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MixMann, The Savoy Hotel, 100 Strand, London, WC2R 0EZ, London (2026)

13/05/2026

Happy 2026! It’s been a super busy week in the drinks world with visits to BCB London, the Canadian High Commission, Raffles - The Spy Bar and more to come, but taking a moment to celebrate what it’s all about, Cocktails!

Today’s drink features the recently launched which I had the pleasure of sampling at a few weeks back and managed get hold of this latest release called Penultimus. So named, this 30th Exceptional Cask Selection release is the last but 1 in this series of amazing run of rums.

It’s a blend of rums made in double retort copper pot-still and continuous column stills. They have blended rum aged in ex-Bourbon casks for 15yrs together with Rum that was aged for 10 years in Bourbon casks, then matured for another 5 years in ex-Moscatel Spanish wine casks (a first for Foursquare).

Flavour wise, I enjoyed notes of roasted pineapple, dried stone fruits, dark chocolate and butterscotch, with light pepper spice, oak and cacao on the finish.

I added Banana and Walnut Liqueurs to play to those flavours, an extra dry vermouth to cut through the sweet liqueur notes and elevated the tropical notes of the rum with pineapple star anise bitters, garnished with a sliver of date and mint.

PENULTIMUS MIXMANNHATTAN
45ml Foursquare Penultimus Rum
10ml Giffard Banane du Bresil Liqueur
5ml Noix De La Saint Jean (Walnut aperitif)
15ml Cocchi Extra Dry Vermouth
1/2 Pip BettersBitters Pineapple Star Anise Bitters
Garnish: Date and Mint sprig

Add all to a mixing glass, fill with ice, stir well for 1 minute, double strain into a chilled coupe and enjoy.

At 57% abv this is another new favourite from the world’s best rum distillery, and for me in this style of cocktail the better the ingredients the better the cocktail!

Wherever you are today, enjoy a great cocktail!

05/05/2026

Happy or as I like to call it over the years, lol!

It was first commemorated to the mark the victory of the Mexican Army against the far superior French on May 5th 1862. The French had 8000 men to the Mexican’s 4000 and were considered a fighting machine. The French eventually took control but this was a moral victory and a sense of pride for Mexicans. These days it’s become a bigger celebration Mexican Culture, community and spirit.

My spirit of choice to celebrate is a 100% artisanal Mezcal from first launched in Mexico in 2018. It’s the first mezcal made with agaves from two different states: Espadin from Oaxaca and the rarer Tobala from Puebla, both sustainably cultivated.

Mezcal Ojo de Tigre means Eye Of The Tiger but this is no wild mezcal! I found it really accessible, low on smokiness, and a nice balanced profile. I picked up notes of dried fruit, citrus, a hint of green strawberry, surrounded by a rich long cacao mouthfeel with aftertones of cucumber and a herbal finish.

The name actually comes from the semiprecious Eye Of The Tiger stone worn as an amulet of good fortune. The jewel is recognised across Ancient Egypt, China and Roman Empire as a talisman for strength, protection from evil forces, and fearlessness – so a perfect symbol for Cinco de Mayo – see what I did there!

See what I did with it, as a pre-Mauritius development idea using Calamondin (a mandarin-kumquat hybrid) liqueur that’s infused for over a month with their sugar cane juice rum.

TIGER STYLE
60ml Ojo de Tigre Mezcal
30ml Labourdonnais Calamondin Liquer
30ml Pineapple Juice
25ml Re’al Guava Puree
20ml Lime Juice
1/3 Pipette MsBettersBitters Kiwi Sumac Bitters
Garnish: Pineapple Wedge

Shake with ice, strain into a chilled coupe, and enjoy Cinco De Mayo!

26/04/2026

It’s back, a new batch of my signature homegrown/made Cherry Blossom syrup is ready for our anniversary today, in a new cocktail creation. I’ll be making some more cocktails with it, maybe recreating one of my earliest creations made on the spot for Eddie Russell, the legendary Master Distiller of back in 2019!

But here’s a new version of my Sakura Sour this time using Rice Vodka, with Yuzu Sake liqueur (inspired by my recent Sticks’n’Sushi visit) and a special bottle I brought back from Mauritius, Arranges rum infusion of pineapple and ginger!

The awamori rice-based Ukiyo Vodka is delicious sipped neat with rich aromatic sweet rice flavours together with citrus and floral notes. Perfect as the base for this creation.

The next layer is the Yuzushu liqueur, a blend of Yuzu juice with Ginjo-grade sake, for a zesty, fresh and not too sweet addition to my cocktail.

Then the Pineapple Ginger infusion from Labourdonnais, if you saw some of my Mauritius moments, I used infused rum in a few cocktail recipes I’ll be sharing soon! It adds rich rum mouthfeel to the drink with subtle pineapple notes and a touch of ginger heat.

Combining these with the cherry blossom syrup, a touch of fruity guava, and floral bitters brings things all together for a special cocktail creation!

SAKURA SOUR 2026
40ml Ukiyo Japanese Rice vodka
15ml Akashi-Tai Ginjo Yuzushu
15ml Labourdonnais Pineapple & Ginger Arranges Infusion
25ml Homemade Cherry blossom syrup
20ml Fresh Lemon Juice
10ml Guava Puree
Mt Fuji Bitters
Miraculous Foamer
Garnish: Cherry Blossoms

Shake all with ice for 20s, double strain into a chilled coupe.

Whilst typing, I mixed up a spritz using the vodka, yuzushu, and Arranges topped with elderflower tonic, for a spring/summer bonus drink!

22/04/2026

I love a classic cocktail especially one created by one of London’s first female bartenders, Ada Coleman! On March 25th a new national drink day was launched marking the first World Hanky Panky Day in Ada’s honour.

Thanks to together with and they’ve shown the initiative to celebrate Ada’s Hanky Panky cocktail created whilst she worked at The American Bar at in the early 1900s. Ada made the drink for actor Sir Charles Hawtrey, and after one sip shouted “By Jove! That’s the real hanky-panky”.

I missed the special event they held at The Savoy to mark the occasion, as I was up to shenanigans in Mauritius at the time – not hanky panky lol, but I was kindly sent the pre-made version they were all drinking to raise my own glass too.

The recipe combines equal parts gin and sweet vermouth, with a touch of the bartender’s bitter favourite Fernet! This version uses English vermouth and Britannica Fernet from and founded by , to create a complete British Hanky Panky.

It’s a play on the original ratio of a martini being equal parts gin to vermouth, with a touch of bitter fernet to cut through the sweeter style of rosso vermouth being used.

THE TRULY BRITISH HANKY PANKY
40ml Cygnet 22 Welsh Dry Gin
40ml Asterley Bros Estate Sweet Vermouth
7ml Asterley Bros Britannica London Fernet

Shake all with ice and double strain. Garnish with an expressed orange coin and serve in a chilled martini or coupe glass. I went for a slightly fancier orange garnish!

It was great to hear other amazing venues were also celebrating, including .theowo, ’s and . Hopefully more will next year, you too can too, as you have the recipe now!

HANKY>PANKY>DAY>REPEAT!!!

16/04/2026

I can’t get enough of great rum right now, as you can tell from the recent Mauritius trip (there’s plenty more Mauritian rum for me to chat about!), but also have to recognise the great stuff being produced back home in the UK from producers like .distillery

I’ve featured some of their rums in the past, and I’m kicking myself for not crafting the opportunity to visit them in Nottinghamshire, which is now the largest rum distillery in Europe, when my daughter was studying up that way!

I do need to fix that, but in the meantime, I can enjoy this latest Distiller’s Drop #002 - a delicious limited edition blend of 3 of their rums. A bend of double retort (pot) cane honey distillate (cane juice is reduced to a syrupy form), the others are molasses-based, made in a column still.

Once blended, the rum was left to mature in ex-Bordeaux Merlot red wine casks for 28 months creating delicious bright flavours described as with vibrant notes of wild strawberries, a crackle of black pepper, and the caramelised snap of crème brûlée, giving me the idea for today’s creation.

Before I forget, there’s just 900 bottles and they’re going fast in the rum world, so grab yours at 10% less, using the code MIXMANN10 at the Dropworks.co.uk webstore!

BERRY DROP
60ml Distillers Drop
20ml Chamberyzette Aperitif
10ml Licor 43
30ml .uk Strawberry Soju
30ml Lime Juice
20ml Strawberry Puree
Black Pepper Cardamom
MsBettersBitters Banana Bergamot Bitters
Miraculous Foamer

The cocktail builds on the bright berry rum tones with a creamy nutty note and light spiced finish. I grabbed a bottle of the strawberry Jinro soju from local Hitchin-based to lengthen the cocktail flavours with added light strawberry fresh flavours.

The rum is awesome to sip, and makes for a yummy rummy cocktail, how you going to drink yours?!

13/04/2026

Pt.2 of the Bartender Competition, the first bartender challenge was to create a new signature cocktail for their bar, part Pt.2 of the challenge was all about creativity!

For this they had to use for the first time as it had just been launched in after its UK launch. A rum born in Mauritius with a blend of 2 molasses rums aged in PX & Oloroso sherry casks together with a 1yr old pure cane juice rum.

The bartenders had to create a cocktail based on its taste and flavour profiles to showcase the new rum. Take a look and see the delicious cocktails the bartenders representing , , and with innovative ideas and passionate creativity.

And we reveal the winner of both challenges!

Thanks to my fellow judges of and from for their time and expert opinions!

11/04/2026

Our trip to was a blast, you may have seen me doing events, bartender comps, cocktail / rum tasting masterclasses and more. Of course I did create recipes on my travels and managed to get some time to visit more of the island, and this cocktail sums up our visit to the iconic Chamarel 7 Coloured Earth and the nearby Chamarel Coffee Plantation in a glass!

named after the 18th-century owner Charles de Chazal de Chamarel, is an iconic natural phenomenon formed by volcanic action where the lava cooled at different rates creating 7 natural hues you can view! Nearby is the island’s tallest waterfall at over 100m, flowing over 2 different lava layers, both are must-see sites when visiting Mauritius.

A recent attraction to the geopark is the Coffee Tour to see the Arabica coffee trees that benefit from a unique microclimate and that very same mineral rich volcanic soil, will share more on that visit soon. It’s the source of the island’s famous flavourful coffee with notes of vanilla, cocoa and tropical fruits.

As well as drinking the roasted coffee, it also used in local coffee spirits/liqueurs like the 3 that distilled for various gift and hotel shops across the Island. It comes in 3 flavours: Vanilla, Spiced, and Mandarin used in this creation.

Using locally produced that combines well with Cafe Mandarine notes, underpinned by chocolate orange tones of the Aperol brought out by the Arabica coffee flavours, for a Mauritian Negroni!

MauritiaNegroni
30ml Mango Bay Rum
15ml Labourdonnais Les Terres de Chamarel & Mandarine.
15ml Aperol
30ml Cinzano Rosso Vermouth
1/3 Pipette Orange Tree Bitters (I switched to their Smoke & Oak bitters as orange bitters wasn’t to hand at the time!)
Garnish: Orange slice

Build over an ice-filled Rocks glass, stir 3-4 times.

Swipe through my carousel to see pics of the drink, waterfall, 7 Coloured earth and a snippet of the Coffee Tour!

15/04/2025

I’ve been enjoying a few wee drams of whisky of late and here’s one I could wait to play with from - their first-ever permanent single malt whisky - Signature.

I recently enjoyed the launch event atop the ABar Rooftop within London’s The Mandarin Oriental. We met Nyetimber CEO, Eric Heerema and Whiskymaker, Sarah Burgess who guided us through the crafting of The Lakes Signature single malt whisky.

Sarah explained her insights into èlevage - the art of whisky maturation based on techniques to constantly analyse casks, check flavour profiles, plan where to place and move them with the warehouse and how to use them in future releases, whilst preserving The Lakes defined flavour profile.

I picked up oaked nutty chocolate on the nose, a very chewy palate, with long lasting flavours of stone fruits, rich sherry tones from the casks it was matured in, building to figs, light oak and a peppery spiced finish. At 47% abv the favours shine and linger for a while!

Very delicious to sip and a joy to mix with too! Here’s how I played with it, adding my first splash of natural passion fruit liqueur together with citrus, choc syrup and topped with a Mango Beer! Yeap I definitely mixed this up, yet the whisky continued to shine and elevate this way!

SIGN OF PASSION!
50ml The Lakes Signature Single Malt Whisky
20ml Passionfruit liqueur
Topped with 50ml Mango Beer
20ml fresh squeezed Grapefruit Juice
10ml Lime Juice
15ml White Chocolate Syrup
Garnish: Slice Grapefruit, Rosemary and Cherry Blossom

Shake all (except the beer!) with ice for 15 secs, strain into an ice filled glass and top with chilled mango beer. Enjoy, I know you will!

SHAKE>WITH>LAKES!>REPEAT!!!

09/04/2025

Happy and today I’m mixing up a staple in the MixMann household - a delicious red wine from Gordon Ramsay!

Back in September we were lucky enough to enjoy the launch of the Pinot Grigio at and also the first time tasted the Intenso Rosso red wine too. Well we’ve certainly enjoyed a few more as both wines are very reasonably priced at our local supermarket!

It’s the first time I’m mixing it up though, hope that’s ok Gordon! With the lovely weather we’re experiencing in the UK it just had to be a Sangria with a little tinkering from me using Blood oranges, Cognac and Cointreau in the mix! If you can’t find blood oranges normal oranges are just fine.

The wine is a blend of Sangiovese (50%) from Tuscany, Montepulciano (30%) and Merlot (20%) both from Abruzzo regions, combined the result bulges with berry flavours of blackberry, redcurrant and blueberries, rich tannins, a touch of earthy minerality, leather tones and rounded lightly oaked and pepper spiced finish. Super delish especially being under £10!

Lovely to enjoy as is and was a great ingredient in my Blood Orange Sangria…

ARANCIA SANGRIAROSSO (serves 2 – multiply up for more)
1/3 bottle of Intenso Rosso red wine
20ml VSOP cognac
20ml
40ml Fresh squeeze & sieved blood orange juice
2/3 tablespoons Dark maple syrup
1/3 blood orange thinly sliced, then slice into quarters
1/3 apple (diced)
1/3 lemon (cut into wedges)
Garnish: Blood orange wheel, sprig of mint
Glassware: Juliet white wine glass (40cl)

Muddle apples with orange juice in a jug for 30s, add lemons and oranges gently muddle for 15s, add rest of ingredients, stir well and store in fridge for 2hrs.

Serve in a glass like this lovely one from filled with ice and a slice, on a sunny day it’s very nice!

SANGRIA>AND>SUNSHINE>REPEAT!!! (please – lol!)

MixMann

13/05/2026

05/05/2026

26/04/2026

22/04/2026

16/04/2026

13/04/2026

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