COCKTAILS | DOWNTON DISTILLERY

The Aperol Sour brings Aperol’s blend of sweet and bitter orange into a clean, bright serve. Its sunset-orange colour sits under a thick, meringue-like foam. The flavour lands crisp, lightly...

The Virginia Creeper is a new sour from Ben Morley, created during a visit to the distillery. If you enjoy a Bramble, this sits in the same family. It takes...

This serve celebrates the garden’s fennel and wild rocket. Inspired by the Rocket Gimlet, it adds fennel to bring balance and a clean anise note. Rocket gives warmth and pepper,...

This drink was created at Dante, the 104-year-old Italian restaurant in Greenwich Village. It draws on two Italian staples: the Negroni and the Angelo Azzurro. The recipe uses three white...

Summer brings the best of English fruit and local farms are full of ripe strawberries and raspberries. Pick your own or grab a punnet from the farm shop. This cocktail...

A Raspberry Gimlet delivers sharp citrus lifted by bright, fresh berry flavour. The fruit softens the edges and gives a clean, vivid profile that suits warm evenings. It is quick...

A Gin Hot Toddy delivers warmth, citrus and spice in a clean, comforting serve. It suits cold evenings and highlights the botanicals in Explorer’s Gin. Easy to make, fast to...

The champagne and orange mixture has been known to have different origins. In 1921, at Buck’s Club in London, the Buck’s Fizz was invented. It was a drink made up...

This is a twist on the classic negroni. For those that do not know the Negroni, it is to this decade what the Cosmopolitan was to the '90s—a zeitgeist (spirit...

Our Autumnal cocktail is a cider styled gin sour. The original cocktail was created by Chris Chamberlain a lead mixologist at Elixir Craft Cocktails. He used freshly pressed cider which...

Ian Fleming, the author of the famous James Bond books, invented the vesper cocktail in his 1953 novel, Casino Royale. James Bond 007 ordered the martini in the film whilst...

The Dubonnet cocktail is designed to showcase the finest gin you have in the bar. Originally an un-garnished cocktail from the 1930s, it is now served with a twist of...

This martini sounds a bit unusual but is similar to the classic dirty Martini. As samphire is just coming into season in the UK, we couldn’t help but experiment with...

We loved the Campari sour and wanted to create something that could use another summer favourite, Aperol. In our research we did not have to go far as the Petruchio...

This Martini reminds me of spring, it is light, fresh and puts some zing into your step. It was created by Simon Difford at the Cabinet Room in London for...

The ‘White Lady’ was created for Zelda Fitzgerald at The American Bar, Savoy Hotel in the 1920s and named after her platinum blonde hair. Zelda Fitzgerald was an American socialite,...

Crossing two of our favourites, the Negroni and the French 75, results in a delicious cocktail called the 'Bitter French'. This relatively recent drink, defined by Campari, was created by...

The Hanky Panky cocktail is a gin martini, balanced between sweet and bitter with herbal flavours. The Hanky Panky cocktail was invented by Ada Coleman, known as “Coley.” Coley was...

The clocks are going back, the evenings are drawing in and Halloween is upon us. Spiders’ webs and monsters adorn homes, shop fronts and pumpkins are appearing in abundance everywhere....

Blackberries appear towards the end of the summer months harkening the arrival autumn. Everyone has found memories of picking blackberries, getting scratched alongside their friends and family, followed by the...

PASSION FRUIT COLLINS The name ‘Collins’ is appended to any mixture of alcohol, lemon, sugar and soda water. This is our twist on the famous Tom Collins. It is believed...

The summer invokes memories of picnics, picking strawberries and the herbs growing in the garden. Basil works very well in cocktails as shown in the basil smash, so we thought...

Sgroppino is an Italian cocktail originating from Venice in the 1500s. It was used as a palate cleanser between courses normally with vodka as the base. We came across this...

This is a modern classic that was created by the ‘Cocktail Maestro’ Italian bartender Salvatore Calabrese at The Lanesborough in the 1990s inspired by his breakfast consisting of marmalade toast....