Get creative
behind the bar

Try out these cocktails …

Holwell Cave

INGREDIENTS:
(Based on a 300ml glass)

Rosemary leaves
Crushed ice
50ml Dryad Gin
2tsp clear Somerset honey
3–5 drops of Tabasco (to taste)
Ginger ale (to top up)
Rosemary stalk x 1
Green olives

METHOD: Place the rosemary leaves in the shaker and muddle (crush) just enough to release their essence, add ice, Dryad Gin, honey, Tabasco, then shake. Fill a glass ¾ with ice, pour in the cocktail and then top with ginger ale. Garnish with a stick of rosemary and olives.

Ladies Edge

INGREDIENTS:

Blueberries x 5
Mint leaves x 5
Crushed ice
50ml Dryad Gin
Juice from half a lime
200ml cranberry juice
Orange zest

METHOD: Muddle (crush up) two blueberries and four mint leaves in the shaker, add ice, Dryad Gin, lime juice and cranberry juice, then shake. Add the remaining blueberries to a glass, pour over the cocktail and add the orange zest and remaining mint leaf to serve.

Broomfield Bramble

A delicious mix of double Dryad Gin, lemon and blackberry liqueur. Not for the faint hearted, participants found themselves standing in a local stream (for reasons that remain unclear) whilst developing this recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

METHOD: Shake the Dryad gin, lemon juice and sugar syrup in a cocktail shaker with a good handful of ice cubes. Strain into a rocks glass full of crushed ice. Drizzle the crème de mure over the top so it ‘bleeds’ into the drink. Garnish with the lemon slice and blackberry.

Luxborough Mule

Made famous in Better Call Saul we have put a twist on the classic ‘Moscow Mule’, making it with gin, lime and mint, served in 100% copper hammered mule mug or a glass of your choice. We have named this cocktail after The Royal Oak Inn at Luxborough, where Oak meets Oak.

INGREDIENTS:

METHOD: Pour the gin into a metal mug, or tumbler. Load up ¾ full with crushed ice, then fill to the top with the ginger beer and stir gently to combine. Add a squeeze of lime and serve with a sprig of mint and a slice of lime to garnish.

Isle of Avalon

Avalon was an island of healing, associated with Glastonbury. For the Druids, the apple tree was the source of that healing. Avalon literally translates as ‘Isle of Apples’, a Welsh term for the apple tree. There are numerous ties between Wales and Somerset, especially in Arthurian legend. From high on the Quantock Hills (home of Dryad Gin) the shores of Wales and Glastonbury Tor are both visible.

INGREDIENTS:

METHOD: Add ice to a Tumbler glass.
Put in all the ingredients and stir well before serving.
Cocktail created by Jo and Kim Funnell

The Lord & Lady of Stoke De Courcy

This cocktail is named after the De Courcys who, being of Norman descent were granted lands, and inherited Stoke around 1088. Fusing the place name and their title, Stoke is now better known as the Somerset village of Stogursey. ‘Lord & Lady’ refers to the fusion of deep, smoky, masculine bourbon and light, crisp, feminine gin.

INGREDIENTS:

30ml Dryad Gin
30ml dry vermouth
5ml bourbon
5ml cherry liqueur
5ml Luxardo maraschino cherry syrup
1 x Luxardo maraschino cherry
1 x square of chocolate (40–70% cocoa)

METHOD: Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Add the alcohol and cherry syrup. Stir well until the mixture is ice cold. Place a cherry in a chilled Martini or Coupe glass and strain the drink over. Serve with a square of chocolate.
Cocktail created by Jo and Kim Funnell

Reeves Weave

This botanical tapestry cocktail is inspired, and created by, the Weavers of Dunster. The weavers intertwine their threads in a symphony of taste, served in a hammered copper mule mug.

INGREDIENTS:

METHOD: Place the crushed ice into a hammered copper mule mug or glass. Pour over 25ml of Dryad Gin, a splash of dry cider and top up with ginger ale. Stir into the crushed ice and garnish with dried apple, a stem ginger piece and a sprig of rosemary. You can use a bamboo stick for pulling the garnish together.

Dunster Plum Sling

Word spread like wildfire, drawing travellers from far and wide to experience the Reeves Restaurant Dunster Plum Sling cocktail. Each sip possessed a magical quality, bewitching all who indulged in its captivating flavours. In the heart of Dunster, Reeves had created a celestial elixir that will forever be steeped in the town’s lore.

INGREDIENTS:

25ml Dryad Gin
25ml plum liqueur
25ml Benedictine liqueur
A few drops of bitters
50ml pineapple juice
25ml lime juice
Soda water
Garnish: pineapple / cherry / plum

METHOD: Place ice in a cocktail shaker. Add the gin, plum liqueur and Benedictine liqueur, a few drops of bitters, pineapple juice and lime juice. Shake, then pour into a long sling glass and top up with soda. Garnish with a pineapple slice, cherry and plum.

Corfe Blimey

Corfe Village were invited to a magical evening of the Dryad Inn. The village chose a name for our new cocktail created by Jo Funnell. This cocktail is a beautiful delicate mix completely clear to represent purity, innocence and the childlike nature of Spring. It is a little sweet, we used grapefruit slices in ice cubes to garnish and allow to ‘bleed’ into the drink.

INGREDIENTS: