Colourless cocktails aim to ‘remove stereotypes’

London restaurant chain Burger & Lobster has created five colourless cocktails in an attempt to “remove stereotypes” surrounding drinks.

Burger & Lobster created clarified versions of the Cosmopolitan, Mojito, Margarita, Negroni and Piña Colada.

Available at the restaurant group’s Soho and Bread Street venues in London, the five drinks were created by mixologist Eduard Balan and the head of bar at Burger & Lobster, George Pugsley.

Burger & Lobster’s colourless Mixed-ology cocktail menu features clarified versions of the Cosmopolitan, Mojito, Margarita, Negroni and Piña Colada.

Balan said: “the creation of the colourless cocktails whilst still getting the taste was a fun challenge for me. I love this new range and I hope that other bars come and try them, and it inspires their menu to be fit for everyone.”

In the group’s Soho restaurant, the five colourless cocktails are listed by number rather than name, encouraging guests to select drinks by ingredient rather than by name and their own preconceptions.

In Burger & Lobster Bread Street, however, the cocktails have been listed by name, and the restaurant found that 5% of men and women chose the Negroni. In comparison, four times more men and women chose the exact same cocktail in the Soho restaurant when it was listed without its proper name.

Ben Hedley, head of marketing at Burger & Lobster, said: “The colourless and nameless cocktails are an exciting concept, not only for us but for our customers. They are always on the lookout for what we are doing next and we hope this will encourage more people to feel comfortable in what they are drinking – everybody loves a cheeky cocktail.”

According to consumer research published by the restaurant group, 31% of male customers were put off choosing a particular cocktail such as a Cosmopolitan or Piña Colada because the name was too ‘feminine’. Burger & Lobster also found that 11% of female customers were too embarrassed to order drinks considered more ‘masculine’.

Burger & Lobster hopes to roll out the Mixed-ology menu across its other London restaurants in 2020.