After a brief summer fling, a Philly bar returns for a month to rekindle city’s love for craft cocktails
Mixologist Myles Carroll and owner Anne Frey of 1 Tippling Place enjoy their creations. Pics/Atul Kamble
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“I've hardly carried clothes with me. Most of my bags are packed with ingredients and ice trays,” laughs Anne Frey, as she draws out tincture bottles, candied ginger, chocolate and cardamom bitters, and sets them up on the bar platform at Olive Bar & Kitchen in Bandra. Starting tomorrow, she will take over the bar with her mixologist, Myles Carroll, for a month-long pop-up offering craft cocktails from her Philadelphia-based speakeasy-style bar, 1 Tippling Place.
(From left) Aperol Spritz, Heather On The Hill and Sunflower
What’s in store
The award-winning establishment, which opened in 2012, made its debut here in March at the same venue, but only for a fortnight. “It didn’t feel like we finished last time. It was difficult because we were unfamiliar with the city and the local produce. This time, we are more prepared,” says the proprietor, who plans to source local herbs and spices to add to the drinks.
Carroll tops Heather On The Hill with an orange rind
This edition offers 25 cocktails ('650 onwards) in four sections — Tippling Classics, Apéritifs, Classic Cocktails and Modern Classics. If you love a stiff drink, try the bourbon-based Old Fashioned or Manhattan, and if you like vodka, opt for Ivy Gimlet infused with lime and mint. On the menu, you’ll find all kinds of ingredients — from fig jam to honey syrup and candied ginger. “Our focus is to squeeze fresh juices instead of using packaged ones. We make our own tinctures, bitters and syrups. We also use hand-carved ice cubes, which helps the drinks stay undiluted for a longer period,” says Frey.
After returning to her home base in March, Frey went on to introduce five India-inspired cocktails infused with ingredients like green mango, Assam tea and tamarind pulp. “They sold well there!” she exclaims. One of them, the Curry Scotch Smash, made with scotch whiskey and curry leaf syrup, is part of this pop-up.
Shake and stir
Carroll makes us try three new varieties on the menu — Sunflower ('700), Heather On The Hill ('650) and Aperol Spritz ('700). For the first one, he deftly mixes gin, elderflower cordial, lemon and cointreau in a shaker and pours it in a glass chilled with ice cubes. A perfect balance of sweet and sour notes soothe our palate as we sip Sunflower.
It’s fun to watch Carroll’s theatrics in sync with the music playing in the background. He plays with an egg and then breaks it in a shaker filled with scotch whiskey, cardamom bitters and honey syrup. He squeezes in half an orange and lemon. What we get is a potent pale yellow Heather On The Hill that is a stressbuster.
Another hit is Aperol Spritz, a bitter but enchanting orange drink infused with sparkling wine and soda. As we suggest aloud that we’d love for Frey to overstay her visit, she lets us in, “I love Mumbai. I am planning to buy an apartment and maybe, start my own bar here. Most markets in the world, including Iceland, are saturated. But here, the cocktail scene is just about pop open.”
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