Gin and Dubonnet rule the waves in bars’ cocktails for the Queen’s 90th
This weekend will see the nation celebrate the Queen’s 90th birthday, with three days of celebrations in central London and later opening on Friday and Saturday for bars and pubs around the country. Many bars and drinks brands are also celebrating by creating cocktails to commemorate the occasion.
Bar operator Bourne & Hollingsworth will be holding an alfresco birthday brunch in Spa Fields, Clerkenwell, London on Saturday June 11, with live music, performances, traditional games and British food and drink.
They will be presenting two special royal drinks (pictured top), designed by assistant group bars manager Evil Jim including “Breakfast is the Most Important Drink of the Day”. This B&H take on a classic Breakfast Martini is inspired by the Queen Mother’s tipple of choice, Dubonnet, and the Queen’s love of marmalade.
Breakfast is the Most Important Drink of the Day
50ml Dubonnet
30ml Rathbone Gin
2 teaspoons Frank Cooper’s Oxford Shredless Marmalade
Glass: Nic-n-Nora glass
Garnish: Slice of lemon
Bloody Republicans!
50ml Rathbone Gin
25ml Lemon juice
5ml “Your favourite hot sauce”
Top with Evil Jim’s Tomato Juice (see recipe below)
Glass: Highball
Garnish: celery stork, rosemary twig and a homemade sausage, by executive chef Adam Gray
*Evil Jim’s Tomato Juice*
2kg Plum tomatoes
2kg Sweet red peppers
1 large red onion
8 storks of celery
1 bulb of garlic
good punch of oregano
ditto maldon salt
ditto ground pepper
large wine glass of Dubonnet
2 teaspoons of Marmite
Chop veg roughly and roast in oven on low temp for 2 hours. Add vermouth for extra oomph. Blitz in food processor and strain. Add tomato puree and extra Dubonnet and Marmite to taste.
At Gong in the Shangri-La Hotel at the Shard in London, the Queen’s birthday is being celebrated with the Queen’s Way cocktail (pictured above) – again made with two royal favourites. It combines Dubonnet and Beefeater 24 gin with ratafia and two dashes of liquorice bitters, served on the rocks with grapefruit peel.
At The American Bar at The Savoy in London, head bartender Erik Lorincz has created a cocktail called the Windsor in Purple. Priced £18, it contains all of what are said to be the Queen’s favourite tipples: Gin, Earl Grey and Dubonnet, and with a nod to her favourite colour, this classic cocktail is garnished with a purple crown made of malt sugar.
Sipsmith has launched a limited-edition bottle of its London Dry Gin to commemorate the landmark birthday, accompanied by ideas for two serves created by its master distiller and drinks historian Jared Brown. The Sipsmith & Dubonnet (pictured below) is based on what is believed to be Queen Elizabeth II’s own recipe for a drink made of 30% gin and 70% Dubonnet, with a slice of lemon under an ice cube.
Sipsmith & Dubonnet
30ml Sipsmith London Dry Gin
70ml Dubonnet
1 lemon slice
Ice cubes
Pour the gin and Dubonnet into a mixing glass with ice cubes and stir well. Strain into a chilled glass. Add the lemon slice, top with an ice cube, and enjoy with an excess of reserved, yet jubilant regal flair.
Sloe Royale
50ml Sipsmith Sloe Gin
25ml Lemon juice
1 Egg white
Champagne to top
Dry shake all ingredients, then add ice and wet shake. Double-strain into a wine glass and top with champagne to form a fruity foam top.
At French restaurant Le Garrick in London’s Covent Garden, a selection of cocktails has been created for this royal weekend. All champagne based, they include The Queen, mixing raspberries with Hendrick’s Gin and lemon juice, the Prince Charles, made with blueberry, ginger, lavender syrup and lime juice, the Prince Harry, combining vodka with sugar and peach puree, and The Duchess of Cambridge, made with rose petal syrup. For those not drinking alcohol, the Little Prince cocktail uses cranberry juice, grapefruit juice, elderflower and lime with mint.
Park Plaza hotels in Leeds, Nottingham and London are celebrating with special drinks menus. Park Plaza Sherlock Holmes in Baker Street is offering a menu of gin-based cocktails, each inspired by an event from 1926 – the year of the Queen’s birth. They include the first British Grand Prix, the highest-ever cricket score at Lords, Agatha Christie’s mysterious 11-day disappearance, the first woman to swim the channel and the first demonstration of a mechanical TV.
Primo Bar at Park Plaza Westminster Bridge in London is serving the Royale 26 Cocktail (pictured below), made with Beefeater Gin, grapefruit juice, pineapple juice, Earl Grey and lemon syrup and champagne. At Tozi bar and restaurant at Park Plaza Victoria in London, the Negroni Regina Cocktail is a mix of Old English Gin, Sipsmith Sloe Gin, Campari and a dash of violet liqueur.
A cocktail called Pomp & Sake-stance is on the menu at Chino Latino bar and restaurant at Park Plaza Leeds, Park Plaza Nottingham and Park Plaza Riverbank in London. At £18, this is a Japanese drink and bar snack combo including a small jug of Junmai sake – pure Japanese rice wine – and a tenkasu roll that is fit for a queen.
Oaks bar and restaurant at Park Plaza Nottingham is offering a limited-edition cocktail The Elizabeth II Pimm’s which is a combination of Pimm’s, Beefeater Gin and prosecco, garnished with cucumber and Nottinghamshire Bramley Apple.
Pimm’s is the official drink of The Patron’s Lunch in The Mall where 10,000 guests will be celebrating the Queen’s birthday this Sunday. They expect to serve 30,000 glasses of Pimm’s on The Mall and The Patron’s Lunch live sites in St James’s Park and Green Park. They have 130 bartenders, 180 kegs of Pimm’s and 5,400kg of ice at the ready. The Pimm’s Footmen will be travelling around on trikes to deliver the drinks to all three sites.
In advance of The Patron’s Lunch, Diageo GB has created a Pimm’s Royale Buckingham Palace jelly, complete with jelly corgis. Measuring one metre long and 20 centimetres high, it has been made with Pimm’s No 1 Cup and Champagne.
Pimm’s brand manager Joanna Segesser added: “Pimm’s is proud to have been an integral part of Great British celebrations since the 1840s and we encourage the public to celebrate this weekend with their own street party – and have a go at making their own Pimm’s Royale jelly!”
