Gymkhana teams up with Penhaligon’s on new cocktails

A match made in sensory heaven, Albemarle Street’s Gymkhana has collaborated with luxury heritage perfumer’s Penhaligon’s on The Attar of India, a new cocktail collection available to restaurant guests.

As part of the Michelin-star restaurant’s celebration of the Basant Kite Festival – a historic Punjabi event marking the start of spring – the limited-edition cocktail menu is themed around the flavours and scents linked to specific moments in time in India. James Stevenson, group bar manager for JKS Restaurants – which owns Gymkhana – crafted the drinks alongside Penhaligon’s perfume sommelier, Dominic Collingridge, meaning that each of the four new cocktails is associated with a different Penhaligon’s fragrance. The restaurant has also been decked out with colourful kite decorations and flowers, so diners can really get into the springtime spirit.

First is the Champagne Blossom, made with Tanqueray No Ten, belsazar rose, lychee, verjus, raspberry and sparkling almond blossom. Fragrant and delicate, this fizzing cocktail is inspired by a stroll through the Maharaja’s flower garden in the palace of Jodphur. It pairs well with the grapefruit and wenge wood notes of Penhaligon’s Lothair EDP, and is available by the glass or the bottle.

A Passage to India packs a stronger punch with Johnnie Walker Gold, cocchi Americano, pineapple, citra hops and oyster leaf – ideal for fans of an Old Fashioned. It is themed around the smells of the journey taken by Indian Pale Ales from England to India, and is twinned with the Pengaligon’s Vaara EDP with hints of Indian magnolia and honey.

Small yet warming, Rum & Raison evokes the lingering scent of the air after a monsoon, and comes with Ron Zacapa 23, pomegranate, dry vermouth and rain. Penhaligon’s Agarbathi EDP works perfectly alongside it, with its notes of water and earth, oliban and fir.

Lastly there is the jubilant City of Joy, offering on a new twist on the flavoursome hot chai drink sold by the chai wallahs lining Kolkata’s streets. Served in a striped ceramic cup, this cocktail combines Amrut single malt whisky with buffalo trace, apple, masala chai and clarified milk, and is paired with Penhaligon’s Paithani EDP, a scent of black pepper, nutmeg and Indian cedar.

For more information on The Attar of India cocktail collection, visit gymkhanalondon.com