So I’m feeling pretty smug right now because I am in the knowledge about a brand-new bar that’s coming to the city – and it’s a rather special one indeed.
It’s taking inspiration from a time long before the Prohibition, the 19th Century when the Industrial Revolution was in full swing. As our streets became more clogged with smog and grime and little vagabond kids picking pockets, the great unwashed were also exposed to a range of new, exotic flavours, ingredients and techniques from faraway lands.
Drinking dens were established throughout many of the country’s major cities, serving up fantastic new concoctions using new things such as ‘ice’, ‘soda’, ‘sugar’ and ‘liquor that weren’t made in someone’s manky metal bathtub down the street’.
These drinking dens weren’t strictly legal and so to avoid anyone getting their collars felt by the bizzies, they’d advertise themselves as attractions – offering the chance for patrons to see a ‘blind pig’ or in this case a ‘Blind Tyger’.
Upon entering, of course, you’d be greeted with a bunch of blind-drunk men and women instead of an animal, with the only logical thing to do next was to get a round in.
It’s this era of secret bars and dens that Blind Tyger takes its inspiration from, not just with the cocktails but also with a willingness to give us information.
Blind Tyger is set to open in March and even though details are a little scarce at the moment, it looks like this will be a place focusing on some very unique cocktails.
Watch this space for more details on the opening, but in the meantime, be sure to keep this between you and I…
