With participating venues across the city, London Cocktail Week offers an exciting journey through the world of the present cocktail scene, showcasing unique flavours, creative concoctions, and a bustling atmosphere. Typhoonie and Brand Activation Manager Lindsey flew to London to learn about the latest trends, and here's what she discovered!
Tayēr + Elementary
My London Cocktail Week journey began in Shoreditch, a vibrant, urban neighbourhood scattered with unique concepts. First stop: Tayēr + Elementary, one of the 50 Best Bars in London. It is a welcoming bar that attracts a variety of people. One where loud hip-hop music immediately drew my attention and made me realize the importance of music within a specific concept. Tayēr + Elementary is known for its tap pre-batched cocktails. All of them are simple yet elegant cocktails served in tumbler glasses with a giant ice cube and packed with balanced and punchy flavours. Given the fact that cocktail taps and pre-batch cocktails are a big trend over here, I'm wondering how fast and on what scale Dutch top-tier bars will implement this trend any day soon.
🔶🟥🔵 A Bar with Shapes for a Name
Besides having a particular name, I was most curious about this 50 Best Bar because of its Japandi interior with spaciousness, serenity, and neutral materials. This approach continued with the bar itself; the cocktails and way of serving were also clean and lean, using the clarification trend. At first glance, the presentation came across as simple, but taking a closer look, the creative usage of ice cubes gave a special touch to the cocktails, which I had never experienced before. Different cubes in one, creating a futuristic landscape in my glass, making the most of light and shapes. Also, more unusual ingredients were presented in their creations, like butter, which was terrific.
The American Bar
Located in the iconic five-star hotel The Savoy in the city centre, this bar radiates a more classical and luxurious feeling than the modern street-style atmosphere of the bars in Shoreditch. On the menu are classic cocktails with a modern twist, such as a perfectly balanced whisky sour and their take on a pina colada. Whilst Tayēr + Elementary really tapped into the urban hip-hop sounds, this bar was brought to life with a live jazz pianist, which made me feel like I was a character in The Great Gatsby. The combination of high-level service, a lush interior and music is something we don't see very often. Considering the trend of overly decorated American-style bars and art deco designs with a roaring twenties feeling, The American Bar must be a true inspiration.
Side Hustle
Tucked away in the NoMad Hotel lies Side Hustle, a cosy bar with clear hints of Latin America. So, it was no surprise to find tacos and tequila on the menu, which we see more often in bars worldwide. The bartender created a tailor-made cocktail with rum. It turned out to be a tropical twist on an old fashioned. Next was a tomasu collins made from Ocho Blanco tequila, yuzu saké, lemon, honey, and soda. At Side Hustle, flavours from Latin America go hand in hand with influences from Asia, and besides that, this place helps different charities by donating a margin from their cocktails. How cool is that?
In short
- The upcoming trend of Japandi interiors. When will the Netherlands follow?
- Clarified cocktails are here to stay.
- In contrast to the clean and serene Japanese designs, vibrant and colourful (Latin) American-style bars are becoming more popular with their modern take on classic cocktails.
- Asian ingredients and flavours take the stage.
- 'Which cocktails do you have on draft?'
And lastly, every bar I visited served tap water, no questions asked.
