Clinton Cawood brings us three seasonal cocktails for you to try this spring.
At this time of year, as we collectively emerge from hibernation and a winter of indulgent flavours, bright and bracing cocktails are the order of the day. If that sounds like a prescription for a Martini, that’s because it is – even if that most noble of cocktails can, and should, be enjoyed in any season. But it’s a style of drink that’s particularly appropriate at the moment, especially those versions that subtly incorporate seasonally appropriate flavours.
The Cucumber & Elderflower Vesper at Equal Parts in London’s Hackney is a case in point, not diverging too far from the classic, but bringing a fresh, vegetal character through a select few additional elements. As the drink’s creator, Equal Parts bar manager Bryn Lovell, puts it: “Cucumber and elderflower is a very British combination and really appropriate for spring – crisp and refreshing, while staying both sophisticated and seasonal.”
Cucumber & Elderflower Vesper (pictured above)
(Bryn Lovell, Equal Parts, London)
Glass: Martini
Garnish: None
Method: Stir over ice and strain into
Martini glass
40ml gin
20ml vodka
20ml Fair Cucumber
20ml Cocchi Americano
2.5ml dill and lemon brine
3ml elderflower wine
For a more indulgent take on the season, and highlighting a quintessentially British springtime ingredient, there’s The Rhubarb Ramos from Sprout in London. Rhubarb features in this Ramos twist in two different components, namely a cordial-like stock made with the stalks and a vodka infused with the fresh offcuts.
“In Yorkshire’s famed Rhubarb Triangle, farmers are once again force-growing those pink stalks in the dark – a traditional method that yields a richer, sweeter and more delicate harvest,” says bar director Will Meredith. “The farmers we work with have more than 15 years of experience and have adapted the soil to be perfectly seasoned to support the continued growth of the rhubarb.”
The Rhubarb Ramos
(Will Meredith, Sprout, London)
Glass: Stemless champagne flute or highball
Garnish: None
Method: Shake and fine strain over a soda base to create a soufflé cap
40ml rhubarb-fixed vodka*
40ml rhubarb Stock**
20ml double cream
20ml Lemon Juice
15ml Fancy Foamer
Fever-Tree Soda Water
*Cold-infuse vodka with fresh rhubarb offcuts
**Simmer rhubarb stalks with sugar and vanilla
Towards the latter part of spring, fruits such as strawberries begin to come into season, opening up all manner of possibilities. To minimise waste, the team at The Gleneagles Hotel infuse leftover strawberry trimmings from the hotel’s breakfast service, as well as cucumber and mint, into Pimm’s No.1 to create an ingredient for the American Bar’s Strawberry Leaf cocktail.
“The result is a bright, fruit-forward cocktail with depth and character, served in a hand-painted flute, splashed with yellow as a nod to the strawberry’s tiny seeds,” says American Bar head bartender Emilio Giovanazzi.
Strawberry Leaf
(Emilio Giovanazzi, American Bar, The Gleneagles Hotel)
Glass: Flute
Garnish: None
Method: Stir whisky and Pimm’s over ice, strain into a flute and top with champagne.
20ml The Macallan 18 Year Old Sherry Cask Single Malt Scotch
20ml Strawberry tip-infused Pimm’s*
Champagne
* Cold-infuse strawberry trimmings with mint and cucumber in Pimm’s No.1