You asked for it, and you got it – all of you kind people who filled out my survey asked for more interviews with more legends. Our guest is the world’s most-awarded bartender & bar owner. If Mr Lyan isn’t a legend, I don’t know who is.
If you call yourself a cocktail connoisseur, then you will have come upon the name Mr Lyan in your travels. Ryan opened White Lyan in London in 2013. It was a moment that will go down in cocktail history as the first cocktail bar in the world to use no perishables, no fruit, and even no ice, an innovative approach to sustainability, with much lower waste and a use of pre-made cocktails and never before seen ingredients.
This focus on a ground-breaking approach remains in the evolution of White Lyan, Super Lyan, Dandelyan, Cub, Lyaness, Silver Lyan, and Seed Library.
Ryan’s with me to discuss his new book, Mr Lyan’s Cocktails at Home: Good Things to Drink with Friends, but we go into so much more – how his relationship to flavor evolved, how his studying Fine Arts at Central Saint Martins as well as Biology at Edinburgh University spurred him on to get behind the bar, and why the need to write a book at all.
Watch it on YouTube
Cocktail of the Week: Barley Champagne
Barley Champagne
Ingredients
- 4 shots 100ml/4oz water
- 6 shots 150ml/6oz lemon barley water cordial
- 8 shots 200ml/8oz fino sherry or dry vermouth
- 12 shots 300ml/12oz London dry gin
- 10 dashes Tabasco
- Rosemary sprigs to garnish
Instructions
- Add the water, cordial, sherry or vermouth and gin to a jug, then add the Tabasco
- Stir and then decant into a clean wine bottle and chill well
- To serve, add a shot and a half (40ml/1.5oz) of the chilled mixture to a flute, then top with bubbles.
- Add a sprig of rosemary and serve
Nutrition
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