London bar Nightjar has launched the second edition of its Arts & Craft cocktail menu, which celebrates the innovations of independent producers and homemade ingredients.
The Arts & Crafts philosophy flourished in Europe and North America between 1880 and 1920. Looking at the synergy between bartenders and artists, Nightjar’s head bartender Antonio Pescatori and the team call upon this period’s highly decorative fine-art flourishes to inform the menu.
While the menu remains divided into the bar’s traditional four sections, spanning the history of the cocktail (Pre-Prohibition, Prohibition, Post-War and Nightjar Signatures), it embraces a new range of non-alcoholic products available, including Seedlip, Three Spirit and Everleaf.
The refreshed list also features a number of new distillates, liqueurs and bitters from niche producers, such as Empirical Spirits, H Theoria, Electric Bitters and Liqueurs, Rebel Rabbet and Kew Orangerie Triple Sec.
Highlights include Tickle My Fancy, made with Theodore Gin, Electric Liqueur, pennyroyal cordial, Rinomato Bianco, aperitivo, fizzy muscat candy, fresh-squeezed tangerine and lime juice.
Taking inspiration from the quintessential English saying which means to ‘produce amusement’, the Electric Liqueur used is made from electric daisies, which produce a natural tingling sensation.
From the Signature section, Groucho combines Bulleit Rye, peaty spelt infusion, Einstok Toasted Porter, oak-spiced honegar, Mancino Chinato and fresh grapefruit.
The drink takes its name from Julius ‘Groucho’ Marx, widely considered to be America’s greatest comedian and often pictured with a cigar in hand. The drink is stirred down, woody and malty, with the finishing touch of a playful chocolate cigar in honour of the cocktail’s namesake.
