Just what the doctor ordered: Londoners get a health hit with medicinal cocktails

Nicky Clarke raises a glass to good health

Just the tonic: A 'medicinal' cocktail at First Aid Box

Nicky Clarke22 February 2016

Londoners are drinking to doctor’s orders this year as a wave of apothecary-style bars have opened up catering to a cocktail-loving, clean-living crowd.

Leading the charge is First Aid Box, opened in Herne Hill last month by Chris Edwards and Dave Tregenza, the drinksy double-act also behind The Shrub and Shutter in Brixton. Here health and nutrition is just what the doctor ordered albeit with an alcoholic twist: medicinal mixology includes the likes of Penicillin – Dewar’s 12 Year Old Whisky, ginger, charred honey, oak smoke, lemon, egg white – and Luco-z-aid, a boozy blend of Patron Silver Tequila, Lucozade syrup, white grape, vitamin C and Seltzer.

On the other side of London, new bar Tonic & Remedy promises to ‘nourish, rejuvenate and revive’ with a menu inspired by the heritage of its location in Shoreditch – where original apothecaries once used precise and exact balances of herbs, spices and wine to aid health. Indeed, traditional tonics have been revived and given a trendy twist for the modern-day cocktail connoisseur: try the Bloody Remedy – vodka, tomato juice, spice mix, celery and cucumber foam, salt – or the Vegan Sour made with Batch 1, barley syrup, lemon juice, chickpea brine and lavender bitters.

Over in Hackney pop-up collective Behind This Wall have just opened their first permanent premises under the same name. This time round they’ve eschewed tinctures and elixirs for a collection of cocktails free from artificial additives, colours and flavours. Hedonistic drinks include everything from a martini to a Manhattan all with an added health hit – and, we’re assured, a lesser hangover.

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And in Islington, London Cocktail Club – which bills itself as a ‘naughty speakeasy pharmacy’ – is tucked behind an ‘Apothecary Off Licence’ frontage and serves pharmaceutical poisons behind the bar. Make-your-own apothecary masterclasses encourage guest to muddle their own ‘prescriptions’ to take home using interesting bitters, liqueurs, fragrances and vermouths. To add to the theme, a private drinking space for parties is dressed up as a ‘doctor’s waiting room’ and a second a second, smaller bar is named A&E (alcohol and entertainment).