Douglas Blyde meets his eponymous cocktail

Douglas Blyde gets to know the double-edged cocktail available at 45, Jermyn St
Smoky mezcal and Mexican chilli-pepped agave ‘serum’ mixes with sweet vermouth and apricot
Douglas Blyde10 June 2019

Whether inspired by a place or person, cocktail names can transcend the ingredients list.

Combining dry gin, cool water and Pernod, the hazy London Fog is named after the city’s Great Smog, while chef Mark Hix’s Hix Fix, a mix of Somerset brandy and English fizz, was rumoured to be the last sip of his friend, Keith Floyd. Non-alcoholic drinks, too, can carry evocative names, such as the tall, bright blend of grenadine, ginger ale, orange and maraschino built to delight — and named after — the starlet Shirley Temple.

This month, I am fortunate to see a drink bearing my name join this pantheon of illustriously titled libations. Served in a frozen copper cup decorated with pineapple and shiso leaves, you can order a Jekyll & Blyde from Patrick Coyle at Fortnum & Mason’s 45 Jermyn St. Nodding to the animalistic Edward Hyde, its use of wickedly smoky mezcal and Mexican chilli-pepped agave ‘serum’ is soothed by sweet vermouth and apricot — ‘nice’ components which represent the personality of Dr Jekyll.

Meeting the eponymous cocktail

‘Cocktails should be drunk quickly,’ says Coyle as he perfects the recipe, its smoky depth of mezcal reminding him of the peaty landscape of his home in Donegal. ‘When I was younger I thought the river running black by my house was Guinness,’ he says.

In The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, its author Robert Louis Stevenson noted ‘all human beings, as we meet them, are commingled out of good and evil’, an extract that could easily apply to the multi-faceted new addition to the rejuvenated menu at 45 Jermyn St.

Come September, Coyle will travel to Hong Kong to help open a 60-seat outpost for London’s historic department store, taking with him a hefty dose of goodness and evil in his recipe book…

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