York. The drink has long been popular in Barcelona, with bars like Cal Pep, Bodega 1900, Quimet & Quimet, Bormuth and La Vermuteria del Tano associated with it.
In New York vermouth is a speciality at Amor y Amargo, Employees Only, 510 Hudson Street and the Experimental Cocktail Club.
In London, vermouth was championed early on by Mele e Pere in Soho, while it is also a popular serve at nearby Tony Conigliaro’s Bar Termini, Nightjar in Old Street and Raw Duck in Hackney.
Badenhorst and Lyndgaard Schmidt will be at The Remedy wine bar in London’s Fitzrovia on July 6 to present Caperitif to trade professionals and consumers. The bar will be open to trade only from 3pm to 6pm, and will then be open to the public.
As well as showcasing Caperitif, Badenhorst will also be presenting a range of his limited-release AA Badenhorst Family wines: AA Badenhorst John Strikes Again NV,AA Badenhorst Palamino 2015,AA Badenhorst Brak-Kuil Barbarossa 2015 andAA Badenhorst Ramnasgras Cinsault 2015.
Lyndgaard Schmidt has also created three special Caperitif cocktails which will be served at The Remedy on July 6 – the Jabberwock, Brighter London and Barney Barnato. The recipes for these cocktails can be found below:
Jabberwock: Caperitif, Brighton Gin, fino Sherry
Brighter London: Caperitif, Calvados, orange juice, lemon juice, dash of Absinthe
Barney Barnato: Caperitif, brandy, Cointreau, dash of Angostura bitters
AA Badenhorst John Strikes Again NV
AA Badenhorst Palamino 2015
AA Badenhorst Brak-Kuil Barbarossa 2015
AA Badenhorst Ramnasgras Cinsault 2015
Event details: Caperitif at The Remedy, 124 Cleveland St, London W1T 6PQ, Wednesday 6th July, 3pm-6pm (exclusively trade) and beyond till late.