THE spirit is with ToM when we think of Alston Bar & Beef. This Glasgow-conceived combo of properly sourced steaks and forage-inspired cold compound gins only arrived in the Corn Exchange last October but it has put real roots down.
No resting on their laurels, mind. They have launched a new roster of those minute batch in-house gins and we were happy to pop down and give our opinion – and sample a new dish or two from the update a la carte alongside one of their signature Tweed Valley steaks.
We ran the juniper-scented gauntlet between the Alston pineapple gin, infused with fresh pineapple, and the Alston Raspberry and Rose gin. This twist on the bar’s staple raspberry offering, includes the addition of rose petals which have been foraged locally.
Up to ten cold-compound gins ware available on rotation at the bar and gin lovers can also choose from Alston’s growing selection of 62 gins from all over the globe.
So what is a cold compound gin? Technically speaking, it involves flavourings (such as botanicals) simply being added to neutral grain spirit and then filtered out before bottling. For mass producers it was once a short cut to add flavours, avoiding complex distillations, but in recent times it has become the realm of innovation in the hands of Bathtub Gin’s creators, notably.
At Alston it’s a playful experimentation each time in individual flagons, with variable results. We found the pineapple gin quite astringent yet the rose petal one, especially with Bon Accord tonic, was a charmer.
As an introduction go for their signature “Tweed Valley” infusion, which uses ingredients such as turkey tail mushroom, dandelion & burdock root, water mint and green apple peel, which are all found in the Tweed Valley, the home of their butcher.
Alston, though, is not just a carnivore’s mecca. With our gins we tasted scallops with Jerusalem artichoke mousse and buttered greens as a starter, beetroot carpaccio and a Pavlova served with vanilla cream.
Still, Wednesdays here are still what Bar & Beef is all about. The sharing menu features a 500g rump steak cooked to your liking and two giant tiger prawns served with skinny fries and garlic butter plus a bottle of house wine for £50 from 12noon till 10pm.
Alston Bar & Beef, Corn Exchange, Cathedral Street, Manchester M4 3TR. 0161 804 5555.
