The sun has been out, and we’re heading towards a long weekend so what better way to toast the final arrival of spring than with a cocktail or two?
Our mixology culture in Scotland has come on leaps and bounds from the Woo Woo and Cosmo days of the early noughties (I know, I used to have to make these back then). From speakeasy style bars to European influenced venues, our cities are home to some of the best cocktail bars in the UK.
Every year, to celebrate the bartending scene, Diageo plays host to the GB World Class competition in order to find the UK’s top 100 bartenders. World Class is a global competition and community that celebrates bartending excellence, focusing on creative drinks and the skills used to make them – and tell the inspiration behind them.
The World Class Cocktail Festival is where the cocktail lover can get involved in this competition, and try some of the limited edition serves created by these talented bartenders.
Running from now until 27 April, there’s special cocktail menus across bars in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and the American bar in Gleneagles, showcasing the drinks that the bartenders have created for this year’s competition that have been inspired by local culture and crafted with premium spirits.
I went on a cocktail safari (which lets face it is a fancy way of saying a pub crawl) to try some of these drinks – and there were a few surprises.
Firstly each bar had created a non-alcoholic drink using Seedlip. Not only was this refreshing to see the mocktail category being taken so seriously but they were absolutely delicious and showcased how far we’ve come from just fizzy juice or water being the go-to.
Each bar we visited was showing us their drinks made with Don Julio tequila, The Singleton whisky and Seedlip. The Don Julio tequila drinks had elements of Mexico along with local inspiration including an ingredient within a 10 mile radius while the Singleton was inspired by a “single moment” and engaging the five senses. The Seedlip drinks have all been inspired by nature.
We started in Lamplighters bar in the Gleneagles Townhouse (the cocktails are also being served in The Spence for non-members). Bartender Jack Smith explained that each drink has a storytelling element to it and we kicked off with a simple and refreshing Seedlip Spring to Life drink made with Seedlip Garden 108, nature’s cordial and soda.
Mr Smith said that the idea behind this drink was “things you could find in your garden or smell when you walk into a nice fresh garden. The cordial is sugar snap peas, mint and rosemary.” If this drink was as light and bright as a spring day, the next one was something totally different.
The Fire and Thistle cocktail
Named Fire and Thistle, it had Don Julio tequila, a haggis ver sous (a sous vide technique to extract flavour) tortilla and guacamole syrup, raspberry syrup, acid adjust agave and a raspberry powder.
All of this has all been filtered to create a punch and turned into this vibrant, sweeter than you might expect drink.
There are hints of spice here, and not a huge hit of tequila, but the overall is fruity sweetness that belies its Scottish influence of haggis so no one should be put off by its inclusion.
Next we moved on to Panda and Sons, the Edinburgh Speakeasy that’s currently number 30 in the world’s best bars.
Headed up by owner Iain McPherson, it is known for its freezing techniques and overtly innovative drinks. The World Class bartenders here are Cameron Mowat and Carrie Smith who have created Saorsa Salsa using Don Julio Blanco and Piece and a Fly using The Singleton of Dufftown 12 year old.
The local ingredient in the Saorsa Salsa was nettle in the form of a sous-pressed nettle vermouth. The drink also had tomato and chilli cordial and Lagavulin 16.
Ms Smith explained the use of nettle in her cocktail saying: “You can get nettle anywhere, it’s so easy to use but people don’t utilise it enough. It gives such a good tannic taste, it’s almost like a tea especially in the way you use it in foods. I created a sous-pressed nettle vermouth.
“Unlike a sous vide, sous-press doesn’t cook the ingredient as much. It just interacts with it so you get that tannic tea flavour without it being overpowering.”
This cocktail was served in a martini-style coupe with a tartan ribbon around the stem, and was another complex yet sweet drink that didn’t taste too strong despite there being tequila and whisky in it.
Mr Mowat’s drink was probably my favourite of the night, not just because it came with a homemade biscuit on top. Piece and a Fly is inspired by a north of Scotland saying and by his gran offering him a piece and fly which is tea and biscuits or tea and a sandwich.
The drink, served from a Chinese style teapot into rounded mugs. It is madeWorld Class Cocktail Festival Edinburgh drinks with the Singleton whisky, cryo-concentrated apple soju (a technique involves freezing fruit juice and then removing the ice to give a more concentrated flavour), peanut butter washed oat water, noix saint jean walnut aperitif, gomme, angostura bitters and crème de cacao blanc.
Mr Mowat used the leftover oats and peanuts to make the biscuits to pair with the drink. It’s a strong, not too sweet drink in which you can really taste the nuts. There’s a smooth texture from the oats all which pair well with the whisky and biscuits.
Our next stop was The Court in The Caledonian Hotel where we had a sweet-shop style non-alcholic drink called Alba Grove and made by bartender Akileswar Boya.
Mr Boya explained he made the drink with Seedlip Grove 42, citrus melon cordial topped with Rapscallion Cranachan soda which “brings a hit of raspberry and creamy oats to the drink”.
This is one for a sunny day, and we all agreed we could drink a lot more of it. Sweet and fruity, it’s like a refresher in a glass.
Our final stop was Hey Palu where Andy Galloway and Sean Cavanagh have created the ShuShu Bellini with The Singleton and a non alcoholic Sgrop-pea-no 108.
There’s also a creamy, deeply flavoured Tollcross Coffee that’s ideal as an after dinner drink that won’t keep you up thanks to the chicory coffee. A love letter in drink form to the neighbourhood in which the bar is located, and my second favourite drink.
The ShuShu (meaning little peach) is made with fermented peach cordial, Italian white wine, bay leaf and green tea. The Sgrop-pea-no 108 is made with Seedlip Garden 108, homemade spearmint and eucalyptus kombucha is a sorbet based, minty and creamy cocktail that’s another one ideal for the summer and sunny days.
The World Class Cocktail Festival gives a perfect excuse to get out and support these brilliant bars and their talented staff, while enjoying a wonderfully creative drink or two.
Prices are from £10, and the drinks at Panda and Sons and The Court came with snacks plus with the Seedlip options, there’s choice there for all. I’m already planning my next cocktail safari, this time in Glasgow.
The full list of participating bars across the country can be found here.
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