Mover and shakers, Diageo promo, GQ, 2012
From the 10,000 bartenders that entered the World Class Cocktail Competition, the London Cocktail Club’s Andy Mil will be representing the UK as one of the 47 country winners in the global final and is packing his bags for Brazil
[I used to pass the London Cocktail Club on the way home every night from the GQ office and I’d marvel at the size of the queue outside. Cocktails were not my sort of thing, but the cult of the ‘mixologist’ was huge in London at the time – and we did a fair amount of promos for drinks companies because of it. One of the great perks of GQ was how often you’d leave the office with a bottle of booze in your bag.]
Beneath Mr Topper’s sensibly priced hairdressers on Fitzrovia’s Goodge Street sits the London Cocktail Club, a cave like, below-street refuge that, this morning, is home to four black bins crammed with spent champagne bottles and the amounts of fruit peel you’d expect to see in a large, municipal zoo. “It was a great night,” enthuses Andy Mel, the UK’s No. 1 World Class Bartender, “but most nights are like that down here.”
A light switch is tapped and the saloon style interior flickers to life. Owing much to the reclamation yard – the bar is from an old hotel – this isn’t a cocktail venue in a traditional sense, nor is it a speakeasy. “I’d class it as a ‘speakloudly’,” Andy informs. “Have you ever been down here on a Friday night? It’s not really loud, but there’s a lot of atmosphere. The idea was to take elements of a classic cocktail bar, but mix it with the best aspects of a British pub.”
An old head on young shoulders, Andy oversees three London Cocktail Club sites. “I manage the managers,” he says. The business started in 2009 after owners JJ Goodman and James Hopkins won the third series of BBC Two reality TV show The Restaurant. The first prize was to go into business with renowned chef Raymond Blanc.
Andy’s next task is to represent the UK in the World Class Global Final in the decidedly cocktail-friendly Rio de Janeiro. If Andy is successful, the rest of the year will prove a blur of global travel, with the UK’s No. 1 World Class Bartender showcasing his serves in a variety of sumptuous locations, while backing up his product knowledge visiting a variety of distilleries.
“Type ‘Rio’ into Google and it comes up with ‘beach volleyball’,” Andy smiles. “So there’s that, but I’m also looking forward to meeting up with other world-class bartenders. It’s a unique chance to witness new techniques styles and flavours.”
For now, this W1 hangout needs a thorough swab before the first walk-ins, and those rind-stuffed bins won’t empty themselves. At street level, it’s raining so hard that gutters are flowing like the Amazon. “Rio can’t come soon enough,” Andy says.
Now in its fourth year, the World Class Cocktail Competition has become a firm fixture for prominent bartenders. UK champion Andy Mil is heading to the Global Final with four key cocktails, which you can now recreate in your own home.
Stir crazy: The world-class cocktails of UK’s top bartender make use of Johnnie Walker Blue Label blended whisky, Don Julio Anejo tequila and Talisker 10 Year Old single malt whisky.
Red, White & Blue Blazer
Vessel: Wine glass
Ingredients:
75ml Johnnie Walker Blue Label blended whisky
15ml mulled-wine syrup
15ml coconut milk
60ml water
3 units
Method: “Flame” the whisky and syrup in a shaker and cool with the coconut milk water. Garnish with grated nutmeg.
Dog Day Afternoon
Vessel: Cocktail glass
Ingredients:
50ml Don Julio Anejo tequila
25ml lemon juice
15ml sugar syrup
15ml dark-brown crème de cacao
1 dash Tabasco
½ egg white
2 units
Method: Shake and strain into a cocktail glass and garnish with chilli and lemon twist.
Sugar Mama
Vessel: Cocktail glass
Ingredients:
50ml Don Julio Anejo tequila
40ml pineapple juice
30ml lime juice
20ml Orgeat
10ml Campari
2½ units
Method: Shake and strain. Garnish with lemon twist and a floating mint leaf.
Flip’n’blow
Vessel: Half-pint glass
Ingredients:
50ml Talisker 10 Year Old single-malt whisky
25ml mead
25ml beer
25ml golden syrup
1 whole egg
2¾ units
Method: Shake and strain. Garnish with nutmeg and a smouldering match.