Le Lion Part 1 – Gin-Basil Smash
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Le Lion – Bar de Paris is a small but perfectly formed cocktail bar in Hamburg, Germany, which opened in late 2007 and has since gone to worldwide acclaim winning “Best New Cocktail Bar” at the 2008 Tales of the Cocktail Spirits Awards. Join owner Jörg Meyer at Le Lion for a Gin-Basil Smash, a simple but elegant drink that became the summer sensation of 2008 around the bars of Germany, and beyond.
Stay tuned for future episodes coming soon, where we take a look at Le Bon Lion, Le Lion’s tiny private sister-bar, learn about the beginnings of the Traveling Mixologists, and enjoy some more great cocktails made by the Le Lion team.
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April 21st, 2009 at 8:57 pm
60 cl Gin? Woohooooo!!
Despite that, lovely video, lovely scenes from Hamburg, lovely effects, lovely editting, lovely music. I’m from germany myself and fell in love with the Gin-Basil Smash last summer (I prefer it with lime juice though) ever since Jörg Meyer posted about it on his now “out of print” Bitters Blog. Have yet to find a person, man or lady, who doesn not enjoy this wonderfully balanced drink.
Thanks for introducing a great drink and a great bar to a more international audience.
April 21st, 2009 at 11:13 pm
Glad you enjoyed the video Ruben. The Gin-Basil Smash really is a great drink isn’t it. I have updated the recipe – well spotted. A Smash with 60cl gin really would leave you smashed!
April 22nd, 2009 at 1:13 am
Fantastic looking drink and fantastic video!
The images of Hamburg at the beginning set the scene nicely; these videos will be the death of me! (Well, the death of my credit card, paying for flights to visit these bars!)
Think I’ll definitely have to try one of these over the summer
Out of interest, what camera are you using? Although I’m sure all the talent is firmly behind the lens….
April 22nd, 2009 at 2:44 am
Jay,
Here I am having a Sazerac and the video is making me thirst for a Gin Basil Smash! The mark of a true videographer!
What I especially enjoy about your podcasts is the way you set the tone of the show by showing locations and interior shots of the club. It’s almost (but not quite) as good as being there.
A few things I picked up on:
a) tasting the balance of sweet and sour off the back of your hand. interesting…
b) looked like kold-draft cubes to me. but they were stuck together, how can this be?
c) the bitters and syrups bottles in the long shot were awesome! any idea where they can be obtained?
d) i liked the way that the barspoon was utilized to get every last drop out of the strainer. now that is one good bartender!
e) the level of the music bed underneath the vocals was much, much better.
killer show, jay! i am excited to see the upcoming presentations!
cheers!
blair
April 24th, 2009 at 12:33 pm
Fearghas – I use a Canon 5D Mk II camera, and a mixture of lenses the main ones being a 35mm f/1.4L and 135mm f/2L.
Blair – The ice cubes come from a Hoshizaki machine. They come out at about -2°C and are then frozen down further to -18°C. Sometimes the cubes are slightly humid out of the machine, hence then sticking together when frozen further. The dasher bottles are indeed amazing, and can be purchased from APS in Hamburg – see their catalogue.
April 28th, 2009 at 12:32 am
Great work Jay – I’ve been rather busy of late, so this is my first look at Oh Gosh TV, what a great concept and perfect execution!
April 28th, 2009 at 1:06 am
Well I am already now a fan of your videos.
And I am also already fan of Le Lion, without being once there…
Only one little aspect wasn’t so great…: I find the music a bit annoying…
Cheers!
Dominik MJ
April 28th, 2009 at 2:56 pm
Excellent job with the video but I must say that we’ve been making that recipe as well as other basil lemonade variations on the left coast for the past 6-7 years now. Basil and ginger became extremely prominent and popularized in our drink recipes with the mass influx of Thai restaurants earlier this decade. Cheers!
May 2nd, 2009 at 8:18 am
What a lovely drink! Tried it with lime juice and it’s incredible! You’ve got an amazing website here. Thank you so much for what you’re doing.
Best regards,
Rhett
May 4th, 2009 at 9:49 pm
The best drink i’ve tried yet this year!
First of all I tried it with standard basil which was nice (and green!)
But then, with thanks to a herb garden of a friends, I tried it with Thai Green basil, and purple basil (different from red).
The thai green basil adds this extra kind of zesty zing to it, and the purple basil ads an extra undertone of bitterness, that isn’t over powering but was a nice addition.
Best of all was a mix of the thai green and purple basils I found -made an amazing hue too! I really enjoyed it, but it did start to add more complexity that others might not be too fond of in such a drink!
I’m planning to visit Le Lion this summer now! Cheers Jay/Le Lion!
May 4th, 2009 at 9:53 pm
Oh, also (on an unrelated note): Jay, one had no idea you were into photography! (thats a guess, why else would you have a top-end canon?). I’m into photography anyway. And I’m looking into filming with such equipment too for my film studies. Thanks for opening my eyes into what can be done! (One thought what would come out would be crude and pixelated).
May 4th, 2009 at 10:56 pm
Aleks – Wow cool, I will have to try and pick up some different varieties of basil and see how they work. The mix of thai green and purple sounds great.
Yes I’ve been in to photography for years now. Don’t really take many photos beyond drinks these days though, don’t have the time! The 5DII is somewhat cutting edge with regards to video – no other Canon SLR has been able to do video, and the one Nikon one that could didn’t do it very well. It certainly has its compromises – no autofocus, not much exposure control, useless without tripod – but the quality in low light is hard to beat (perfect for bars!) and the shallow depth-of-field lets you play around with focus a lot.
May 4th, 2009 at 11:33 pm
Good luck! its really quite hard this time of year. (i only got some due to a small greenhouse)
Its worth having a look at herbal haven (http://www.herbalhaven.com) -*not endorsing!* they sell live herbs, but they sell lots that can be used in bitters/aperitif)/digestif that are really hard to come by. (planning on making a corsican-mint bitter!)
Photography is one of my true “loves” (along with cocktails!) it is great for low-light stuff, my 40d pretty much goes to sleep at dusk.
I hope you ask the bar before you show up with a camera on a tripod, though I would love to see the look on the bartenders face if you do!
-Oh, and Happy 2 years birthday! I hope there will be many a cocktail made to celebrate the occasion! -Perhaps something of your own concoction? -A Jay Royale? -A Hepburn Stinger “with the juice of a few flowers” in it?
(sorry, I have made rather awful references to cocktails that Katherine Hepburn drank in a few of her films!).
Anyway, in a word, Cheers! to the 2 years! I shall go and make a Manhattan in your blogs honour!
May 11th, 2009 at 5:47 pm
[...] Gin Basil Smash [...]
June 5th, 2009 at 11:48 pm
[...] I’ll resist providing a full review because words don’t really do it justice (video, however, gets close), and I’m friends with the team behind the bar so it’s hard to be truly objective. [...]
November 10th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
[...] auf Oh my Gosh! http://ohgosh.tv/episode/gin-basil-smash-le-lion-hamburg-joerg-meyer/ [...]