3 London Bars Share Their Must Try Cocktails to Make at Home

World Cocktail Day has reared its bleary-eyed head again, and this year we’re going to have to improvise. With all our favourite bars, pubs and restaurants temporarily closed, we teamed up with three of London’s most exciting cocktail bars to get you celebrating at home. These lovely London cocktail afficianados are giving you everything you need to make professional cocktails at home.

We can’t wait to get back out there and support these amazing bars that make London the enviable night out that it is, but for now make professional cocktails at home and celebrate World Cocktail Day by having one on us! Tag us in your cocktail snaps on Instagram @goldentoursuk.

69 Colebrooke Row, Angel

A small but stunning cocktail bar hidden away in the back streets of Angel Islington, 69 Colebrooke Row is the perfect intimate setting to sip a superior cocktail. Bar manager Dominik lets us in to the secrets of this twist on a classic martini.

Signature Caper Dirty Martini

Recipe

35ml Caper leaf infused London Dry Gin
35ml Dry Vermouth
Caper leaf to garnish

Method

Measure all ingredients in a cocktail shaker or something similar, stir, then double strain into a chilled cocktail glass and garnish with a caper leaf.

Notes from bar manager Dominik

At 69, we have a passion for raw and wild seasonal ingredients. We love researching the origins of the ingredients we use, and finding a way to incorporate this into our drinks is what makes 69’s approach to making cocktails so unique.

Cooling the glass before adding the cocktail can quickly chill the drink without diluting it, and instead of professional measures you can use spoons, scoops or shot glasses! Keep a few cocktail glasses in the freezer, ready to use whenever you’re in the mood for a tipple and use a strainer or a sieve to keep unwanted ingredients out of your drink! Always serve with a smile!

Mother’s Ruin, Walthamstow

Mother’s Ruin can be found Walthamstow, nestled between Wild Card Brewery and God’s Own Junkyard. Producing homemade artisanal gin, this east London Gin Palace serves arguably the best G & T in town. We asked Becky to share her favourite gin cocktail with us.

Mother’s Marmalade Negroni

Recipe

25ml Gin, a good standard gin rather than anything too fancy
25ml Campari
25ml Mother’s Ruin Bitter Orange Rum
Dash of orange spice bitters, we make our own in the bar but both Peychaud’s and Angostura do an orange bitters
And an orange

Method

Cut a thin piece of orange peel, trying to get as little pith as possible, and rub the cut side around the inside of your glass to get a bit of zesty oil on to the surface of the glass. Add some ice and leave the peel in too.

In a tall separate glass, a pint glass will do, add your ingredients as above and then add a generous scoop of ice. Stir gently with a long spoon so as to thoroughly mix and chill your cocktail but not dilute it. This will take about 30 seconds. Then remove the ice from your now chilled serving glass and double strain your mixed cocktail into it.

And relax.

Notes from Becky at Mother’s Ruin

Created in the spirit of London’s long and disreputable history of gin drinking, we here at Mother’s Ruin produce two truly delicious craft gins and a range of gorgeous fruit liqueurs.

We distil our gins in one of our three tiny copper stills: Naomi, Ruth or Cecelia. Our gins owe their unique taste to the ingredients, which are either home grown in our two small orchards or wild foraged from in and around East London. Come and visit us when we reopen in our WW1 munitions factory building in Walthamstow, where we’ll be throwing open our doors and mixing up all manner of magic potions. In the meantime, enjoy a Marmalade Negroni at home!

P.S Mother’s Ruin are taking orders in their online shop for all your gin needs!

Satan’s Whiskers, Bethnal Green

Blink and you’ll miss this Bethnal Green watering hole. A plain front with a neon sign is the only indication that there’s treasure inside, and quite a lot of taxidermy. Booze is taken seriously in here, but not much else is making it a step above many other ‘trendy’ east London bars. Take a seat at the bar and speak to the friendly staff to find your new favourite tipple. We asked bar manager Nicole for her favourite drink.

The Ladder

Recipe

50 ml Bacardi Carta Blanca
30ml Fresh Pink Grapefruit Juice
5ml Crème de Peche
5ml honey
3 dashes of Orange Blossom Water

Method

Put a glass in the freezer to cool it. Shake all of the ingredients together then strain into the chilled glass, fill with ice and top with soda. Garnish with a piece of pink grapefruit. I’d recommend cooling the soda and finding fresh juice if you can, and for the honey use Rowse and cut it with water (3 parts honey and 1 part water) to thin it out a bit. Orange blossom might seem random, but you can find it in the baking aisle in most supermarkets.

Notes from cocktail creator Nicole 

This drink was created for the Global Bacardi Legacy competition earlier this year, which I (Nicole) went on to win, and I’ll be representing the UK in the global final in Miami. The theme of the competition is to create a ‘legacy’ represented by a drink. I was inspired by the physical structure of a ladder. In the hospitality industry, we all start at the bottom and each rung/step becomes a significant moment. In the beginning we all need support, someone holding the ladder, and we all continue to learn until we reach the top!

Don’t forget to share your cocktails pictures with us on Instagram @goldentoursuk!