The Heiress cocktail recipe by Bar Américain
A serious summer sipper, our latest cocktail takes its cues from Hollywood's heydey. Here's how to make The Heiress by Bar Américain at home
Anyone who has been to Brasserie Zédel, situated in subterranean Soho, will know it’s more of an emporium than a restaurant. Step inside and you’re instantly transported to 1930s France, where jazz, cocktails and comedy took centre stage on the thriving pre-war social scene. Here, you’ll find all three spread across a grand Art Deco brasserie, cabaret and comedy club, Crazy Coqs, a quintessentially French café, and an American bar, making it a one-stop shop for a fun night out on the town.
Head to the brasserie to get your fill of French fare – think steak tartare and frogs legs with garlic butter – and Crazy Coqs for a night of entertainment, but where to go for a decadent cocktail or two? Bar Américain, of course. Bathed in a soft golden hue, the dark, moody bar offers a lot more than initially meets the eye. Look to the walls to discover the full collection of Paul Colin’s Le Tumulte Noir lithographs – an homage to Josephine Baker, the dancer, singer, and civil rights activist. Despite being a relatively small name at the time, Colin helped launch Baker’s career and she subsequently became his muse and lover. Published in 1927, the works evoke this exuberant era in Paris and feature proudly throughtout the bar.
It’s apt, then, that the cocktail menu also harks back to the Roaring Twenties – this time looking across the pond for inspiration. Celebrating Hollywood’s heyday, from black-and-white silent movies to all-singing, all-dancing technicolour, pick from six carefully-curated cocktails ranging from the Sabrina – inspired by the eponymous film starring Audrey Hepburn – to the Napoleon, which takes its cues from Abel Gance’s 1929 turn as the French emperor.
Our favourite, however, is The Heiress – which we bagged for our latest Cocktail of the Week. Light and fruity, the cocktail honours actress Olivia de Havilland’s Oscar-winning performance in 1949’s The Heiress and was created by bar manager Angele Grinda. She says: “The Heiress is a cocktail that takes inspiration from the Singapore Sling and Jungle Bird cocktails, with the idea to reveal fresh and classy notes from the tiki-style serves paired with the elegance of Hollywood in the 1930s. It’s fresh, bitter, juicy and powerful and it’s everything that our summer needs.”
Recipe
The Heiress
Ingredients
- Casamigos Tequila Blanco 30ml
- Campari 15ml
- Cocchi Barolo Chinato 15ml
- Pineapple juice 40ml
- Lime juice 20ml
- Sugar syrup 20ml
Method
- Shaken all ingredients together and double strain.
- Serve in a highball glass full of ice.
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