A Guide to the Best Cocktails in London
Nobody savours a cocktail more than me. It’s a bona fide fact. I have a typically girly palate; preferring sweet over sour, sugary over bitter. Being somewhat of an aficionado on all things cocktail-based, here is my top five guide to (some) of the best cocktails London has to offer.
I am positively ecstatic that this is my new local. You’ll find me on any given Sunday slurping on a White Lady taking a peak through their enigmatic wardrobe! Sounds like a Lewis Carroll novel does it? Well you ain’t far wrong as the bar is modelled on The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe replete with old gramophones, quixotic light shades and while mid-pee, immerse yourself in walls lined with 80s style cassettes, upon which I recorded many a Britpop mixtape during a misspent youth. The cocktail list is heavy on unusual spirits (for instance Mozart Black is a chocolate liqueur) but with its fair share of classics: a pungent sazerac, a jumbo tiki punch served in one of the gramophones, perfectly engineered for sharing.
At Academy, the cocktail truly is king. It is always the first place I take unsuspecting tourists looking to whet their slippery appetite. Academy’s menu features over 100 delicious cocktails, using only premium spirits and the freshest of fruits, herbs, and spices. The bartenders at Academy are always experimenting with fresh, exciting products to tickle your taste buds. So if you can’t choose from their extensive menu just tell ‘em what you like, and they’ll get a-shaking!
Another joyful walking distance from my pad, drinking an organic cocktail somehow makes you feel a little guilty for the duress you’re placing on your liver during any heavy session. I don’t even know where to start with the menu, top of my thirst quenching list would have to the spiced pear martinis, an elixir of the gods consisting of organic vodka, pear juice, crème d’apricot, citrus and spices. However, I just go absolutely loco for the Moroccan mojito, a dreamy infusion of vanilla fair trade organic rum, passion fruit 7 spice blend, fresh mint and citrus. Organic just got a whole lot sexier! Plus they run fantastic cocktail masterclasses. Check out an event I ran for qype.co.uk in 2009.
I couldn’t actually figure out how to get into this bar, however once I realised the entrance was not the shiny red facade on Redchurch Street, holy moly did I get a wonderful surprise! The cocktails themselves involve dexterous mixes such as Citadelle raspberry vodka with white cranberry and grape juice (Love Letter, £7.50); red peppers, passion fruit and Creole Shrubb spiced orange rum (Pepperita, £8.50); and fig liqueur and lemon oil with prosecco (Loungelover, £9). Lounge lovin’ right here people.
I don’t venture out with the Claphamites too often, but when I do traipse down South I’m always sure to stop into the Lost Society. With a 60-long list of scrumptious cocktails such as the Basilimo mixes Havana Club Añejo Especial rum and Midori with basil leaves and pear jam, for instance. Once again, I can highly recommend the cocktail masterclasses which I somewhat conquered on a rather drunken work jolly.
Photography: TechCocktail, Guide Girl and Smith Travel Blog
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