In just a few days time it will be the Malton Food Lover’s Festival; a three day event that sees producers and patrons filling the streets of this pretty Georgian market town to celebrate fine food and drink from around the country.

Over the last few years I’ve watched as this annual event has helped to transform my somewhat sleepy local town, positioning it as a top foodie and tourist destination and championing the now thrumming community of independent shops. Visitors travel to the town for the quality and diversity of its offerings, from world-class patisserie and real bread, to micro-brewed beer and in-house roasted coffee. There’s something to suit every taste and few nicer ways to spend a sunny afternoon than enjoying its relaxed cafe-culture vibe with open views over the beautiful Yorkshire countryside.

This year the festival is being partly sponsored by Dutch Barn Orchard Vodka, a vodka produced by a new distillery located just a few miles away. I’d heard rumours of this enterprise last year – particularly in reference to its impressive pledge to be carbon neutral from day one – so was excited to see the name again and to try the product. The vodka, which is primarily distilled from apples, lends itself wonderfully to cocktails and so I decided to design a drink to mark the festival and celebrate the collaboration.

This is such a simple cocktail to throw together but one that balances sweet, sour and savoury elements to produce a beautifully rich and complex drink. It might just become your new favourite.

Ingredients

• 60ml Dutch Barn vodka
• 30ml Rhucello
• 30ml Yorkshire Wolds Apple juice
• 30ml Lemon juice
• Rosemary sprig
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Dutch Barn Vodka. Smooth and crisp with touches of sweet orchard fruits, this vodka is distilled from British apples with just a small amount of potato thrown in for balance. It’s smith enough to drink over ice but also works beautifully in fruit-forward cocktails. 

Rhucello. There are few ingredients as synonymous with Yorkshire as rhubarb and there are few rhubarb products as exceptional as this one! It is the very best rhubarb liqueur I’ve ever tasted with a perfect balance of sweet, sour, fruity and vegetal notes. 

Yorkshire Wold’s Apple Juice. This company’s tagline is ‘just taste the apples’ and that just about sums it up! Packed full of flavour and fragrance this juice is in a different league to a supermarket carton. Their range includes single variety juices and blends with other fruits. For this cocktail I used their ‘Yorkshire Apple Juice’ as it offers a good balance of sweetness and acidity.

Method

Add all of the ingredients to a cocktail shaker and fill with ice. Shake hard before straining through a fine mesh sieve into a chilled coupe.

Find out more about the upcoming festival here.