Is this Sheffield’s favourite cocktail?

Classical cocktails are a hit amongst most drinkers, but what would you consider your all-time favourite to be?
Is this Sheffield's favourite cocktail.Is this Sheffield's favourite cocktail.
Is this Sheffield's favourite cocktail.

Today (May 13) is World Cocktail Day, a celebration of cocktails around the globe, marking the publication date of the first definition of a cocktail in 1806.

In response to a reader’s question, New York tabloid ‘The Balance and Columbian Repository’ defined a cocktail as “a stimulating liquor, composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water and bitters.”

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A cocktail, as we know it, is a drink that contains two or more ingredients, at least one of which is alcoholic – and is sometimes prepared by juggling bartenders inside popular nightlife venues.

According to Sheffield venue The Wick at Both Ends, on West Street, The pornstar martini and other variations of the classical drink are said to be the most popular in the city.

Axl Hill, general manager at the Wick at Both Ends, said: “We open back up on the 17th, but one that I think will be the most popular is the brambletini; it’s basically a take on the pornstar martini combined with a gin bramble.”

Ingredients in the drink include muddled blackberries, gin, creme de mure, lemon juice, vanilla syrup and pineapple juice.

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Speaking about why the drink will be so popular when the bar opens, he said: “I think you'll find multitudes of different people preferring different types of cocktails, and one big middle ground is that you get a lot of people wanting something fruity and gin-based.

“A lot of fruity gin-based cocktails tend to be muddled with a lot of crushed ice, whereas a lot of people prefer things to be more elegant served up in a coupe and you know, really, really stunning with a nice foam, so this is kind of a direct link between the two. It looks really stunning, it’s a purple colour from the muddled blackberries and the creme de mure, with a nice kind of pinky-white foam head on it and three blackberries skewed on top of it, so it looks absolutely stunning.

“You get that nice fragrant gin, with all berries coming through, but then the vanilla brings the sweetness back into it, so it's super well balanced, it looks gorgeous, and it just kind of ticks all the boxes.”

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