Burning Night Group has created a new cocktail menu, adding 18 fresh and fruity summer drinks to its list of classics and favourites.
It has been introduced at all Bierkeller Entertainment Complex sites in Leeds, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, Cardiff and Nottingham.
The emphasis is on capturing an exotic holiday feel, and every cocktail is made with fresh fruit purees so customers get to feel virtuous and healthy while they enjoy their favourite gin, vodka, whiskey and rum blends!
The new menu includes a Passion Fruit Margarita, Strawberry Mojito, Coconut and Lime Daiquiri and an English Country Garden made with Hendricks gin, elderflower liqueur, lemon and topped with prosecco.
Isaac Mayne, head of marketing and promotions for Burning Night Group, says the aim of a great summer cocktail is to conjure up happy sun-filled memories of lying by the pool with a long chilled drink.
“That’s one of the reasons why we use more fruit in the summer menu because it recreates that feeling which everyone loves,” he says.
“Around the World, within the Bierkeller Entertainment Complex, specialises in cocktails so we wanted to come up with a list that uses a wide variety of spirits to appeal to every palate. We didn’t just want a whole gin menu or a whole rum menu because then you exclude a lot of customers.”
Stephen McKnight, group stock controller at Burning Night Group, says cocktails are now a favourite with both sexes, and men are increasingly switching from beer to try them.
“Cocktails are really popular with everyone at the moment, and a lot of guys who a couple of years ago wouldn’t have touched them and would have gone straight for a pint, are now thinking, I wonder what that’s like? That’s a good thing because, especially in the summer, a refreshing drink is just what you need.”
Bierkeller Entertainment Complex bar supervisor Dan Watson explains that the key to making the perfect summer cocktail is getting the balance of sweet and sour just right, and mixing up vibrant colours to recreate a sunshine holiday vibe.
“We look to create a contrast because you can’t just have sweet sweet sweet, that’s not a good combination. We only use fresh purees because they taste much more natural than regular juice, they give the cocktails texture and they look nicer because the colour is stronger.”
Dan says the summer menu was put together after a series of tasting sessions.
“We’ve got 18 new ones which made it onto there, but we rejected a lot more than that,” he explains. “We sample in groups because it’s important to get a lot of people who like a combination, one opinion isn’t enough, so a lot of it is trial and error. Something can look amazing but taste awful and then it’s back to the drawing board.
“A lot of the cocktails on the new list came from experimenting and sharing ideas, often putting together ingredients you’d never normally consider and coming up with amazing results.”