Four Pillars Distillery‘s cross country ‘Red Snapper Brunch Tour’ comes to Melbourne via Cumulus Inc. this weekend only! FP’s Director of Drinks James Irvine will showcase a quartet of inventive Red Snappers – basically gin Bloody Marys – including a warm one that is *super* limited edition with only 20 servings.

Four Pillars and Cumulus Inc have kindly shared the secrets to one of the four drinks with us: this Emperor Snapper is basically a spicy, supercharged gin Bloody Mary. This cocktail recipe has a few elements so it’s best to prepare a big batch for a brunch party. But once you have your mix, your oil and your special salt all ready to go these cocktails can be whipped up in a snap(pper)!

– Emperor Snapper –

– Ingredients –
120ml Emperor Snapper mix
50ml Four Pillars Navy Strength Gin
20ml jalapeño x cucumber oil
10ml fresh lime juice
mild chillies, to garnish

– Method –
Rim a highball glass with jalapeno salt. Add ice. Add all ingredients and stir gently. Add a chilli (like a guindilla pepper) to a skewer on the side.

– Emperor Snapper Mix –

– Ingredients –
500g fresh yellow tomato juice
500g skinned cucumber juice (from cucumber x jalapeño oil, below)
500g tinned tomatillos
150g fresh turmeric juice, strained
150g fresh ginger juice, strained
100g olive oil
5g celery salt
5g white pepper
5g garlic powder
1 Bunch of fresh coriander leaves, picked

– Method –
Place all ingredients, except coriander, into a blender and blend together for consistency. Transfer to a sterilized container. Add coriander leaves. Keep refrigerated.

– Cucumber & Jalapeno Oil –

– Ingredients –
5 Telegraph cucumbers skins, (keep flesh for juicing)
300g cucumber juice
100g caster sugar
1 jalapeño, diced with seeds

– Method –
Place ingredients, except cucumber juice, into a sterilized stainless-steel bowl and muddle. Leave at room temperature for 24 hours. Stir to dissolve any remaining sugar. Add cucumber juice and stir to combine. Fine strain into a sterilized container. Keep refrigerated.

– Jalapeno Salt –

– Ingredients –
250g sea salt
50g jalapeño, finely diced without seeds

– Method –
Mix sea salt and jalapeño together. Line an oven rack with baking paper and spread out salt and jalapeño. Preheat oven to 90 degrees celsius. Bake 1 hour or until pepper is dried out. Blitz together in a spice blender or a mortar and pestle to incorporate. Store in an air tight container at room temperature. (This is also good on popcorn or mixed into unsalted butter for baked or mashed potatoes).

Find Four Pillars’ Red Snapper Brunch Tour at Cumulus Inc. – 45 Flinders Lane, Melbourne – on Saturday 25th and Sunday 26th August, 2018.