SIX QUESTIONS FOR ADAM HANDLING

Adam Handling may be one of the busiest chefs on the circuit but he’s a cocktail lover at heart. And he’s written his first cocktail book to prove it. It’s part of a trilogy that encompasses all of his passions: food, drinks and sustainability, which can be found and appreciated at his two amazing bars, Eve in London and Ugly Butterfly in Cornwall.

ONE What’s the story behind Perfect, Three Cherries?

I wanted to create a cocktail book where a non-bartender could get information about the history behind the drinks, learn the basic ‘mother’ cocktails and their modern and zero waste interpretations. I wanted it to be jam-packed full of information, more than anything out there. It was quite selfish really – it’s what I would have wanted to read when I was learning about cocktails.

TWO It’s part of a trilogy. How did that come about?

The original idea was to have two books: the cocktail book, which was going to be a diary, hence the shape and way that it looks, and the Frog book about my vision for food, and they were going to be wrapped together. But when I was writing, Frog got up to 1,000 pages and my publisher said no one would buy it because it weighed eight kilos! So I came up with the idea of splitting them up and going into even more depth on the foraging side and it became three books.

THREE As a chef, how did you find writing a cocktail book? It was intense. In total, the whole thing took me about six years to write. I ripped it up about 10 times because I wasn’t happy with it. The reason? I knew that I might get some stick writing a cocktail book because I’m a chef. But the truth is, I’m just a massive fan of bars. In fact, my dream was if I didn’t have a restaurant I would open a bar and the fact that I get to do the two together is really exciting.

Are you proud of the book now?

I am. What makes me the proudest is that Ago Perrone, Erik Lorincz and some of my other drinks heroes have written a foreword in it. I’m always in their bars, because I admire them so much and want to try everything they do. When they said they would like to foreword it, it was the pinnacle of my ‘oh my god, I’ve never been so happy’ moments. They are the biggest, most respected names in the industry and that means a lot to me.

five Keeping with the ‘three’ theme, what are your three favourite recipes in the book?

Perfect, Three Cherries – it’s my favourite cocktail. It’s a Perfect Manhattan made with cherry-infused bourbon, cherry stone sweet vermouth, cherry blossom dry vermouth and three cherries to garnish. Then Cheeky Monkey, using offcuts of fudge blended through whisky and a little touch of Discarded Banana Rum. Lastly, Endeavour, a Piña Colada cooked to order using liquid nitrogen. There’s zero dilution, zero ice crystals and it looks sexy as hell.

six

The book includes stories behind the classic cocktails. What’s your favourite story behind a classic?

The first time I met Salvatore Calabrese, I was in awe. It was at an event – he was doing drinks, I was on food. He was so friendly and warm and invited me to his bar. Having a Breakfast Martini made by him blew the situation of what a classic cocktail is all about – being made by the person who created it. That was special.

According to the Bacardí Consumer Survey 2022, the cocktails that consumers most frequently order in bars include the Mojito (36%), Margarita (34%) and Gin & Tonic (32%).

Source: Bacardí Cocktail Trends Report 2022