The English may have left us Gin and Tonic but we, as Indians hadn’t truly embraced it till now. But a slew of new age drinkers from India are switching to making this drink their favourite tipple. One hotel is doing quite a bit to further the story of this drink. The Juniper Bar at one of my favourite hotels Andaz Delhi is a Gin Bar with quite a difference. The bar is actually doing a series of home infused gins which are being served in flights as well as in their cocktails. Tanqueray Gin is used as the base and quite a few interesting flavours have been made.
Why is the Juniper Bar so special?
Made under the guidance of London Bar Consultants, there are 40 flavours available for you to try out. 39 of these are divided into four major types including citrus, fruits & flowers, spice and herbs while the constant flavour is the Delhi Sapphire. Made as a reply to the ever famous Bombay Sapphire, Delhi’s reply has quite a few Indian flavours to it including orange, vanilla, coriander and cumin. The herby flavour of the gin gets quite a bit of accentuation to it with this mix.
I sit down at the fluidic Bar that typifies the ethos that runs through the hotel that is to maximise interaction between the guest and the employee. Jutting like an oblong coffee table occupying some of the space, it gives you a feel of a home bar, the only difference being the exciting new Gin flavours and its cocktails. I sit down with Pradeep, the mixologist from Uttarakhand who swears by his home state’s flavours and it is something I taste later during the evening. In the meantime, I try out a few of his cocktails making use of the infused flavours.
The cocktails at Juniper Bar
One of the reasons that the cocktails made here taste so good is also due to the fact that they are exclusively made with natural syrups, all of which are made in-house. My first cocktail is the Quack Doctor, quite ironic serving it to a real one. Using a gin infused with the wood and smoky flavour, a bit of fresh almond syrup has been added to it which is a refreshing nutty yet earthy tone. But it’s the second cocktail Botanica Panacea that makes me applaud the brevity of the barman. He dares to combine a Rose and Cocoa Butter stained Gin with some freshly prepared Lavender Syrup and a hefty dose of Port Wine. It’s sweet and floral and unapologetically so.
The bar also features quite a few titbits to try out while sipping down quite a few of the gin-based cocktails. I order myself a Foccacia with Sun-dried tomatoes and its humongous size allows me to absorb a few more shots of the infused gins. One of those Pradeep wants me to try is the Timur infused gin. The Timur is a pepper from the forests of Uttarakhand which Pradeep calls home and the infused gin is a burst of spicy yet herby flavour that exists for quite a long period on the palate.
Juniper Bar is one of the rare Gin Bars in the city and is one place that you should definitely head to soon.
