To mark Earth Day on 22 April 2021, Place of the Way challenged 16 of the world’s best bartenders to create a selection of wildlife-inspired cocktails. Each cocktail represents one of the world’s most endangered animals and all proceeds will go to the World Wildlife Fund, a leading conservation organisation with a mission to create a world where people and wildlife can thrive together.
Two 20cl bottles of Gorilla Cocktail, made with bourbon, amontillado sherry, honey water, nettle green tea and celery bitters.
Chelsie Bailey, bar manager at Happiness Forgets, had this to say of her creation:
'The inspiration for this drink came from looking at the diet of the world’s Gorillas. Aside from fruit and vegetables some gorillas actually eat ants. This fascinated me as a gorilla is HUGE in comparison to an ant. An average male Gorilla can eat up to 30kg of food a day meaning if their diet was just ants they would need to eat 30 million ants a day! Ants themselves have a lemon citrusy taste so I wanted to mimic these flavours in the cocktail without actually using ants. I achieved this by infusing sherry with lemon peel. Other things I wouldn’t have expected a Gorilla to eat would be nettles and celery, so using these flavours along with ants I’ve created a strong Manhattan-esq style drink using a green nettle tea as dilution.
You just need to chill the bottle and serve up with lemon zest, there is just over 2 serves in the bottle.'
This Gorilla sold at our online auction for £100
