Satine Plum Sour: A Moulin Rouge Inspired Cocktail from Kelsey Ramage of Dolly Trolley Drinks

Reel Meals is the latest side dish to Hollywood Suite’s signature programming, which features movies you love from the 70s, 80s, 90s and 2000s. With Reel Meals, get to know a Canadian chef or food personality through an original recipe catered to a film from the Hollywood Suite catalogue.

Dolly Trolley Drinks mastermind Kelsey Ramage has created an original cocktail recipe perfect for pairing with Baz Luhrmann’s Oscar-winning movie musical. A tribute to the film’s “Sparkling Diamond” (the tragic, talented dancer and courtesan Satine, played by Nicole Kidman), we hope you’ll love Ramage’s Satine Plum Sour.

Satine Plum Sour

Cocktail Ingredients

• 60ml or 2oz gin – London Dry style
• 20ml or 3/4oz plum liqueur (recipe below)
• 15ml or 1/2oz jasmine tea syrup (recipe below)
• 15ml or 1/2oz Featherstone verjus
• 15ml or 1/2oz lemon juice
• 2 dash bergamot bitters
• 1 drop absinthe

Method

Add all ingredients to a shaker tin, add ice and shake. Double strain into a chilled coupette and garnish with a sprig of lavender.

Non-alcoholic Ingredients

• 45ml or 1 1/2oz jasmine tea
• 20ml or 3/4oz plum cordial (recipe below)
• 15ml or 1/2oz Featherstone verjus
• 15ml or 1/2oz lemon juice

Method

Build ingredients over ice in a rocks glass and stir until well mixed and chilled. Garnish with a sprig of lavender.

Plum Liqueur Ingredients

• 500g plum pulp
• 200g caster sugar
• 1L vodka
• 300ml water*

Method

Dissolve sugar in vodka. Pit the plums and macerate in vodka and sugar mix for at least 1 week (can do more! Dolly Trolley macerates the plums for 3 months). Strain off pulp through a very fine strainer or coffee filter and add *water dilution to taste*.

Plum Cordial Ingredients

• 200g plums
• 400g caster sugar
• 200ml water

Method

Pit plums, blend with sugar and water until sugar is dissolved. Strain and refrigerate.

Jasmine Tea Syrup Ingredients

• 5g Sloan Teas jasmine lemonade
• 200ml hot water
• 200g caster sugar

Method

Steep tea in boiling water for 5 mins, strain out leaves and add sugar. Stir to dissolve.

About Kelsey Ramage and Dolly Trolley Drinks

Kelsey Ramage brings over 15 years of experience to the hospitality industry. After spending time working at bars and restaurants in Canada, including 3 years at GM and sommelier at the Oakwood in Vancouver, she moved to London to become the head bartender at Dandelyan. Shortly after joining the team, the bar won numerous accolades including “Best New International Cocktail bar” at the 2015 Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards, moved up 47 spaces to No. 3 in 2016’s “World’s 50 Best Bars” while also taking home the title of “World’s Best Cocktail Menu,”  and at the 2017 Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards the team took home “Best International Hotel Bar,” “Best International Bar Team,” and “World’s Best Bar.”  On her own, Kelsey won the title of Global Champion for Olmeca Altos’ Tahona Society competition in 2016, the Havana Club Entrepreneur Award in 2019 for ‘One to Watch’ and this past September won the 2020 Spirited Award for ‘International Bartender of the Year’

In October 2016 she and partner Iain Griffiths launched Trash Tiki, an online sustainable-focused platform and touring pop-up bar that creates every ingredient and flavour from by-products and waste that bars would normally discard. What started small in London quickly became a global education platform for the craft cocktail industry on how to use would-be waste ingredients that most bars ditch at night in their programs/menus as these ingredients can still offer up flavors or other uses (husks into cordials, pastries into orgeats, etc.). This was done in an open-forum community that was non-preachy, often with fun music and vibes that has inspired bars around the globe.

Due to the success of Trash Tiki, the duo were hired as beverage directors for WastED, a pop-up led by Blue Hill at Stone Barn’s Chef Dan Barber meant to change the way we think about food waste. Held in London in March 2017, Kelsey crafted drinks composed of ingredients that would normally be thrown out by major producers and local farms. In 2019, Kelsey and her partner Iain Griffiths partnered with Pernod Ricard to be their global sustainability ambassadors with the goal of educating 10,000 bartenders around the world on sustainable bar practices and creating a new model for the bar of the future by 2030. This goal is in addition to helping with a company-wide ban on all promotional items made from single-use plastic and working towards making 100% of its packaging and promotional materials recyclable, compostable, reusable or bio-based. The e-learning module has just launched globally in fall of 2020 in partnership with the Sustainable Restaurants Association and is free for anyone who wants to further their bartending education.

After two years of traveling with Trash Tiki, Kelsey decided to make a new home in Toronto and bring one of her personal goals to life. In October 2019 she opened up her first solo cocktail bar in the heart of Toronto’s financial district called Supernova Ballroom. The bar is meant to be the living embodiment of Trash Tiki’s sustainable teachings with the bar’s menu focusing on local/regional Ontario/Canadian organic farmers, purveyors and ingredients as well as spirits, wine and beers that are produced with the same care for the earth that Kelsey has. While now closed due to the pandemic, Supernova Ballroom’s goal is to inspire industry professionals and guests alike to drink better and embrace positive change while also providing a dazzling disco-filled experience will live on once it’s safe again to do so, stay tuned for 2021!

In March of 2020, in response to Supernova’s closure and the pandemic, Kelsey launched a cocktail syrups and kit delivery brand, Dolly Trolley Drinks. With all of Supernova’s ethos intact, local ingredients and all plastic-free, the cocktail kits are available all over the GTA via dollytrolleydrinks.com