Swift Soho launches new menu ‘Postcards from Swift’
Featuring all-new cocktails inspired by the award-winning team’s personal memories from around the world, the menu will launch on 1st June.
Acclaimed cocktail bar Swift has announced the launch of its latest cocktail menu ‘Postcards from Swift’ at its original and award-winning Soho location. Each of the 20 drinks on the collaborative menu celebrates the power of great cocktails to conjure a specific time and place and is inspired by the team’s distinctly personal memories accompanied by original art from illustrator Helena Bonastre.
Postcards from Swift aims to transport guests to their favourite places around the world, engaging the senses to recall a distinct memory and evoke feelings of nostalgia and warmth. Drawing on the reminiscences of the team, each cocktail has been painstakingly designed to capture the ephemera of memory and create a sensorial, transportive menu that invokes a series of unique times, places and flavours.
Inspiration for drinks on the menu includes everything from the streets of Singapore to the remote, mountainous regions of Scotland. The Casablanca brings forth the sights and sounds of the souk in Morocco, built with Del Maguey Vida mezcal, mango, kummel, lemon and Peychaud’s bitters; the Silhouette is inspired by holidays to the Adriatic coast and made with Clos Martin 8 Year Old Armagnac, Cocchi vermouth di Torino, Amaro Averna, Fig and Angostura bitters; and the Broadway, an elegant, layered mix of Sazerac rye whiskey, Lillet rosé, Campari and Cassis that conjures the bustling liveliness of New York City. A handful of the bar’s best-loved cocktails, including the Irish Coffee, Shanghaied, White Water, Imperial Gimlet and Praline Flip, also form an integral part of the Postcards from Swift menu, showcasing their role as key milestones of Swift’s journey to date.
Each drink on the new menu is illustrated by original artworks from celebrated artist Helena Bonastre, a Madrid-based artist, animator and illustrator whose experience takes in everything from feature films (including Paddington 2!) and editorial & branding campaigns for Barbour and Estee Lauder. With this menu, Bonastre used ideas and imagery from the team to create street scenes that further connect the drinker to the location that inspired it.
“We wanted to create a drinks list from the heart, something completely personal to us,” says co-founder Bobby Hiddleston, “so we came together and each shared our most vivid memories from around the world. A lot of menus these days are very serious pieces, but we wanted this one to be more conversational and to connect to us a lot more, to feel like the guest is speaking to a friend. With the help of Helena’s artwork, we hope to take guests through our journey and share our experiences along the way.”
Inspired by the European class of bar, where a quick drink signals the end of the day and the beginning of the night, the original Swift Soho consists of two stylish bars, set across two floors in the heart of London’s West End. Currently No. 30 on the list of The World’s 50 Best Bars, Swift Soho has become well known for its bustling Upstairs aperitivo and creative Downstairs menus, the latest of these being Postcards from Swift. A regular in bar awards and industry best-of lists since its launch, including being named Best New Bar at Tales of the Cocktail, the Time Out London Awards and the CLASS Bar Awards, Swift is a regular fixture on The World’s 50 Best Bars list.
Reservations can be made online here or by emailing info@barswift.com
Further information – Swift Soho