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An Honest Evening With Friends

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Sponsored by Honest Rum

A name that says it all. When we first caught wind of what the team at Honest were up to, we got in touch with them to see what the bee’s behind the hive were cooking up. Ethically made rum was the answer.

Honest are kiwi owned, carbon neutral and certified plastic free. Not a small feat when you find out it was the brain child of two mates living on opposite sides of the world. Luke and Dave, founders of Honest, have put thought into action and created New Zealand’s first ethically made rum. In their own words (we couldn’t have put it better ourselves) “Slightly intriguing, very delicious but most importantly, kind to our planet.”

They’ve solidified themselves among the industry big leagues already, with top eateries such as Lilian and Ozone stocking the goods behind their bars. They’re available through-out the country too, to check if you’ve got a stockist in your area, see the full list here.

Eager to see what all the buzz was about, we invited friends around for a cocktail evening. The rules were simple; make a cocktail of your choice using Honest Rum.

Note: We want to be (very) honest with you, none of us are mixologists - but that’s our point. We want to show you that even the most novice of cocktail connoisseurs can craft a tasty drink with a good rum.

amateur cocktail hour

Starring Mitch, Tim, Ryan, Sarah and James. (honourable animal mentions to Louie the dog and Rocky the cat)

The sobering thought of how little we knew dawned on us when we realised we didn’t own a cocktail shaker. Was that going to stop us? Absolutely not. After a failed trip to the shop we managed to MacGyver our way out by substituting a a magic bullet cup found deep in the Tupperware draw. It did the job but definitely recommend a cocktail shaker if you have one.

Arriving at 5pm on the dot were the Broad Studio twins Tim and Mitch, and Big Sun’s Ryan Glover. There was an incredible amount of large moustache energy in the air.

The stage was set for a night that would subsequently turn into one of us spilling coconut cream over the countertop, carpet and dog, and the Village People cover group painting the town red till 3am.

This is where I’ll add in the disclaimer - drink responsibly.

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Name: Ryan Glover (aka Big Sun aka Uncle)

What have you made for us today? This is my take on the cult classic ‘Jungle Bird’. The recipe was all in ounces so I’m not really sure what amounts I’m putting in here (* we’re interviewing as he’s pouring large quantities of rum into the magic bullet shaker)

Ryan: (looking dismayed) “we’ll get there.”

I think its about 1 and a half parts Honest Rum, 1/3 parts Campari, 1 part pineapple juice, splash of lime juice and some sugar syrup.

Ryan: (*looking at the online recipe*) Its definitely not the right colour.

What are you going to call this drink? Lost in the Jungle *laughs*

Overall Rating: 7/10

We sipped our ‘Lost in the Jungles’, taking heed on the nervous look on Ryan face, but the nerves were soon short lived. It was definitely palatable. If one of us had been bothered to convert the ounces into ml’s we could’ve had ourselves a clear front runner.

Best Quote: '“Maybe I should have started with something easier, like a Rum & Coke.”

Name: Sarah Norris (aka Nest Founder aka The Lightweight)

What have you made for us?

One of us had to attempt the Pina Colada and I drew the short straw. This is my first time making a Pina Colada. It looks easy but we’ll see.

*Sarah mixes in 2 parts rum to the shaker of ice then looks over at the recipe”

As Sarah pours in the coconut cream the mixture starts to curdle.

“Oh no.. that doesn’t look good”

The rest of the recipe was a blur. I think it was 2 parts Honest rum, 2 parts coconut cream, 1 part pineapple juice. Shaken extremely hard and fast to make it look like she knows what she is doing.

What are you going to call it?

The Pina Colada Disaster

Overall Rating: 2/10

Note: We realised this wasn’t all a complete failure. Mitch or Tim. (they’re twins its hard to tell sometimes) suggested adding more pineapple juice to each glass. It was well received after this addition and went from a 2/10 to at least a 6/10.

If you want to attempt a Pina Colada we suggest plenty of pineapple juice. Actually we suggest sticking to the ginger beer based recipes.

Name: Mitch Broadhurst aka Tim’s Twin Brother aka Kiwi Bank Model #1

Hello Mitch. Nice to have you over for Amateur Cocktail Hour. What have you made for us today?

This is my take on a Dark n’ Stormy. 2 parts Honest Rum, 2 parts Spicy Ginger Beer and we didn’t have bitters so i’ve added a dash of lemon juice.

What are you calling it?

The Stiff & Twisty

Incredible.

Overall Rating: 9.5/10

The clear front runner for the evening. We drank another after the competition was over. Highly reccomened the spicy ginger beer (Schweppes Ginger Beer) as a substitute for regular ginger beer as it blends nicely with the spices in the rum. We were also a little tipsy by now so Mitch had the advantage of sway-able judges.

Name: Tim Broadhurst (aka Mitch’s Twin Brother, aka Kiwi Bank Model #2)

What have you made for us Tim?

This is a mix of everything we have left. Im gonna say 2 parts Honest Rum, 1 part pineapple juice, 1 part ginger beer, a splash of lemon juice and a splash of lime juice. I really had fun with this one.

What do you want to call it?

Tim’s drink.

Iconic.

Overall rating: 8/10

Surprisingly delicious. Goddamnit Tim.

*As a side note: You’ll notice the amount of notes taken by me were not as thorough as the first few rounds. This is completely due to the fact that I was six sheets to the wind and talking to Mitch about Barefoot waterskiing instead.

Best Quote: “Compared to my beer its a 10/10”

Honourable Mention: THE LATE COMER

Name: James Walker (aka ‘The Flatmate Who Just Finished Work and Was Forced To Participate In The Cocktail Competition Even Though We’d Already Chosen A Winner’)

Whats in it?

This is the ‘Honest PGL’. 3 parts Honest Rum, 1 part Peach Bundaberg, 1 part Ginger Beer, 1 part Lemon juice.

Whats PGL stand for?

Peach Ginger Lemon!

Overall Rating: James is a pretty good cook so one can only assume his flavour profile is more finely tuned than ours. I’m giving him a 14/10 for having to listen to me talk about shapes of ice cubes for 10 minutes.

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The winners & losers

Winner of the Evening: Mitch’s Stiff & Twisty’ with a whopping score of 9.5/10

Best Photo: Impromptu Getty image styled shot of Mitch taken by his brother Tim. I didn’t ask them to do this.

Most Unpalatable/Biggest Fail: We don’t need to go there. I will wholeheartedly stick to my Pina Colada disaster as a triumph for dark rum drinkers. Its possible if you put your mind (and extra pineapple juice) to it.

Best Supporting Role: Thanks to Honest Spirits for giving these novice cocktail makers an extremely fun evening and possibly a reason to stick to their day jobs. We’re well versed in a few things but cocktail making should be left up to the pro’s and people that own cocktail shakers. If you want to do a much better job than us and get some friends over for a night of Honest fun, you can go and grab yourselves a bottle here.

Psst. They’re on the gram too! Check them out at @drinkhonest

Nest x