Sloane Square

With the game bird season in full swing, and in light of Nige’s recent acquisition of a brace of plump breasted pheasants, we thought we would bring all of these things together for this week’s cocktail. This is nothing so crazy as Pheasant on the Rocks, or a Ptarmigan Daquiri, but the name of this drink really would make an excellent cryptic crossword answer. So lets do that just for fun:

“1 down: A piazza of shooting rangers; 6, 6.”

Think of where most of the best shooting in the UK is to be found, and from where some of those in your shooting party may have come from. Are you with me so far, or have you given up, jumped straight to the list of ingredients to pour yourself a stiff one?

The best shooting in the UK is most certainly in Scotland, and Scotland is also famous for a basic alcohol, made only from barley and water. This has to be whisky, right? The Scots have a nickname for a certain brand of blended whisky that has a picture of a rather cheeky-looking game bird on the label. It is this bird that gains the brand the nickname ‘a low flier,’ as a reference to the particular pattern of flight exhibited by the chap pictured on the label. A double measure of a low flier is sometimes known as a ‘brace.’

You have probably guessed by now that this week’s cocktail is based on whisky, but what is the piazza of rangers in the crossword clue? Well, if I told you that The Nosey Chef’s Friday cocktail this week is the Sloane Square, I think most Brits our age could figure out the other references for themselves. For those beyond the shores of Britain, it is worth explaining that back in the 1980s, there was a particular group of wealthy London socialites known as Sloane Rangers, named after the up-market London square where their favourite shops and hangouts were located. The essential characteristics of a Sloane Ranger were, a job in the  City, expensive country pursuits, and the studious parking of very muddy Range Rovers right on the Square, with parking restrictions generally ignored. The quintessential specimen of the Sloane Ranger was the young Lady Diana Spencer, later Diana Princess of Wales (who paradoxically detested country pursuits).

HRH Diana, Princess of Wales (1961–1997) – the most famous Sloane Ranger of all time

Fittingly, the Sloane Square calls for a Highland single malt, which is mixed with tequila. The Highlands is the largest of the whisky producing regions in Scotland and tends to produce a fuller bodied malt whisky, with heavier overtones of peat and smoke, compared with the other regions. In the Sloane Square, this flavour compliments the woodiness of cask aged tequila, the herbal overtones of the Benedictine liqueur, with the fresh zesty orange bitters. The result is something akin to getting both barrels from a 12-bore Holland & Holland side-by-side.

The Sloane Square is best enjoyed wearing a pair a decent tweed, sitting by a roaring log fire somewhere in SW1 (try the Cadogan Hotel), and doing a proper crossword. Just don’t fall off your shooting stick.

Colbert, which does great cocktails right on Sloane Square, can be found at 50–52 Sloane Square, Chelsea SW1 8AX. If you want to eat there (and we recommend you do), then call ahead on +44 20 7730 2804. If you see Jeremy Hackett having a coffee, shake his hand and tell him his suit is very nice.

Print Recipe

Sloane Square

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Serves: 1

Cooking Time: None

Ingredients

• 60ml Highland single malt Scotch whisky (we used 12 year-old Highland Park Viking Honour from Orkney)
• 20ml tequila
• 20ml Benedictine DOM
• 2 dashes of Angostura Orange Bitters

Instructions

1

Stir all the ingredients together in a cocktail shaker with ice.

2

Strain into a glass.

3

Garnish with a twist of orange peel.