Wild Cocktails from the Midnight Apothecary - Wine & Spirits Magazine

Wild Cocktails from the Midnight Apothecary


Author: by Lottie Muir

Publisher: Cico Books, April 2015

Price: $25

Since 2012, British gardener Lottie Muir has hosted an apothecary bar on the roof of the Brunel Museum in London during the summer. Using plants she cultivates or forages, her concoctions have made this green space above the Thames Tunnel a popular destination. She’s now collected her recipes in Wild Cocktails from the Midnight Apothecary. It may take some footwork to find medlars for the Quince and Medlar Liqueur, or gorse flowers for her take on the Tom Collins. But there are plenty of recipes based on more widely available ingredients, like the Grilled Nectarine Smash or the Scented Geranium Sour. With lots of practical advice on drying and storing herbs, making infusions and macerations, and the etiquette of foraging, Muir’s book is just as handy for the cook as the bartender.

Caitlin Griffith knew her future career would entail food and drink when, at the age of six, she munched an anchovy from her father’s Caesar salad thinking it as a small strip of bacon—and was more than pleasantly surprised. While enrolled in New York University’s Food Studies program, she learned the secrets of affinage in the caves of Murray’s Cheese.


This story appears in the print issue of June 2015.
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