Straight ahead there is a Persian indigo portal to a dimly lit room; we enter to find the friend we are meeting sitting by the bar sipping a glass of champagne. It is instantly clear why this is called the Purple Bar – your eyes dance around the shades of purple which adorn this luxurious space; flickering between the comfortable seating which would not be out of place at a mad hatters tea party, and then to the engravings on the mirrors reminiscent of a child’s jewellery box, and finally to the huge slab of stone that forms the bar.
To mark their ten year anniversary, Roland, Purple Bar’s chief mixologist and manager, has scoured the globe to create some truly unique cocktails. Six are featured on this “Ultimate” cocktail list and each brings something different to the table, making for a well balanced line-up. Not the most expensive, but the most fascinating, is the ‘Manhattan 1913’, made using the last bottle of pre-Prohibition McBrayer Bourbon 1913. This drink stimulates the imagination to thoughts of speakeasies, rag time and booze running; history embodied. Then there’s the ‘B&B King’; Brandy and Benedictine was one of the favourite cocktails of the 1940s and Purple Bar have brought it back to life using extremely rare ingredients. Roland mixes one for me and displays the blue blaze technique which is both practical and jaw-dropping, illuminating the room with a tinge and opening up the cocktail. ‘The Proposal’ is another interesting idea on this list but for a very different reason. The drink is actually two flutes of a cocktail using Dom Perignon Oenotheque 1995 as its base with an engagement ring in between them, the perfect way to pop the question.
These drinks mirror the ideology of Purple Bar; the venue is luxurious but not just for the sake of it. Roland’s list is not just the most expensive bottles of spirits blended together to sound good, it is a well thought out combination, and quite ingenious. These drinks are made from the best ingredients, regardless of cost, but in many cases a more expensive brand has been forgone for a superior one. This is the way that any pursuit of perfection has to be.
We move onto the “Divine” list. A collection of cocktails using pure chocolate, melted down, then blended seamlessly with a variety of spirits, to create a drink unique to this bar. The use of real chocolate gives this drink a rich smoothness, yet it remains light; perfect for an after dinner treat. I have never come across a drink where this execution is used with these ingredients.
Aside from the lists that Purple Bar has developed the talented bar staff will mix your requests or suggest a few drinks that aren’t on the list. Everything here is top shelf, not just the spirits, and the service and attention to detail are unsurpassed. This comfortable venue, delicious drinks and warm hospitality made me want to stay throughout the night but unfortunately pressing engagements, which I had already pushed back half an hour, beckoned and we strolled off into the Soho night…
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