Unnamed Old Fashioned_ Josh McIntyre Head of Drink at Caravan and all round good guy

Nc’Nean Bourbon Old Fashioned Shot by Tim Atkins, recipe by Josh McIntyre, drinks style Iain Graham,

What is it? Who doesn’t love bananas, am I right? The UK alone consumes over 5 billion of these tasty blighters a year and whilst they’re perfect for a hit of slow release energy, we, the consumer, are guilty of wasting the best bit, the peel. Banana peel is an incredible source of anti-oxidants, micro nutrients, essential amino acids and fibre. You can cook them up, or blend them into smoothies, but my favourite way to use them, is in cocktails. Obviously. Banana peel syrup is insanely easy to make and will elevate your next old fashioned to the next level (What’s more, a bottle will keep in the fringe for up to a month……now that’s slow release enjoyment right there)

Give it a bash if you love an old fashioned, but also give a fuck about the world.

• 60ml Nc’Nean Bourbon

• 15ml Rich Banana Gomme

• 2 drops Cocktail Bitters

• Glass: Rocks/Old Fashioned

• Garnish: Dehydrated Orange Wheel

Banana Peel Syrup

The humble banana peel is ubiquitous in most of our homes (There’s one sitting beside me as I type) and in most cases goes straight in the (Food Waste) bin., but there’s so much more that you can do with these amino acid & anti-oxidant rich nuggets, from using them as a great ingredient in meal preps, to utilising as a cleaning product, making vinegars and my personal favourite, using in boozy cocktails. The peels contain amazing flavour, unlocking these can be the key in elevating drinks at home to the next level and is insanely simple.

Ingredients:

• 350g unrefined sugar

• 500g filtered water

• Peel of 2 bananas (washed with tepid water prior to peeling & dried)

• ½ banana

Method:

• Add your water to a medium pan and bring to the boil

• Add Sugar and immediately reduce to a low heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar

• Peel your bananas (or grab some stored peels from the freezer) and save ½ of a ripe banana, chopping into chunks.

• Add peel and banana to sugar syrup in pan and give it all a good stir.

• Leave on the heat for 10 minutes, stirring regularly and then remove from the heat.

• Allow to cool to room temperature. You’ll notice an intense, confected banana aroma emitting from the peels as the syrup begins to darken.

• Once completely cool, taste (Be careful, if you taste when this shit is hot, it will scold you badly and leave you with wildly unattractive blisters) Flavour shout by sweet, syrupy banana, reminiscent to foamy banana sweets that we all gorged on as kids.

• Use a sieve to strain into a clean jug, throwing the peels and banana into a food waste bin or compost and pour the liquid into a clean bottle.

• Refrigerate and use within 1 week (Daiquiris and Old Fashioned cocktails are my fave)