When it comes to brands, Escot is used to working with Giffard for classic flavours such as hazelnut, vanilla and gomme. He also like Les Moulins de Valdone for its orgeat syrup and mentions Monin’s flavours. “But no one has the ultimate range. Monin has good flavours, Giffard too, and you can also find bad products with artisanal ranges,” he finishes.
Across the Channel one London bar may have discovered the best of both worlds. The Steam & Rye near London’s Liverpool Street is a Great Gatsby-esque venue, with top barman Andy Mill behind the stick. Mill was a finalist in Diageo’s 2012 World Class comp.
James Coston from Monin says: “Andy Mill and his team are doing some really inventive things with Monin syrups. They’re actually combining certain syrups with other ingredients to create entirely new flavours and textures for their cocktail recipes.
“For example, they mix our Monin Coconut and Caramel syrups with popcorn, then put it through a blender to create caramel popcorn-flavoured syrup.
“They also mix our Monin Caramel syrup with marshmallow extract to create an amazing marshmallow syrup. This sort of experimentation is really exciting, and it’s very encouraging to see our products being used in such a creative way.”
We’ll let Poppins have the last say: “Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, in a most delightful way.” Cheers, Mary.
