Christos’ Blog

Hello and welcome to my first Penderyn blog! Let me introduce myself: I’m Christos Kiriakidis, and I’ve collaborated with Penderyn to create their new range of cocktails. Having learned my trade in Greece, I developed my skills as a barman within the UK and I’m excited and inspired by working alongside Penderyn to develop some fantastic new drinks. My passion comes from a career spent in the industry – I got my first taste of bartending as a 16-year-old in Greece, and since then have worked in some of the most prestigious venues in the UK.

On my blog I’ll be talking about Penderyn’s current batch of exciting cocktails and featuring new recipes, techniques and potential ideas for the future. The 25 cocktails we have published so far are a refreshing blend of Penderyn’s other products – not just their famous whisky. They contain the unique flavours of Brecon Gin, Brecon Vodka and Merlyn Cream Liqueur.

Cocktails and bartending are my passion and with this blog I hope I can let you into my world – feel free to comment and give me feedback on what you think – it’s good to know your opinions.

Cheers/iechyd da!

On 02 June 2010 Christos said:

Hi Karen and thank you for your question. Bitters came along in 1800s and it was one of the biggest developments and changes in mixed drinks. Bitters is an alcoholic beverage that contains, herbs, spices, teas, roots, peels etc all steeped in alcohol. You can use an over-proof rum or neutral alcohol. A simple way of making this is placing everything in a jar covered in alcohol and keep shaking everyday for 6-7 weeks. Another method is to infuse everything separately (each botanical) and then blend everything together. From the very old angostura bitters, now you can get different flavours - from whisky aged barrel bitters to rhubarb, celery, chocolate, cherry, grapefruit etc. I hope this answer your question. Christos

On 26 April 2010 Karen Davies said:

Hi Christos

Firstly, many thanks for a very entertaining and informative evening last Wednesday at the distillery. I have previously heard of angostura bitters but I was surprised that you could also get rhubarb bitters and chocolate bitters! What exactly are bitters and how many types of bitters are there?