Rather than sipping spicy chai to banish away the rainy blues, why not try a monsoon cocktail? The Harbour Bar, at the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower, has introduced an unusual range dedicated to both, the monsoon and Mumbai’s character, designed by their resident mixologist, Tim Etherington-Judge.
The Brit was recently headhunted to shake-up their cocktails from a boutique cocktail bar in New Zealand. His latest concoctions include Monsoon Blazer. This mix of eight year-old bourbon, Wild Turkey, and sweet herbal liqueur Galliano L’Authentico is flambéed at your table with Angostura bitters and hot water, and served piping hot.
Another creation designed to appeal to Cuban cigar lovers is Shades of Z. This cocktail combines the world’s best rum, Ron Zacapa Centanario (23 years old), with two bar spoons of homemade Montecristo, a cigar syrup, spiced with chocolate bitters, old-fashioned bitters and orange zest, served in an old-fashioned cocktail glass.
The Fig Star Smash is a combination of Scotch whisky romanced with a fig, star anise and honey syrup with a handful of freshly picked mint, sprinkled over hand-crushed ice and served in a vintage silver tankard.
His signature cocktail, I say Bombay, you say Mumbai, is a tribute to the mixed cultures and ethnicity of the city. It is a Bombay Sapphire, stirred with masala-spiced sweet vermouth, maraschino liqueur and garnished with a twist of orange and a vodka, shaken with cardamom-infused dry vermouth and served with a Kashmiri chilli-stuffed olive.
{{/usCountry}}His signature cocktail, I say Bombay, you say Mumbai, is a tribute to the mixed cultures and ethnicity of the city. It is a Bombay Sapphire, stirred with masala-spiced sweet vermouth, maraschino liqueur and garnished with a twist of orange and a vodka, shaken with cardamom-infused dry vermouth and served with a Kashmiri chilli-stuffed olive.
{{/usCountry}}Judge has also recently launched the Cocktail Curiosities Society, which introduces experimental new cocktails at the Taj ever two months.