REVIEW : New cocktail menu, Hawksmoor Edinburgh
Hawksmoor have most certainly shaken and not stirred their new cocktail menu. This is the first overhaul of the drinks menu in over ten years and they’ve certainly produced some absolute crackers! (just in time for Christmas).
The menu has 26 new drinks split into five sections : Highballs, Fizzes and Spritz; The Hawksmoor Classics, Flyby Five; Cocktails & Dreams and Temperates. The masterminds behind the new list are Hawksmoor's Head of Bars Liam Davy and top mixologist Nick Strangeway who was responsible for creating the bar's original list back in 2006.
Two important things to note about this new cocktail menu are:
The bar's commitment to sustainability, cutting the use of imported fruit by 60%, minimising waste and focusing on UK and local suppliers as much as possible.
Sprezzatura - the art of making something complex look simple. Such geniuses are Liam and Nick, that the cocktails look seamless, flawless and simple to make but they hide complex techniques and ingredients.
I went along to try out some of these new cocktails and was blown away!
A REVIEW OF THE NEW COCKTAIL MENU HAWKSMOOR, EDINBURGH
Reformed Pornstar (£12)
Absolut Elyx, passionfruit, jasmine tea, champagne. In an unlikely turn of events the Pornstar Martini, that pinnacle of sweet, silly London excess, here meets the 17th Century clarified milk punch.
Absolutely delicious! A stand out cocktail on the night.
Hawksmoor Calling (£10)
Beefeater Gin, Salisbury Honey, chamomile, Fino sherry, fizz. A long, dry remix of an old favourite, the Hawksmoor Collins, that draws a little on that great London millennial, Milk & Honey's London Calling.
Very refreshing with a slight sour/sweet note at the end.
Douglas Fir Silver Bullet (£14)
Hepple Vodka, Douglas Fir, Kummel, dill. Perfectly bracing aperitif made with moorland vodka infused with Douglas Fir needles, freshend Scandi-style with a little dill.
Wow, this packs a punch and a lovely alcohol burn. If you like something that takes your breathe away, this is the one for you.
Ginza Highball (£10)
Scotch, apple, lemon verbena, soda. Tokyo gold. A liquid hymn to Ginza's old school cocktail bars where white-jacketed bartenders have long mixed highballs with painstaking precision. Refreshing, delicate, moreish.
For a whisky cocktail, this is quite sweet and tastes like juice. You’ll want to keep drinking this all night long.
Grapefruit Sgroppino (£9.5)
Atlos tequila, lime sorbet, grapefruit, pink salt. Icy, bright, clean. This 'little unknotter' gives our popular Grapefruit Picador the Venetian slushy treatment.
A classic cocktail and definitely one of my favourites. The lemon kicks in at the start and turns quite salty towards the bottom of the cocktail. Fabulous!
Le Crunch 75 (£9.5)
Somerset cider brandy, Normandy apple aperitif, Champagne. Anglo-French apples-to-booze alchemy, refreshed with champagne.
Loved this and loved the wee crunchy mini apple! This tastes like a slightly sweet apple cider with a decent amount of fizz. Beautiful.
Nine Inch Nail (£13)
Glendronach peated whisky, Edinburgh amaro, Rosehip. Three distinctly Scottish ingredients come together in this updated version of the ultimate version of the 'dad-digestif', the Rusty Nail. Still as smooth as the Rat Pack favourite, but with a little more edge - Frank's Nice 'n' Easy gets a little Closer to God NIИ-style.
Far too easy to drink.
Pink Squirrel (£12)
Fords Gin, passionfruit, Campari, white chocolate. What to do with a much-mocked 1940s 'silly drink'? Increase the pink. We've also dialled down the cloying creaminess and sprinkled on some Campari 'fairy' dust.
If you want a beautiful looking cocktail, this is the one and it tastes lush too.
Sour-cherry Americano (£8.5)
Belsazar vermouth, Campari, cherry juice, soda. Long, tart, refreshing. With juice from our in-house preserved cherries.
Anything with cherries in it, and I’m happy. Quite tart but comes with a massive cherry hit.
Thankfully Hawksmoor were kind enough to provide some snacks and food from their amazing menus and we tucked into
Langoustine scampi which is just the best.
Beef and Hogget bon bons, just scrumptious.
Hawksmoor beef burgers and fries.
Cauliflower bon bons.
Hawksmoor restaurant is impressive as is everything about it from their food to their wine and now their cocktails. Absolutely without a doubt a place to go for cocktails in Edinburgh.
Check out their cocktail menu here
Hawksmoor, West Register Street, Edinburgh, EH2 2AA. Tel : 0131 526 4790
My Spoon Award : Tartan Spoon 10/10
I was invited by Hawksmoor to review their menu. Food and drink were complimentary but the views are very much my own.