PATRÓN tequila, an alcohol company who produce the traditional Mexican liquor using artisanal, classic processes in house at their Hacienda Patrón, Mexico, held a cocktail lab at London Cocktail Week, like they do every year.
View of the bar at the Patrón cocktail lab
The Patrón Cocktail Lab hosted some of best bartenders from across the world and each brought a taste of their own city’s cocktail scene to London Cocktail Week. Each day a different city and country was represented by a renowned bartender, who presented a signature cocktail they had designed which used a Patrón tequila alongside local ingredients from their city – the aim was to take Londoners on a whistle-stop tour of the major cocktail cities worldwide.
The week began with bartender Nikos Bakoulis from The Clumsies, Athens, Greece. Bakoulis is credited with contributing to making Athens an international drinking destination by pushing creativity with cocktails to new levels. Bakoulis’ signature cocktail is Patrón Echo – a spicy, but refreshing due to the inclusion of a fresh cucumber and courgette sugar syrup.
Patrón Echo Cocktail
Next up was bartender José Luis León from Limantour, Mexico City, Mexico. León has spent his esteemed career travelling and bartending across the world, but now he has settled in Mexico City. León’s signature cocktail was It’s Summer – it aimed to keep summer on the mind all year long as it’s sparkling, refreshing and fruity.
Patrón cocktail lab bar on Tuesday
On Wednesday, Patrón transported Londoners East to Shanghai, China. The featured bartender was Shingo Gokan, a Japanese cocktail expert and owner of the bar he represented, Speak Low in Shanghai. Gokan’s focus is strong, bold flavours from both Asia and other regions of the world. Gokan’s signature cocktail was called Tom Yum and included Thai ingredients as well as a herbal Patrón tequila.
Tom Yum Cocktail
Patrón returned to home turf on Thursday with Alex Lawrence and James Wheeler from Dandelyan, which is in the London Mondrian Hotel. Lawrence enjoys building modern, layered flavours using exotic ingredients. Their signature cocktail is called Patrón Agave Sherry. Since one of the ingredients is an agave sherry ferment, this cocktail has a wine-like taste and is very sippable.
On Friday, it was New York’s turn. Nico de Soto, a French bartender who has worked in the most prestigious bars across the world, opened his first cocktail bar in 2015, MACE in New York City. MACE has since been ranked the 28th best bar in the world. Soto is influenced and inspired by the places he has travelled to and their cuisine. Soto’s signature cocktail was titled Curry Leaves, a savoury, aromatic cocktail that is made with, among other ingredients, coconut flavoured Patrón Reposado tequila and two dashes of curry leaves bitters, which give it its name.
Glass headed down to the Patrón Cocktail lab on Friday to try Nico’s cocktails. Alongside his signature cocktail, which was extremely strong but tasty once you got over the initial shock of tequila and curry-esque flavours, Nico served a delicious grapefruit cocktail that was subtle and refreshing, alongside an excellent lemon margarita.
Curry Leaves cocktail
Saturday saw Chris Hysted-Adams from Black Pearl in Melbourne take over the Cocktail lab. Black Pearl has recently been named as the best international bar due to its commitment to adding a fun, innovative twist to classic cocktails. Black Pearl, a favourite at London Cocktail Week, started off as a family business and has developed to train and house some of the world’s best bartending talent. Hysted-Adams’ signature cocktail was titled The Death Flip. It combines the flavours of Patrón silver and Jägermeister, but is softened with vanilla and egg white.
Last, but not least, Londoners were transported back to Latin America, the real home of tequila, with Renato Giovannoni, from Floreria Atlántico, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, showcasing his skills. Giovannoni is committed to reviving classic Argentina cocktails but by combining them with flavours from cocktails from across the world – thus making the cocktails he serves at Floreria Atlántico truly unique. Giovannoni’s signature cocktail was titled El Clericot De Retiro.
This drink revives the 19th century Latin American drink Clericot, but Giovanni adds fresh mandarin juice, white vermouth, Patrón silver, as well as cucumber and eucalyptus. The final result is an incredibly classy cocktail with fresh citrus tones.
El Clericot de Retiro cocktail
by Allie Nawrat
You can find the Patrón Cocktail Lab at The Cocktail Village in Spitalfields Market every year.
Visit Patrón’s website to check out their other events and maybe purchase some tequila
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