The bartenders have created Beefeater punch recipes, promoted via Pernod Ricard’s gin website, www.ginandtales.com. Nick Strangeway’s Jubilee Punch (pictured) mixes Beefeater Gin with ingredients that hold a Royal Warrant or have a royal association. It will be available at chef Mark Hix’s restaurants and bars throughout the summer, such as Mark’s Bar at Hix in Soho where the drink goes by the name of a Royal Warranted Punch.
Jubilee Punch
2 parts Beefeater London Dry Gin
1 part Dubonnet
1 part Hawkers Sloe Gin
½ part Grants Morella Cherry Liqueur
½ part Jo Hilditch British Cassis
½ part Jo Hilditch British Framboise
A splash of Kings Ginger Liqueur
3 dashes of Angostura Bitters
1 part Lemon Juice
4 parts Earl Grey Tea (chilled)
4 parts Mumm champagne
Build the ingredients in a punch bowl or jug and top with ice. Garnish with fresh seasonal berries and currants, lemon wheels and borage flowers. Serve with punch glasses or highball glasses.
Dre Masso has created the Royal Jamboree Punch, a fruity twist on the traditional recipe, made by stirring together 300ml of Beefeater with five tablespoons of strawberry jam, five tablespoons of lemon juice, 100ml of Dubonnet and 300ml of red grape juice in a punch bowl or jug, making sure the jam mixes thoroughly. Add ice and garnish with lemon wheels, fresh strawberries sliced in half and sliced red grapes before topping it all up with lemonade.
Beefeater brand ambassador Sebastian Hamilton-Mudge has come up with the Beefeater Garden Party Punch to celebrate “the quintessential English country garden”:
3 parts Beefeater London Dry Gin
3 parts Sparkling English wine
2 parts Pressed pear or apple juice
1 part Fresh lemon juice
1 part Elderflower cordial
½ part Sugar syrup
Stir all the ingredients with a large ice block and serve in a punch blow or large jug with highball glasses. Garnish with pear and apple slices.
Thousands of street parties are planned across the country and, with the extra bank holiday and extended opening hours on June 1 and 2, many bars are organising their own outside events. Archer Street bar in Soho, London, is taking the lead with a party in its street, decorating it with bunting and having its all-singing staff leading people in British sing-alongs. They have created a Jubilee cocktail made with Martin Miller’s Gin, Chase Rhubarb Liqueur, Lady Grey tea, rose syrup, cranberry juice and rhubarb bitters, served in a vintage teapot.
The Flag Flyer
50ml London dry gin
20ml Monin Elderflower syrup
15ml Monin Coconut fruit mix
25ml Pressed apple juice
20ml Lime juice
Egg white
10ml Monin Grenadine syrup
Rim a champagne flute with blue-coloured sugar, Pour the grenadine syrup into the glass. Shake the rest of the ingredients and pour them carefully into the glass. Garnish with an Opies Cocktail Cherry.
The use of British ingredients in jubilee cocktails means that gin is the spirit of choice in many of the serves being created. An exclusive commemorative bottling has been released of Portobello Road Gin to mark the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. Just 500 bottles have been produced at the micro-distillery above the Portobello Star in London’s Notting Hill, each individually numbered. The gin is being promoted for a Street Party Punch, combining it with Pol Roger Brut champagne, watermelon juice, Robinson’s Lemon Barley Water, freshly squeezed lemon juice and Angostura Bitters.
First Drinks is promoting a light sweeter serve using its Bénédictine liqueur.
50ml Bénédictine
6 British raspberries
1 Drop of orange blossom water
25ml Fresh lemon juice
1 Fresh medium egg white
15ml Whipping cream
1 Barspoon of castor sugar
50ml Cold soda water
Crush the raspberries and sugar in a Boston mixing glass, before adding the egg white and fresh lemon juice. Next, add the Bénédictine and orange blossom water, followed by the cream. Add ice to fill the glass, cap, and shake hard for 15 seconds. Fine-strain the drink into a chilled straight highball glass which has been filled with the 50ml of cold soda water, ensuring that all the frothy egg white passes through without the seeds from the raspberries or any ice. Garnish with a single raspberry floating on the surface and a lemon twist.
Maxxium UK is promoting some simple mixed drinks “for toasting the Queen” using The Famous Grouse whiskies. They include The Royal Rust made from the juice from one wedge of lime and 25ml of The Famous Grouse poured over cubed ice in a tall glass, topped up with Schweppes Ginger Beer and stirred. The Snow Queen is the juice from one wedge of lime, 25ml of The Snow Grouse grain whisky and 12.5ml of Thorncroft Wild Elderflower cordial poured over cubed ice, topped up with Schweppes Lemonade and stirred.
The classic Royale sparkling cocktail serve is a perfect partner for royal celebrations this June. A simple twist is the Chambord Kir Imperial, pouring 10ml of Chambord black raspberry liqueur into a champagne flute, topped up with champagne and finished off with a raspberry. Another British twist on a classic is the English Martini:
English Martini
15ml Chambord
35ml Bombay Sapphire gin
40ml Pineapple juice
Shake and strain and pour into a Martini glass. Garnish with a raspberry.
Another simple recipe is the Royal Blush, built over ice in a highball glass with 25ml of Chambord and 25ml of Bombay Sapphire gin, topped up with lemonade and garnished with fresh lime.
Mixologist Andy Pearson has come up with some cocktail ideas on his website, www.intoxicology.co.uk, such as a Royal Highball, mixing cognac, Monin Sugar Cane Syrup and strawberries, and a Royal Tea Party using gin, Lipton Iced Tea and champagne. Another celebratory recipe is the Cosmo Royale (pictured):
Cosmo Royale
35ml Vodka
15ml Triple sec
15ml Fresh lime juice
25ml Eager Cranberry Juice
Top with a splash of champagne
Shake all of the non-sparkling ingredients over ice and double-strain into a chilled Martini glass. Add a splash of champagne and garnish with an orange zest.
For full recipes for all of these and more of Andy Pearson’s cocktails, visit www.intoxicology.co.uk.
At The Bar at the Dorchester hotel in London, bar manager Giuliano Morandin has created Her Majesty’s Cup, a combination of Earl Grey-infused berries, rhubarb, Hendrick’s gin and champagne, served in a teapot, teacup and saucer commissioned especially for the bar. Available throughout the summer, the cocktail costs £16. The recipe, for 12 servings, can be viewed on the jubilee page of the Dorchester’s website.
One royally-themed gin-based cocktail has been on the menu at the bar at the Gilbert Scott restaurant at London’s St Pancras Renaissance Hotel since it opened last year. The Queen Mother’s Cocktail is made with Bombay Sapphire gin, Bénédictine, lemon, rhubarb and Dubonnet – the late Queen Mother’s favourite tipple – plus champagne.
A special jubilee cocktail menu has been introduced at Hilton’s Trafalgar Hotel in London, at its Vista rooftop bar (pictured) with views over central London. The Queen’s Martini is a floral and refreshing drink made with Bloom Gin, elderflower, lemongrass, lime and a splash of rose water and hints of lychee and raspberry. The Smooth Elizabeth, inspired by the Queen’s favourite dessert, is a silky and delicate cocktail based on Jamaican rum and vanilla liqueur plus Drambuie, butterscotch and double cream. The inspiration for the Royal Delight is the regal crown, bringing its own “golden sparkle” by mixing limoncello, cherry liqueur and champagne.
Updated June 1, 2012
