Shhh, Speakeasy

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Prohibition was hardly the greatest moment for the spirit industry,and yet the number of bars such as the Evans and Peel Detective Agency that model themselves on the period’s speakeasies shows no sign of abating.  For the unimaginative marketeer, the apparent hunger of drinkers to feel as if they are participating in something a little illicit is an absolute dream.  For many cocktail enthusiasts and industry-insiders however, the whole speakeasy bar movement has been known to draw yawns of uninspired boredom.  Whatever side of the fence you sit, if you’re going to be drinking cocktails in London, soon enough you’ll find yourself in a speakeasy bar-inspired watering hole.

Evans and Peel Bar London

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of all the bars that are commonly (accurately or not) described as a speakeasy bar, one of the most recently opened is actually the one that works hardest to recreate that speakeasy, prohibition feel. A visit to the Evans and Peel Detective Agency comes complete with a secret entrance from the detectives office to thwart the authorities. Drinks are imaginative and make use of the bartenders enthusiasm for infusing stuff in booze. If you like the idea of a secret entrance then, in a similar concept to the Evans and Peel Detective Agency, the fact that a visit to the Mayor of Scaredy Cat Town requires you to walk through a full-size Smeg fridge will likely be right up your street. It’s like a modern-day Narnia, just without the evil witch.  Or those weird half-men half-deer creatures!

Happiness Forgets LondonElsewhere, Shoreditch is home to both Nightjar and Happiness Forgets, two very different bars who have both had the speakeasy bar label attached to them. Although both opt for the understated entrance that is often the cause for being labelled a speakeasy, the style of these two bars couldn’t be more different. Nightjar has made its name with extraordinarily elaborate garnishes whilst Happiness Forgets is developing quite a reputation for an ability to focus on delivering deceptively simple cocktails that are among the best you’ll find in the Capital.

In true speakeasy-style, the bar located at 69 Colebrooke Row is formerly known as ‘the bar with no name’, although call it a speakeasy in front of owner Tony Conigliaro and you won’t be getting served a bottle-aged vintage Manhattan that has become this bars signature drink.  Many of the drinks make use of complicated equipment more often seen in a professional chemistry lab but you wouldn’t know it from the drink served to you, they like to keep things simple here too.  For a more theatrical experience a visit to Purl or the Worship Street Whistling Shop is in order. The latter is in fact designed more around the concept of a gin palace but both are often described as speakeasies so we won’t quibble over the details.

The Speakeasy Bar term is most definitely over-used but who cares when you’ve got list of bars as good as these to visit?

The Cocktail Geek   the cocktail geek

 the Cocktail Geek

Written by the Cocktail Geek Geek

Posted: October 11, 2012

Mark (aka thecocktailgeek) is an enthusiastic imbiber of spirits and mixed drinks in all their guises. Working outside the drinks industry, his experience comes firmly from the extensive time spent on the customers side of the bar. Based in London, he enjoys the quality and variety on offer to drinkers in the capital, but also regularly travels to experience cocktail culture around the world. In addition to running his own site thecocktailgeek.com reviewing spirits and bars, he is also a founding member of the London Cocktail Society, the members group for cocktail afficiandos. Mark can be contacted on mark@thecocktailgeek.com or found speaking his mind on Twitter @thecocktailgeek.