Th e Monarch

C O C K T A I L H O U R

Making a Stir Pro tips for making a proper stirred cocktail

By Betsy Andrews

“ T HE FIRST DAY OF SERVICE was an emotional roller coaster. I knew all eyes were on us, and

I wanted everything to be perfect,” says

Shannon Tebay, the first woman to be appointed head bartender of the Savoy

Hotel’s legendary American Bar in nearly 100 years and the first head bartender ever from the States. When Tebay and staff donned their white jackets last

October, London’s oldest cocktail den had been shuttered by COVID-19 for over a year. “As soon as guests walked in, and

Jon Nickoll sat at the piano and started playing ‘Fly Me to the Moon,’ I knew we were going to have a good night.” For Tebay’s guests, the assurance of a good night came when she grabbed one of the 128-year-old haunt’s mixing glasses and stirred them a cocktail. The tinkling of her barspoon, the pinging of the ice, the subtle splash of the silky elixir as she strained it into a glass—that’s what customers came for: a crystal-clear sip of history and the heady promise of what lies ahead, all waylaid plans come back to life now with richer, more careful intention. Though Harry Craddock filled his 1930

The Savoy Cocktail Book with shaken martinis, it is not Craddock but Ada Coleman, the head bartender he replaced, who is Tebay’s true predecessor. The only other woman to oversee the American

Bar, Coleman held the rail from 1903 until 1925. She was famed for the Hanky

Panky cocktail. Gin, sweet vermouth, and a bitter wisp of Fernet-Branca, that big-hearted yet balanced libation came together in a few judicious stirs. Perhaps that’s the type of drink our current era calls for: less noise, more clarity. Forget the elbows-out agitation and the racket of cubes against tin. Instead of the showy clatter of shakers, let’s embrace the meditative music of the mixing glass. With Tebay’s step-bystep guidance, let’s fix ourselves a proper stirred cocktail.