Rule Britannia!

These British cocktails are worthy of a royal celebration

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Wedding bells will be ringing this spring at Windsor Castle and you are going to need some cocktails to celebrate, too. With this as inspiration, let’s take a glance at some iconic British tipples and learn how to make them.

First, let’s step inside The American Bar at London’s Savoy Hotel, home to two of the world’s most influential bartenders, Ada Coleman and Harry Craddock. Coleman, the Savoy’s first and only female head bartender, gave us the pleasantly bitter Hanky Panky cocktail in the early 1900s. A couple decades later, Craddock, who authored The Savoy Cocktail Book that’s found on every self-respecting bartender’s bookshelf, created the Corpse Reviver #2, a bright citrus cocktail with a hint of absinthe.

Fast forward a few decades to the 1980s and the Bramble, a new classic created by legendary barman Dick Bradsell. It is a simple gin libation topped with French blackberry liqueur, perfect for any spring fling. Allow me to humbly throw in a Brit-inspired cocktail of my own with these iconic classics and you will have everything you need for a truly royal celebration.

Something old, something new. Justin Taylor has recreated 3 classic British cocktails, and made a new British-inspired cocktail of his own. From left to right: Corpse Reviver #2, Gins and Roses, Bramble, Hanky Panky. Jennifer Gauthier photo.

—by Justin Taylor

Make these British cocktails at your next celebration:
Corpse Reviver #2
Gins and Roses
Bramble
Hanky Panky

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