Avenue – Classic Recipe

The History Of The Avenue Cocktail.

The Avenue Cocktail was first written in London’s 1937 Royal Cafe Cocktail Book. The Author, William Tarling, is credited for creating this fantastic cocktail and many other more famous ones. The first written recipe for the margarita is from the Royal Cafe Cocktail Book. Whether he is the actual creator of the margarita is up for debate, but he is recognized as the creator of the Avenue cocktail.

What Does The Avenue Taste Like?

The Avenue is a beautiful cocktail that is both strong and balanced. The gentler mix of brandy and scotch blends well with the Passion fruit, pomegranate, and orange flavors and creates an almost European tropical cocktail. William Tarling used lesser-known and exotic ingredients, and the Avenue Cocktail displays that. At 60 mLs of the European spirit and 40 mLs of exotic tropical flavors, the Avenue has one foot in Europe and one foot in the exotic. Unfortunately, this isn’t something you can order at any bar. Most bars, even high-end ones, have probably never made this before, and passion fruit juice is not a commonly held ingredient. If you want to order this out, you will first need to ask if the bar has passion fruit juice, and if they do,eed to you will also n give them the recipe. This will most likely be one you make for yourself and friends at home.

William Tarling’s Cafe Royal Book And Its Influences.

Cafe Royal is massive. I can’t find exactly how many recipes are actually in this book, and I’m not going to count, but my best guess is around 1200. William Tarling did not create most of the recipes in Cafe Royal; he was the president of the UKBG (United Kingdom Bartenders Guild) and head bartender of the Cafe Royal in London. He instead compiled some of his own bars’ top recipes and the recipes of other UKBG into a single source. In his introduction, he says he combed through more than 4000 recipes to find the best and most original ones from around England. This book is a monster, and sadly ordinary folks like you and me will probably never own it. Sure there are limited reprints from time to time, but there were only 1000 original copies made in its single 1937 edition. The book was created and sold as a fundraising item for the UKBG healthcare benefit and Cafe Royal sports club. Healthcare didn’t become universal till 1948 in the UK. We’re still waiting here in the US.

William Tarling was known for experimenting with new ingredients. He positioned the Cafe Royal Bar as more edgy and experimental in its recipes compared to other more traditional bars like The American Bar at the Savoy Hotel. Cafe Royal was an early pioneer in Tequila, mezcal, and vodka cocktails mixed with exotic fruit juices. Tequila and Vodka cocktails don’t start becoming more common till the 1940s with the Moscow mule and the margarita. It’s easy to argue that the margarita was invented at the Cafe Royal in the early 1930s as their picador cocktail. In the book’s preface, William Tarling argues that there needs to be more originality and variety. Martinis and Manhattans are great but just as one tires of eating the same dinner night after night; it’s monotonous to drink the same drinks at every party. Have some fun and try channeling your inner William and try something you wouldn’t normally drink.

Balancing The Flavors Of This Cocktail.

The most essential ingredient in the Avenue is both brandy and scotch. This is a very mellow drink, and a smoother brandy and scotch balance the drink well. The passion fruit, grenadine, and orange liqueur are not overly assertive in this cocktail, and if you use a powerful flavored spirit for the brandy or scotch, it tips the scale too much. Though this isn’t a make or break for the drink, use it if there is brandy or scotch you like. That being said, a smoky scotch will ruin this drink. Smoke, tobacco, or peat moss flavors will not mix with the other flavors.

Recipe Resources

• 1937 Cafe Royal Cocktail Book- Tarling