The Cocktail Trading Co. - Merchant House - The Bottle Shop Popup / Love and Scandal

Bar, bar, popup, have you any booze?

Yes sir, Yes sir, booze booze booze.

Tuesday 27th January - Kicking off post #200 (hooray!) is The Cocktail Trading Co. (Development Bar and Table) - catchy.

Three of the bar world's finest and funnest - is this a word? - gents have joined forces to take over Central & Co.'s basement bar (previously the quirky but empty & Co.).  Andy Mill, Elliot Ball & Olly Brading are the dream team bringing their combined experience from the likes of London Cocktail Club, Covent Garden Cocktail Club and Steam and Rye to the development bar and table.

If you manage to grab one of the handful of tables, you'll soon find yourself stuffing your face with monkey nuts whilst trying to read from their adorable little cocktail booklets in very low, funky light. I'm usually keen to sit up at the bar to maximise bartender face time, but they really work the room well at CTC so this isn't a problem.

The booklet eases you in gently with Clover Clubs, Bellinis and Margaritas (perhaps not needed in the menu?) before getting on to their bonkers house drinks.

I started with a Sauvignon Private Ryan served in a ration tin with dog tags.  Calvados, Dry Sherry and Sauvignon Blanc combine to good effect here alongside lemon juice and cardamom & passionfruit syrup, without tipping too far in to sweet territory.  Next up was the super Scout's Honour, a Tommy's Margarita twist with smoked marshmallow syrup in place of agave, served with roasted marshmallows and a tin of scouting essentials.  Then came 欢迎到肯塔基州, a combo of Bourbon, Ginger & Plum, Yuzu Juice and Matcha Tea, presented in a noodle soup box topped with chopstick straws and edible noodle crisps.  The Chinese name on the website printed above translates as "Welcome to Kentucky" but the characters in the cocktail booklet say something closer to "Sexy Dolphins", so be careful...  

The fun continues with more boozy creations appearing in wellies, upturned bells and urns. Nutty presentation normally comes with a hefty price tag, but CTC keeps everything in the reasonable £8-9 region.

Sauvignon Private Ryan

For Whom The Bell Bols

Many of the house drinks are a little on the sweet side for me though, so I started going off-menu, which isn't a problem at all when there are top bartenders queuing up to try something else. Highlights included The Last Call (a twist on The Last Word with smoky mezcal replacing the gin), and a sublime Negroni made with Martin Miller's Westbourne Gin and the new Belthazar Red Vermouth which seems to be hugely popular with the trade.

Quirky house drinks, classics, shots, good tunes and great staff all add up to create a lively, little party bar that Soho will welcome with open arms.  As I was leaving, many more sessions were just starting, and I'm glad I squeezed in a quick shot with the wonderful Wilkes on the way out - cheers!

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Wednesday 28th January - Bar #2 on the blog today is Merchant House, a hidden gem in the City from the reliable London Bar Consultants.  Compared to CTC's tiny basement, Merchant House is an underground palace, centred around a magnificent bar stocked with an outrageous range of rum and gin (amongst other things).

First you have to find it though, and that requires knowing the backstreets of Bank pretty well.  Then you'll walk through their door in to The Pantry, a currently unmanned room full of booze which is soon to become their shop for showing off lesser known and vintage spirits amongst other delights. Try not to get distracted and head downstairs to the main bar where you will most probably be greeted by Nate or Lewis, the London Bar Consultants themselves.

It was a busy evening when we popped in, with a private party on one side, a Gin Journey group on another, and various tables set up for a D1 Gin masterclass.  The hilarious Hebe looked after us all evening, keeping us thoroughly entertained (and watered) in our cosy corner.

House drinks are around the £12.50 mark which may put some off, but they are all made with premium ingredients (by excellent bartenders), and Merchant House favour a boozy 8:2:1 ratio in most of the cocktails to allow their fine spirits to shine.  We kicked off with two glorious pre-bottled numbers which will eventually be available to buy (or refill) upstairs.  

The Red Dragon is the perfect vehicle for Diplomatico Exclusiva Reserva, a fabulous, affordable rum.  It's masterfully supported by Cocchi di Torino, house curacao, and orange and spiced chocolate bitters, making it an all-booze affair.  It's serious and unmissable. 

The Red Dragon

On a similar theme, The Chocolate Negroni is worth every penny, making great use of brand new 58 Gin (big fan), Belthazar Red Vermouth (told you it's everywhere), and bitters, with a chocolate covered cherry subtly adding cocoa-based bitterness to the drink.  Note to drinkers - the cherry probably has a stone in.  Tim found out the hard way.

The Chocolate Negroni

We moved off house drinks after that, trying out simple and sweet 58 Gin Bergamot Gimlets and a marvellous Mezcal Martinez concoction that I'm definitely going to attempt at home.

58 Bergamot Gimlet

As we sipped on our cocktails, the owners of D1 London Gin made their way around the room, providing tasters of their stylish gin, alongside some fine examples of it in the field including a Dry Martini, a Hanky Panky (still unconvinced by Fernet) and a G&T.  Merchant House run many (often complimentary) masterclasses which you simply have to reserve a space for - check their website regularly for event updates.  

You can also join The Connoisseur's Collective member's club for only £50 which I highly recommend. As well as granting you access to special events, you also get a shot of whatever spirit features in your cocktail on the side every time.  Win.

D1 London Gin Masterclass - one of many free events at Merchant House

You can't go wrong at Merchant House.  Set aside an evening, and some cash, and make yourself comfortable.  They'll do the rest.

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Friday 29th January - Last but not least, here are some photos from an all too brief craft beer pop-up from The Bottle Shop folk at Love & Scandal on Lower Marsh. I had hoped it would be around for longer (that's tonight's plan out the window), but a little bird tells me that The Bottle Shop are hoping to announce an exciting new partnership soon.  Keep an eye on @BottleShopPop for the latest news.

UPDATE: I rocked up to Love and Scandal last night (13/2), and they are keeping it as a bar in the evenings, with a fine selection of cans and bottles provided by The Bottle Shop.  They aim to bring in some taps soon, and they are working on a proper food menu having recently sorted out a kitchen downstairs.  It's a very pleasant, relaxed spot for a few drinks near Waterloo, providing the Young Vic and Scooter Caffe with some much needed competition.  I've also just seen a pretty good looking brunch menu on Twitter today, so they are worth keeping tabs on.

City of London Distillery Bar - Rotary Room - Far Rockaway

Tuesday 22nd October - Ahead of Halloween this Thursday, I was invited to a preview evening of spooky drinks at the City of London Distillery Bar, hosted by the London Bar Consultants.  Nate Brown and Lewis Hayes are an experienced pair who first worked together in The Living Room in Manchester.  Nate has since had a big hand in setting up the London Cocktail Club chain, whilst Lewis has worked all over, including as the Bar Manager at Ronnie Scott's (best seat in the house, and free jazz piano lessons).  

London Bar Consultants - Nate, Lewis and Alfie

At CoLD Bar, they have decided to train up some bartenders from scratch, as they want to get fresh ideas from people who haven't been in the bar trade their whole working lives.  Our bartender for the evening was Rob, who got the job after seeing an ad on Gumtree!  He had no bar experience before, and after only a few months is now the brains behind their special Halloween menu, The Horrors of Gin Lane.

Gumtree Ginster Rob

The special menu will be available from Thursday 31st October to Saturday 2nd November.  There are 6 one-off cocktails available, all at £9.50, as well as some deadly Blood Shots (more on those later) for £3.50. Taro and I started off with a Poison Apple which isn't listed on the menu below but will be by Thursday.  It was possibly the best drink of the night - a spicy fruity concoction laced with gin and garnished with a miniature toffee apple.  The poison refers to the fiery pepper tincture which has more and more of an effect as the drink goes on.

We worked our way through the rest of the menu, moving on to an Eye-Ball Martini (complete with a hideous lychee & blueberry eyeball garnish), a Black Cat (a very boozy sweet iced coffee with a liquorice cat tail) and the Witches' Brew (served as a potion in a bottle).  The Tom Collins Cadaver is filled with "blood and guts" and topped with chewy edible maggots, and the Blood Bath involves making a trick or treat choice which I won't spoil.  Rob has had a lot of fun with the presentation, but has also made six dangerously drinkable cocktails along the way.  Try them all!

With the cocktails all sampled, it was time to move on to the Blood Shots, all made with City of London Gin.  Rob lined up a worrying number of glasses - Nate & Lewis were getting involved, as were seasoned drinkers Wilkes, Su-Ling, Andrew (Motley Spicer), Alex (Yelp) and Gavin (Blood, Sweat and Fashion). You can select Type A (redcurrant), Type B (plum), Type O (tomato) or mix A and B together to get Type AB!  The Bloody Mary style Type O was the winner for me, but they were all tasty.  I would imagine that tables are booking up pretty fast for this one off ghoulish gin event so email info@londonbarconsultants.co.uk to secure a spot.

If you can't make it to their Halloween event, there are plenty of other reasons to come - 217 in fact. CoLD Bar must hold the London (or even world) record for stocking the widest range of gins.  There were 217 when we visited, but there are probably even more by now, as they are visited every week by new distillers handing over sample bottles.  What makes this all the more impressive is that they have a distillery on site, run by Master Distiller Jamie Baxter, where City of London Dry Gin is distilled.  It shows a lot of confidence to force your own gin to compete against every other variety in the world!

Jamie was on site that evening, and was kind enough to give us a quick tour of his distillery, talking us through the process.  Tours are open to the public between 12pm and 3pm on the hour.  You can also sign up for masterclasses and even make your own batch of gin if you so wish!  Jamie has plans to release a second gin with more spices to form the base of the City of London Gin brand, before getting a bit more experimental next year.

Jamie Baxter - Master Distiller of City of London Dry Gin

Last thing to mention is the Connoisseurs' Collective, a new membership club (one-off £50 fee) from the London Bar Consultants for CoLD Bar which gets you all sorts of discounts and invites to special events.  Most importantly, every time you order a drink, you get a shot of the gin used neat on the side for your sipping pleasure.  A no-brainer for London based gin fans.

Connoisseurs' Collective

I dragged myself away eventually and scampered across town to meet flatmate Maggie who has sneaked up to 4th place on the Team List Leaderboard with a series of late appearances.  We dropped in to the Rotary Room, underneath Rotary Bar and Diner near Old Street.  The Rotary Room is usually a members only bar, but we were on the guestlist for Tweat Up Meet Up, a chilled evening organised by Street Feast and Tweat Up to say thanks to all traders, workers, and bloggers for support during the first "Summer of Grub".  Cans of Camden Hells Lager were on the house, so we grabbed a couple and found a table.

It's a good looking bar, with attractive mismatching lights and mirrors all around.  The fairly-lit walk to the bar (down a staircase that is open to the elements) is reminiscent of the Gin Store at the Merchant Yard Street Feast site.  It is a shame that Rotary is only a temporary establishment, but hopefully they are going to relocate somewhere nearby.  Try and talk your way in before it disappears!

Now that the clocks have gone back, and storms are raging, it is time for the street food vendors to move indoors.  Tweat Up and Street Feast have just announced their winter project called Hawker House down the road from Broadway Market, which will run on Fridays and Saturdays for 6 weeks starting on the 8th November.  They have managed to get a 2am late license which they have never had before, and these guys know how to throw a party.  They have swapped the Gin Store for a Whisky Bar (complete with a Random Whisky Generator for the indecisive), and they will also have a Hot Bar serving up heart-warming cocktails.

They will have competition in the form of Night Tales, an alternative night market that is setting up shop over two floors of a car park near Dalston Junction.  They will also have hot drinks as well as a Mezcal mezzanine, and a Negroni station.  They have secured some excellent street food vendors including BAO and Patty & Bun, and are open Thursday-Saturday every week (starting one day before Hawker House on November 7th).  The setting sounds magical with canopies, warm lighting and planted trees, and the space will also house a WWII bunker hosting "weekly live visual art and a series of interactive exhibitions".  There is more than enough room in London for two excellent night markets, and I look forward to going to both of them!  If you can't wait til next week, there is also Kerb's Halloween Hellraiser event this Friday (1st November), 6-11pm in King's Cross.

Anyway, I digress! Maggie and I decided to grab one more drink elsewhere since we were far from home, so we walked for a few minutes to get to Far Rockaway on Curtain Road, a Queens NY inspired bar and diner covered head to toe in urban art.  We stuck to Camden beer (pale ale this time) and had a wander around.  The arty bartenders were keen to show us their favourite pieces, which is a good way to break yourself in when there is so much to see.  It is a big site so it could have ended up looking a bit tacky, but they have carried off confidently, and as a result it's a fascinating place to drink.

There are lovely little touches all around, including security cameras dressed as vultures, skateboards lining the ceiling, and bottles adorned with faces looking out at the street.  If you ask nicely, they will show you in to the private room which is full of some pretty risqué art from Saki & Bitches which you can see on Wilkes blog here - NSFW warning!

There are some interesting bottled beers, though they are fairly pricey so you might want to stick to draught.  Food-wise there is plenty to choose from, including 18" pizzas, burgers and sandwiches. You should be able to find a table as it is huge, though I can imagine it will get crazy busy here at the weekends.

There is one particularly cosy section that feels more like a café, with a wall of comic books for you to pick and choose from.  It looks like they have a vast collection, though I'm not an authority so I can't really comment any further than that.  I highly recommend paying Far Rockaway a visit, but don't expect to sit still!  It might be best to go during the afternoon on a Saturday or Sunday for a drink and a good look around, or perhaps some quiet time with one of their 4000 comics.  

Thanks to Su-Lin Ong for the CoLD Bar invite, and to London Bar Consultants and Tweat Up for the complimentary drinks.  The two prairie oysters from Nate were possibly a tad unnecessary after all the blood shots!  Who knows how many more they had after I left.  Taro picks up just 1 point (but a very fun one), and Maggie gets a speedy 2.