• Erik Ellestad of the Savoy Stomp continues on with his tales of Italy with a photo safari focusing on drink menus and trends.
• Go comment on Matt Rowley’s post on the Whiskey Forge blog to get a chance to win a recipe card set from Tales of the Cocktail 2008! Matt also makes candied peels from the ever strange but aromatic Buddha’s Hand Citron.
• In With Bacchus’ Scott Spolverino quite enjoyed tasting Sweet Leaf Lemon Iced Tea although he’s not quite sure about the can’s artwork.
• Chuck Taggart of the Gumbo Pages shares his excitement about 11/11/11.
• Cocktail Virgin/Slut’s Frederic Yarm provides a summary of Harold McGee and Dave Arnold’s Science of Cocktails seminar at Harvard and a review of the Greater Boston Beverage Society’s Shakin’ It Up event which is a precursor to their Boston Cocktail Week in October 2012 (includes gossip about the new Fee’s bitters flavor for 2012). He also previews four Boston bars that will be opening soon including where Misty Kalkofen will be working, and he gives tasting notes of No. 3 Gin that he tried at a Boston release event at Eastern Standard.
• Darcy O’Neil of Art of Drink recreates the classic sodahouse Chocolate Phosphate drink with both acid phosphate and lactart.
• Alcademic’s Camper English relates stories, recipes, and photos from the Suntory cocktail competition in Japan — I am still blown away by one of the garnishes. Also part of his visit was a tour of Japanese whisky distilleries. Back at home in San Francisco, Camper reviews the new Azucar Lounge and previews Oakland’s Plum Bar. Finally, he makes some garnish-worthy pickled grapes from Can It, Bottle It, Smoke It And Other Kitchen Projects and writes about it on FineCooking.
• Tiare of A Mountain of Crushed Ice reviews a great rum she was introduced to at the UK Rumfest, namely St Nicholas Abbey 12 Year Rum from Barbados. With this “rich and fruity with a touch of spices, wood and caramel” rum, she mixes up one delicious Daiquiri.
• A Jigger of Blog’s Matt Hamlin tinkers around with the Bittermens Commonwealth Tonic Cordial. Instead of a soda or a sweet syrup, this alcohol-laden cordial provides a lot more options for cocktail making.
• Michael Dietsch of A Dash of Bitters passes on some helpful tips on how to host holiday parties in his Cocktails 101 series on Serious Eats. He also shares some cute photos of his home bar’s barback.

Ask for a Martini in most pubs in Britain you’ll likely end up with a glass of vermouth and an odd look from the bartender, and ask about their selection of bitters and you’ll likely be given a list of ales. Despite lagging behind the US in the cultural ubiquity of the cocktail though, the UK does have a burgeoning cocktail scene that is centred around my home town – London. Like any big city London has lots of great bars, and lots of really terrible ones, so in a bid to help you successfully drink your way through the Big Smoke I offer my top three bars in three areas of London – Mayfair, Soho and Notting Hill. The list is by no means comprehensive, and entirely subjective, but certainly makes for a decent starting point.

Mayfair

One of the richest areas of London, Mayfair sits on the edge of Hyde Park and is home to designer shops, Russian oligarchs and five star hotels. Perhaps unsurprisingly the later is where you will find most of the cocktail bars, a hang over from the “American Bars” that sprang up during the start of the 20th century to cater for American tourists and flourished as bartenders fled US prohibition in the 1920s.

Unfortunately the surroundings mean Mayfair isn’t the cheapest place to find a cocktail in London, so expect to spend upwards of £15 per drink – though you do usually get some excellent bar snacks thrown in. Sadly many of the hotel bars seem happy to serve woefully poor quality drinks relying more on their name, prestige and patronage from guests than quality that befits a five star hotel. However, the following bars provide the kind of quality drinks and service that befits Mayfair’s reputation.

The Connaught Bar

Formerly known as the American Bar, the Connaught Bar is reopened last year as part of multimillion pound renovation of the historic Connaught Hotel with Ago Perrone, previously of Montgomery Place in Notting Hill, at the helm. An elegant, luxurious space the Connaught offers a menu of mainly modern cocktail creations often using unusual infusions and bitters, though a great many have their roots in classic drinks. Combining beautiful surroundings, excellent service and superlative drinks, The Connaught Bar is the best hotel bar in London, and one of the best cockail bars full stop.

Connaught Bar, 16 Carlos Place, Mayfair (direct entrance on Mount Street).
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7499 7070

The Dorchester Bar

The Dorchester Bar boasts a lofty reputation with Harry Craddock, of Savoy Cocktail Book fame, acting as head bartender from 1938 until his retirement in 1947. Their menu concentrates on classics, with drinks like the Brooklyn, Mary Pickford and Leap Year, as well as an entire page dedicated to the Gin and Tonic and half a page for vermouths. The bar even has their own gin, Dorchester Old Tom, an Old Tom gin created specially for the hotel based on a traditional eighteenth century recipe. Their Martinez made using a barrel-aged Bokers bitters recreation is highly recommended, and it’s worth asking their highly inventive bar team what other drinks they have been working on lately.

The Dorchester Bar, 53 Park Lane, Mayfair
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7629 8888

Dukes Bar

The Dukes Bar oozes understated sophistication, with a small, simple and elegant bar that wouldn’t seem out of place in a stately home. Dukes prides itself on serving “the best Martinis in the world”, and upon ordering one a small trolley is wheeled over to your table so the drink may be made in front of you. Purists may decry the tiny amount of vermouth used, or the fact that frozen gin in poured directly in to the cocktail glass rather than being mixed and diluted, and to be honest in most other circumstances so might I. However, the surroundings and the service somehow cause me to forget any misgivings I might have and thoroughly enjoy the Martini. If nothing else, it’s worth visiting to say you’ve had a Martini at Dukes.

Dukes Bar, 35-36 St. James’s Place, Mayfair
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7491 4840

Soho

Soho is a world of contrasts. An area where a girls Catholic school can sit next to gay bars and strip clubs. A place where an American diner, an adult cinema and a liquor store can all be found within 100 meters of each other. Despite (or perhaps because of) what picture this may paint, and the reputation that precedes Soho, over the past twenty years it has transformed from seedy to fashionable making it a popular tourist destination and a key location for great cocktail bars.

The Purple Bar at The Sanderson

An opulent mix of rich purple fabrics, chic cut-glass mirrored tiles and raw stone, The Purple Bar is a tiny oasis of quite amazing interior design. The menu is split between a selection of “Modern Martinis”, a variety of new creations using a lot of different fruits, herbs, infusions and juices and served in large cocktail glasses, and a selection of classic drinks ranging from the Vesper to the Brooklyn called “The Martini Collection”. Worth visiting purely to see what the bar looks like, the drinks thankfully match the surroundings making the Purple Bar highly worth a visit.

The Purple Bar, The Sanderson Hotel, 50 Berners Street, Fitzrovia
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7300 1496

Milk and Honey

The London branch of Milk and Honey couldn’t be more different to Sasha Petraske’s famous New York speakeasy. Like it’s New York sibling the bar sits behind an unmarked entrance, and requires reservations for non-members, but here the similarities end. While M&H NY is a small, narrow bar consisting of a handful of booths and a few seats at the bar, M&H London sits across mutiple floors with a main bar, basement area and the exclusive Red Room for members. It does have one other similarity with New York though – the superb drinks. From the classic cocktail driven menu to the drinks bartenders make on request it’s hard to fault Milk and Honey. Reserve ahead and enjoy.

Milk and Honey, 61 Poland Street, Soho
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7292 9949

LAB

Located right in the heart of Soho on Old Compton Street, LAB is one of the bars that kickstarted the cocktail renaissance in London back at the turn of the century. Located over two floors the bar is fairly small and does get very busy, but even when rammed they manage to turn out decent cocktails quickly and consistently. The menu is huge and ranges from classics to modern creations, and the party atmosphere and strong history ensure LAB is something of a pilgrimage for many bartenders visiting London.

LAB, 12 Old Compton Street, Soho
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7437 7820

Notting Hill

Fashionable Notting Hill is home to some of the most expensive houses in London, and the stomping ground for many a celebrity. Inevitably then it features a vibrant restaurant and bar scene, including some of the best cocktail bars in the city. Handily all three bars below are within a few hundred meters of each other, putting them in easy stumbling distance if you’re making an evening of it.

Portobello Star

Once a rough pub, Jake Burger has transformed the Portobello Star in to a charming bar that is heavy on cocktail credentials – including a Jerry Thomas inspired bar menu, genuine vintage Bokers bitters on the back bar and an incredible selection of spirits – but light on pretension or pomp. The mixture of local regulars, curious tourists and off-duty bartenders provide a wonderful atmosphere.

Portabello Star, 171 Portobello Road, Notting Hill
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7229 8016

Montgomery Place

From the amazing selection of spirits and the incredible food served, to the beautiful variety of glassware, julep cups and other drinking vessels they serve their cocktails in and the vintage soda siphons adorning the walls, it’s hard to find fault with Montgomery Place. If you’re lucky you might find Marian Beke behind the bar – a kind of cocktail ninja who makes drinks with such deft precision if you blink you’d miss it. Sort of like flair bartending, only for people who care about drinks.

Montgomery Place, 31 Kensington Park Road, Notting Hill
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7792 3921

Trailer Happiness

London’s Tiki Mecca Trailer Happiness is a shrine to all things 70s and kitsch, including a giant print Tretchikoff’s ‘Chinese Girl’ that is strangely unnerving. As you might expect from the bar that hosts London’s Rum Club, Trailer Happiness has a massive selection of rums and a menu that splits between classic tiki and more traditional cocktails. Between the kitsch and the rum, it’s hard not to have fun at Trailer Happiness.

Trailer Happiness, 177 Portobello Road, Nottling Hill
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7727 2700

Elsewhere

While that may seem an extensive roundup, I’ve left out a great many bars that could have easily been included. Hawksmoor, Quo Vadis, Green & Red, Salvatore’s, Saf, Callooh Callay… the list goes on. Britain may not be a cocktail drinking country, but London sure is a cocktail drinking city.