Looking for a new bar to try out? Well one of our firm favourites is Lucky Liquor on Queen Street. Part of the Brambles bar group this is a specialist cocktail bar taking the cocktail process to the next level with their attention to detail and bar skills. We spoke to Erika, one of the team members about what makes Lucky Liquor a must goto destination.
So tell us more about Lucky Liquor and the number 13?
The bar is unusual in that we have only 13 cocktails, with only 13 branded spirits in the bar per quarter. We change all 13 of these every 3 months, so the pace is rapid. When we are halfway through one menu, we’re already prepping for the next as some of ingredients can take time to develop, as do our ideas around drinks. With only 13 bottles on the backbar, our bartenders have to focus on what they have at hand. Complete categories can be missing: menus have gone without a tequila, for instance.
The creativity at Lucky works because of that imposed limitation with the rigour of the 3 month cycle- and somehow the result has been Lucky bartenders really pushing the limits of creativity, creating cutting edge drinks. Each menu grows in strength and the attention on it from the bartending community and industry does also. We have recently been nominated for Imbibe Magazine’s Most Avant Garde Menu award as the only bar outside London.
You take cocktails seriously and have a select list to choose from how is the list created and how often does it change, and tell us about any special cocktail techniques you have?
We use special techniques like clarification- which is we make a completely transparent drink of many ingredients. We have our own filtration unit that is unique to Lucky as we made it ourselves. A completely clear beverage could have been opaque with its many components just hours earlier, and through our filtration methods, we have distilled the remaining liquid as a transparent cocktail leaving no visual clues as to the complexity and depth of flavour. We use techniques involving oleo saccharum- which is a way of using sugar to extract citrus oils.
We make almost all of our own ingredients in cocktails, minus the spirits. Saying that, we do many different styles of infusion, and have a hopping and infusion device that sits on our bar and we do have our very own line of liqueurs, bespoke to only us, made by Mike Aikman. We have many, many flavours of these liqueurs, based on season, menu and whimsy. They make up the eye catching spectrum behind the bar and further we sell them in our off-licence, which is perhaps the smallest of-licence in the world, and the most niche: we sell mainly our own products.
Our current menu was inspired by Tiki. We make our own falernum, fassionola, orgeat and cordials. However, you’ll see through the techniques we use, that its a modern spin: we have interpreted Tiki rather than replicated Tiki, looking to explore the flavours of Tiki. The Go Go Calypso has 9 ingredients in it: Rum, mango, pineapple, passionfruit, all spice, ginger, lime, milk and coconut milk. It is a milk punch that is clarified and the mouthfeel is unreal as a result
Tell us more about the bar and guest experience
We work incredibly hard on our cocktail menu but the guest experience is paramount to us. We have a great beer list, wine by the glass, and a constant special of a Beer & A Bourbon for £5. Our own beer is Smoke In Your Rye. We have a pool table in our basement and a patio that is full in good weather. We are a vinyl only bar and each Sunday is Bring Your Own Vinyl where patrons bring in their own records and we play them. Every second Tuesday, we host Hush Hour a reading and drinking group that brings in local readers and sometimes authors too. We’re in the UNESCO City of Literature, just steps away from the Edinburgh Book Festival and we often get inspired cocktail wise by literature, amongst many of our inspirations.
Do you serve food as well?
We serve snacks but not substantial food. You do not need to book in advance unless you are doing so for a larger party that requires additional space or attention.
You are part of the Bramble Bar group, do you carry over any influence?
Lucky Liquor Co., Bramble Bar, and the Last Word Saloon teams are incredibly close- as each bar houses bespoke equipment that the other bar needs. For instance, Last Word Saloon has the roto-evaporator, the centrifuge, and the chainsaw for cutting ice. We’re close as a team as it is a small (but growing company) and it takes all hands on deck. Each bar has customer service as its ultimate philosophy, so we have that in common. However, each bar has its own ethos, its own atmosphere, it’s own individual and unique mien.
Top tip for a first time visitor!
Don’t be scared. Sit at the bar. Your bartender is your guide. And they can’t wait to meet you.
