Chetiyawardana considering releasing own spirits
As London’s Dandelyan bar introduces its summer cocktail menu, creator and award-winning bartender Ryan Chetiyawardana says he is considering retailing his own spirits.
Dandelyan’s new summer menu continues the bar’s modern botany approach.Speaking at the summer menu’s launch, Chetiyawardana, known as Mr Lyan, said he was “thinking about” marketing his own range of spirits. He currently partners with a number of distilleries to create proprietary gins, vodkas, rums, Bourbons, ryes, Scotch and more for his own recipes.
However Chetiyawardana added that because the spirits had been crafted for his specific purposes, he was still uncertain at this stage as to whether plans would progress further.
A “nose-to-tail” approach
Dandelyan’s new menu continues the bar’s modern botany approach, with pine, birch and oak flavour profiles explored extensively.
Chetiyawardana said he “considered every aspect” of a plant’s lifecycle when creating the serves. This “nose-to-tail” approach included examining how the trees reproduce, defend themselves, and even how they grow under different conditions.
“It’s not just about the trees, it’s the whole system around them,” he explained.
The resulting menu has been fashioned to take guests on a “sensory woodland journey”, with all ingredients carefully and thoughtfully sourced. Each serve sits within the pine, birch or oak flavour profiles, and is crafted from ingredients as diverse as whisky-infused cucumber and spirits produced with Iberico ham hung within the still.
Non-alcoholic drinks remain prominent on the menu. Serves including the Dandelyan Sour-less and the Huckleberry Sling are visually alluring, authentic cocktail options for those choosing not to drink.
Both Chetiyawardana and Dandelyan are celebrating recent wins at the Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards. Chetiyawardana was named International Bartender of the Year and Dandelyan triumphed in the Best New International Cocktail Bar category.
