It was a cool, misty Friday afternoon in Edinburgh, Scotland and my meeting ended early so I dropped in to my favorite cocktail bar just around the corner. Bramble Bar is without a doubt the best cocktail bar in town. That isn’t opinion, it’s fact. I urge other bars to make a tipple as good as them. In fact, that is how I met my friend, Bramble bartender Jon Hughes. About four years ago, Ron Cooper and I put together a cocktail competition in Edinburgh on his UK tour to promote Del Maguey Mezcal. Jon showed up to flex his skills and then disappeared shortly thereafter to Australia. That Friday afternoon, I realized he had returned to strut his stuff behind the bar at Bramble. Greeted with warm hospitality (as everyone is there, not just friends), I ordered a cocktail. “Bartender’s choice, please,” I announced without any hesitation. In what felt like a blink of an eye, Jon placed what he called “Miracle Mile” in front of me. As he ran through the ingredients, I stopped him at the very first one. “What’s that you say? That bottle looks really familiar!” Sure enough, our exclusive cask of Ransom Old Tom Gin had migrated back to Edinburgh. The Scottish rainy-day gloom had moved on and Miracle Mile was the first of many fine cocktails that evening. Cheers to Jon and the rest of Bramble Bar who made our day.

Miracle Mile

45 mL / 1.5 oz. barrel-aged Ransom Old Tom Astor Exclusive Gin
15 mL / 0.5 oz. apricot brandy
15 mL / 0.5 oz. Cocchi Americano
15 mL / 0.5 oz. lemon juice
Shake all ingredients with ice; fine-strain into a chilled coupette; garnish with a twist of lemon zest.

Bartender: Jon Hughes @dirtyoldtown
Bramble Bar