Cocktails in the City 2016 ★★★★★ One Mayfair, review

For seasoned cocktail aficionados and recent enthusiasts, Cocktails In The City is a great way of experiencing the best of London’s bar scene, with a selection of new cocktails from the most exciting mixologists in town. Think all the fun of a pub crawl, but all in one place and with much classier drinks.

This year's line up of bars includes Paris’ hip Little Red Door and the glamorous Ruby from Copenhagen plus more familiar local favourites such as 1940’s underground bar, Cahoots.

Guests are greeted with a feasting table full of pita bread, tzatziki, guacamole dips and platters of barbecue chicken and spare ribs. There's also popcorn and cheesy nachos to soak up the booze.

Try the Winter’s End, from Brixton's Sovereign Loss bar. Inspired by the citrus flavours of the Southafrican baobab tree, it's sour without being too bitter and topped off with apple sherbet. Clapham bar Powder Keg Diplomacy have an interesting take on a classic gimlet, a traditional sailor’s drink supposed to get rid of scurvy. You may not be entirely convinced by the nutritional properties of Plymouth gin combined with a cordial made from two different types of carrot, but if you want to feel healthy, it's surprisingly rejuvenating and refreshing.

We loved Dishoom’s Edwina’s Affair cocktail inspired by the love triangle between the last imperialists in India and the country’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. Based on the concept of starting with a story and ending with a drink, the cocktail is set around the tale of Lord Mountbatten, last British Viceroy of the subcontinent and his wife Edwina- an English rose- who fell in love with Nehru. The drink combines the three elements: the rose petal Lanique liqueur for Edwina, Indian cardamom for Nehru and the traditional Hayman’s London dry gin for the British Mountbatten.



Some offerings are a little gimmicky — the Oxo Tower’s Love Buzz, made up of tequila, vermouth and Yuzu, was cloyingly sweet with a harsh aftertaste. Reverend J.W. Simpson bar's duo cocktail Stairway to Heaven and Highway to Hell did not live up to it's intriguing name: a single vodka shot with a vanilla stick, followed by a 'hellish' punch with tangerine and cayenne pepper was disappointing.

But, the vast selection of creative cocktails on offer and the expert bar managers who are always happy to tell you more about the drink, make for an enjoyable, novel and very boozy evening out.


Tickets are £15 and include one cocktail, complimentary cocktail experiences and a cocktail booklet.