Here's a very special cocktail created by Masterchef winner, Irini Tzortzoglou. Irini lives in the culinary Cumbrian village of Cartmel, where you'll find Michelin stars, Sticky Toffee Pudding, award-winning cheeses and brewery, the medieval Cartmel Priory and more. Since winning Masterchef in 2019, Irini has been busy with so many projects and also found time to become an Olive Oil Sommelier and publish her beautiful cookbook, Under The Olive Tree: Recipes from my Greek Kitchen.

Irini developed this cocktail for a culinary flight in a luxury hotel in Corfu. Kumquats are a natural partner for citrus so our Fancy Frolic Gin (with its three types of lime) is a perfect partner.

Durrells Corfiot Sling

5ml Green Olive Brine
20ml Fairtrade Kumquat Liqueur
10ml Cointreau
60ml Shed 1 Fancy Frolic Gin
10ml simple syrup (1:1 sugar/water)

Serve with:
2 drops of a high phenolic Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 whole or half a kumquat on a stick (substitute with half a slice of orange)

Put a glass in the freezer for 10 minutes.

In a shaker, mix everything with 3 cubes of ice, shake, strain into the cold glass and add two drops of Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

Relax and enjoy with a good book!

We were playing with a creamy cocktail idea that would go with our *Fancy Frolic Gin and Amarula came to mind. Being a liqueur made with fruit we knew it would complement the ingredients  in our Fancy Frolic Gin.
Once we created the cocktail we needed a name. So, we handed that job over to our social media followers and were inundated with suggestions! In the end we chose Sarah's Gingerula. In return we sent her enough ingredients to make 4 servings of Gingerula, plus some other Shed 1 Gin goodies!

Shed 1 GINGERULA Cocktail

50ml Shed 1 Fancy Frolic Gin
25ml Amarula
**25ml Ginger Sugar Syrup, plus extra for the glass rim
Crushed chocolate
Ice

Dip the rim of a glass in some sugar syrup and then into crushed chocolate. Put the glass in the fridge.
Add the Gin, Amarula & Ginger Sugar Syrup into a cocktail shaker, or any suitable container with a lid.
Add some ice and shake, shake, shake for about 20 seconds.
Strain into the chilled glass and enjoy.

Enjoy!

*Fancy Frolic Gin: 3 types of lime, strawberry and a little ginger for heat. Great Taste Award.

**Sugar syrup is made with 1:3 water and sugar, heated until the sugar dissolves. You can add all sorts of flavours and use it for cocktails or drizzling over pancakes, ice cream...and anything else you fancy! 

Angela & Debs established Create Escape in 2018, located on the edge of The Lake District and Yorkshire Dales National Parks. You can take join of their cookery courses in their beautiful farmhouse kitchen and relax in the delightful gardens. Accommodation is available at the farmhouse (but you need to book early). We were chatting to them about our recipe page and they came up with some inspiring ideas. Here's the first of four we will be posting.

Wonderfully fruity and using yogurt rather than cream, this tastes like a healthy pudding – with Gin!

Blueberry, Mango & Gin Fool
Serves 2

                                                                                                         Ingredients  
100g Blueberries, washed or frozen defrosted
2 tbsp Golden icing sugar
1 tsp Cornflour mixed with 1tsp Water
120g Good quality, thick Greek yogurt
50g Ripe mango, cubed
1 tbsp Shed 1 Fancy Frolic Gin
Greek basil leaves (can use mint, shredded) to decorate

Method
Put the blueberries into a small pan with the icing sugar and heat gently.
Press some of the blueberries gently with a wooden spoon or spatula to release some juice.
Add in the cornflour and heat until thickened.
Put the Greek yogurt into a mixing bowl and gently mix the blueberries through it, making sure some yogurt remains white.
Divide between 2 serving glasses, bowls or ramekins.
Make an indentation in the top of each with a teaspoon.
Put the mango into a small bowl with the gin and leave to steep for 10 mins.
Carefully place the mango into the indentation in the top of each fool.
Decorate with Greek basil leaves or mint and serve.

Enjoy!

Our good friends and suppliers of high quality, ethically-sourced coffee, Penningtons are based just a few miles from The Old Calf Shed, in Kendal. Not only are they coffee roasters but Tea Merchants, too. When you come and enjoy our Afternoon G&Tea you can choose from a selection of their loose leaf tea, served in vintage teapots.

We asked Gina to create something special with our Fancy Frolic Gin and the resulting Blue Lady Mar-tea-ni is just delicious!

Blue Lady Mar-tea-ni

A twist on the good old-fashioned favourite.
The grapefruit notes in Penningtons' Blue Lady Tea gives a delicious citrus twist and suits the three types of Lime in Shed 1’s Fancy Frolic Gin.

Ingredients – Serves 2
50ml Shed 1 Fancy Frolic Gin
Ice
2 teaspoons Penningtons' Blue Lady Loose Leaf Tea
Piece of orange zest

Method
Add the Blue Lady Tea to a cocktail shaker.
Pour the gin over and stir with a long handled spoon for about 45secs.
Add ice and shake until cold.
Pour through a (tea) strainer
Serve with a twist of orange zest.

You can order coffee and tea directly from Penningtons for national delivery. Plus, they have a Coffee & Tea Club which gives you priority to their Speciality Coffees, best Loose Leaf Teas and Seasonal Offers.

When you join an experience at The Old Calf Shed we also offer Tea & Coffee. Our supplier is the award-winning, family run Penningtons Coffee Roasters and Tea Merchants, based just up the road in Kendal. Gina is also a great amateur mixologist and when we asked her to create a couple of cocktails she was up for the challenge. As you can see, Dave was also more than willing to be head taste-tester!

ESPRESSO MARTINI
Calling all gin fans! (We know there are A LOT of you!) Shed 1 and Penningtons have reinvented the Espresso Martini, replacing the vodka with gin and we think it’s the best ever.

Ingredients – serves 2

50ml of Cuckold’s Revenge
50ml Coffee Liqueur. Gina used Mr Black Cold Brew Coffee Liqueur
60 ml Penningtons Espresso
Ice

To decorate
Coffee Beans
Gold Dust

Method
Put the Cuckold’s Revenge Gin, Coffee Liqueur and Penningtons Espresso into a shaker.
Add ice and shake until cold.
Pour through a strainer into a martini glass.
Lightly shake the gold dust over the top
Float 3 Coffee Beans on top.

Enjoy!

You can order coffee and tea directly from Penningtons for national delivery. Plus, they have a Coffee & Tea Club which gives you priority to their Speciality Coffees, best Loose Leaf Teas and Seasonal Offers.

"Pancake Day, or Shrove Tuesday, is the traditional feast day before the start of Lent on Ash Wednesday. Lent – the 40 days leading up to Easter – was traditionally a time of fasting and on Shrove Tuesday, Anglo-Saxon Christians went to confession and were “shriven” (absolved from their sins)." Taken from Pancake Day by Ellen Castelow

So, if you're going to fast for 40 days you really need to enjoy your last feast! We love the traditionally simple serving of pancakes with lemon and sugar, but sometimes more is more with all sorts of fruits and sauces! To that end, each year we make a rich Gin Syrup for drizzling; well, more like pouring all over! Simple to make and you can add other ingredients to zhuzh it up and ring the changes.

Why do we use our Fancy Frolic Gin? The botanicals include three types of Lime, Strawberry and Ginger all of which make a refreshing, summery gin that goes very well with sweet treats.

Fancy Frolic Gin & Ginger Syrup

100g Sugar
50ml Water
2-3 tablespoons chopped Stem Ginger (we like Opies)

1. Put the sugar and water in a pan and heat until the sugar has dissolved.
2. Add the chopped stem ginger and a couple of tablespoons of the syrup it comes in.
3. Let simmer for 5 minutes so that the liquid slightly thickens.
4. If not using straight away, allow to cool and put in a sterilised jar. It will keep in the fridge for up to a month. You can also use the sugar syrup to make cocktails, sweeten cold drinks, poach fruit, pour randomly over all sorts of foodstuffs!

Now you have your syrup, you just need to make a few pancakes, gather some of your favourite edibles and put it altogether!

We've added Bananas, Strawberries, Fancy Frolic Gin Sugar Syrup and a squeeze from the Queen of lemons, Amalfi. Our local Booth's has a stock of them at this time of year.

Happy Pancake Day!

We love collaborating with other small businesses and when it comes to cocktails there is only one person we go to. So, to create the perfect Valentine’s Cocktail we asked Tom at Kindred Spirit Cocktails for help. He created our Festive Tipple Breakfast Martini incorporating both our Festive Tipple Gin and Cuckold’s Revenge Gin Jelly Marmalade for The Grand Opening of The Old Calf Shed in 2019. It went down a storm!

Our Afternoon G&Teas have proved popular ever since we launched them. When we all had to go into lockdown we started offering them for Click & Collect and Delivery. Everyone needs to have a treat sometimes, and not just on those special occasions!
When we were first playing with ideas for the AG&Tea we knew we wanted to create sweet treats that also showcased some of the botanicals we use in our gin. Mike & Amy, BoxLA12, helped with some ideas. Mike created a juniper glaze for our scones, which we think is a genius! He also made some amazing crème brûlée with the addition of our Gin Jelly Marmalade.

Included on the menu is Zoe's Baked Yoghurt. There's a spoonful of her Homemade Blackberry Jelly Jam (using berries foraged for our Festive Bramble Gin Elixir) on the bottom and a Crunchy Crumble topping with a hint of Cinnamon.

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 150.
2. Mix the condensed milk, cream, yoghurt and vanilla together and pass through a fine seive.
3. We use mini ramekins and the recipe fills approximately 14. If you are using average sized ramekins, place 10 in a deep tray.
4. Put a teaspoon of blackberry jam in each ramekin and fill each pot with approximately 70g of yoghurt mixture. Pour enough warm water into the tray to form a bain-marie reaching a quarter of the way up the pots. Bake for 15 minutes until set.
5. Take the pots out of the bain marie, leave to cool and then refrigerate until ready to serve.
6. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Make the crumble by rubbing the butter into the plain flour until it resembles breadcrumbs and stir in the sugar and cinnamon.
7. Spread the mixture onto a baking sheet and place in the oven.
8. Cook for 15-20 minutes, occasionally moving the crumble around so that it cooks evenly.
9. Allow the crumble to cool then sprinkle over the baked yoghurts and finish off with a dusting of icing sugar.

*The Baked Yoghurt is based on Graham Hornigold's recipe

Back in 2019 we had a Grand Opening for The Old Calf Shed; well, we had two Grand Openings over two days in order to accommodate everyone! Carwyn, Kindred Spirit Cocktails, created a special Shed 1 Breakfast Martini for the event and Aroma Foundation Catering* provided the food and waiting staff. Nick Hall, and food students from nearby Ulverston Victoria High School cooked and served a selection of different canapés to 80 guests over two nights. We can't recommend the scheme, their catering and everyone involved highly enough.

When discussing the menu, we also wanted to incorporate our products. Our Gin Jelly Marmalade gave a tasty glaze to the sausages. Our other idea was to use the locally grown blackcurrants we use to make our Shed 1 Blackcurrant & Liquorice Gin Elixir. Nick made this Blackcurrant Mousse and served it in brandy snap baskets. They were delicious! Zoe's continued to make it and you can sometimes find it on our Afternoon G&Tea menu, served on Ulverston Shortbread.

Boozy Blackcurrant Mousse

Ingredients
500g Blackcurrants
125g-150g Sugar (amount depends on how tart the blackcurrants are and how sweet you want it to be)
50ml Shed 1 Blackcurrant & Liquorice Gin Elixir
150ml Double Cream
5 Gelatine Leaves (or equivalent vegetarian substitute)
2 Egg Whites

Method
1. Gently cook the blackcurrants with the sugar until the liquid is released and you have a runny jam consistency.
2. Whip the double cream to soft peaks whilst you wait.
3. Soak the gelatine leaves in cold water for 5 minutes.
4. Sieve the blackcurrants so you have a smooth liquid. Whilst still warm, add the gelatine leaves. Ensure you give this a good mix so the gelatine dissolves into the fruit puree. Add the Shed 1 Blackcurrant & Liquorice Gin Elixir and stir.
5. Add the blackcurrants to the whipped cream and whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks. Very gently add this to the cream and blackcurrant mix.

You can divide the mousse between 8 serving dishes and refrigerate for a few hours before serving.
Or, spoon in to piping bags and refrigerate until set, a few hours. Once ready, pipe in brandy snap baskets, or onto shortbread.
Garnish with a few fresh blackcurrants.

*Aroma was set up for the sole purpose of helping young people in Cumbria access Catering College. They do this through helping with applications, offering mock interviews, and helping prepare people as best they can. However, the biggest issue in students not moving on to Catering College is the financial implications. With this in mind, Aroma is extremely proud to be able to offer funding for local young people who have a passion for food, and want a career in hospitality, all of which will start at Catering College. 

In 2019 we collaborated with the talented Lisa Smith and her team at Ginger Bakers. All the hard work was down to her, we supplied the Gin and then had the very pleasant task of tasting the samples! You can purchase from Ginger Bakers (they also have an online shop with national delivery). We also stock it during the festive period.
We are very pleased to say that both Ginger Bakers & ourselves are National Finalists in the Rural Business Awards (Best Food Producer and Best Drinks Producer). We'll find out the results in February, 2021. Fingers crossed!

Packed with plump fruit with the tang of cranberries and clementine all soaked in award winning Shed 1 Festive Tipple Gin.

If you want to make it at home, here's the recipe.

Makes 1 x 500g loaf cake

Ingredients
115g Sultanas
95g Dried Cranberries
20g Mixed Peel
20g Chopped Dried Apricots
25ml Shed 1 Festive Tipple Gin
65g Salted Butter at room temperature
60g Dark Brown Soft Sugar
1 Large Free-Range Egg
6g Glycerin
2 x Clementine Zest
65g Plain Flour Sieved
¼ tsp Ground Cinnamon
¼ tsp Ground Nutmeg

Topping
1 tbsp Sieved Apricot Jam
5ml Boiled Water
2 x Glace Orange Slices
10g Dried Cranberries

Method
Weigh out the dried fruit into a bowl, cover with 20ml of Shed 1 Festive Tipple Gin and leave for a minimum of 24 hours.
Preheat the oven to 150 degrees/gas 2. Grease and Line a small loaf tin.
Beat the butter and sugar until pale, smooth and creamy.
Beat in the egg slowly then add the glycerin and clementine zest until all are combined.
In a separate bowl combine the sieved flour, cinnamon and nutmeg.
Add a spoonful of the flour mix to the butter mixture and combine, then add a spoonful of the soaked fruit mixture and combine. Repeat until all the ingredients are used.
Put the mixture into the lined tin and bake for 50 min - 1hour. A metal skewer should come out clean when inserted
Remove from the oven and pour over 5ml of Shed 1 Festive Tipple. Allow to cool and remove from the tin and paper.
Brush with a mix of apricot jam and boiled water then decorate with glace orange slices and dried cranberries.

For The Old Calf Shed opening in October 2016 we asked local mixologist Carwyn, of Kindred Spirit Cocktails, to create a welcome drink for our guests. He didn't let us down! Incorporating our Festive Tipple Gin and Gin Jelly Marmalade, the Shed 1 Gin Breakfast Martini was born.

50ml Shed 1 Festive Tipple Gin
15ml Cointreau Triple Sec
15ml Lemon Juice
1 teaspoon of Marmalade. Carwyn used our Cuckold’s Revenge Jelly Gin Marmalade

Shake, strain, serve and enjoy!

Here he is in action with the High Sheriff of Cumbria, Marcia Reid Fotheringham at our Grand Opening!

For the grand opening of The Old Calf Shed Tom, from Kindred Spirit Cocktails (another Ulverston business)
created a Shed 1 Festive Tipple Breakfast Martini.
It went down a storm and continues to be enjoyed on a regular basis!

Shed 1 Festive Tipple Breakfast Martini

50ml Shed 1 Festive Tipple Gin
15ml Cointreau Triple Sec
15ml Lemon Juice
1 teaspoon of Marmalade. Tom used our Cuckold's Revenge Jelly Gin Marmalade

Shake, strain, serve and enjoy!*

*This recipe works beautifully with all our gins and marmalades. Mix it up with Fancy Frolic Gin and Shed Loads of Love Gin Jelly Marmalade.

Here's Tom in action with the then High Sheriff of Cumbria, Marcia Reid Fotheringham, at our Grand Opening!