Cocktails with a flair

Earl grey tea infused vodka with rose shrub bitters, gherkin pieces and its brine, sweet lime juice, crushed ice and instead of a colourful umbrella to top it all there is a stand shaped like a magnifying glass – such is the 'Sherlock in a Pickle' cocktail served at London Taxi in Mumbai's Kamala Mills, where mixologist and flair bartender Ami Shroff is at work. Shroff prefers natural ingredients mixed with a little less sugar and a little more juggling of concoctions to regale her fans.

To add to her long list of accolades – winner of La Maison Cointreau India championship 2014, third place at the Skyy Flair Competition 2010, Bacardi Flair Competition 2007, IBOM 2005 – the 31-year-old has recently won an award backed by a reputed media firm in 2018. Shroff's Peace of Pink drink complete with rhuby, chamomile tea, pomegranate, orange and lime, won her second place at the Rhuby Mixology Competition that was held in Sweden last year to raise funds and awareness for breast cancer.

Long before Shroff, there were a few others who left their mark, such as Shatbhi Basu, who now runs her own bartending academy called Stir Academy of Bartending in Mumbai. Yet what sets Shroff apart is her impressive display of performing arts that she practices behind the bar.

When Shroff first took up flair bartending, she looked at the profession as an intense sport. Today, nearly a decade later, she finds deeper meaning in merging her bartending with eco-friendly principles. "Nature and life inspire me. To leave someone with a memory or an experience is what keeps me going," Shroff elaborates. "It's just so wasteful to use cartons – using fruit pulp gives us the option of composting." At London Taxi, one is offered alternatives to plastic straws, which, she adds, are "completely horrible for the environment".

Among the mix of a whole range of colourful cocktails, there are a few 'hangover-free' options that have been time-tested and foolproof. "Use of natural ingredients, good quality alcohol and less sugar gives a cleaner drinking experience," says Shroff.

She claims that the use of natural ingredients and low sugar content makes her patrons feel less guilty. Her health-conscious audience keep a count on what they consume and, for them, Shroff tweaks the regular sweeteners. "I believe in using alternatives such as honey and jaggery. Drinks with sugar content are monitored," she adds.

Inspired by her globetrotting episodes, Shroff also recollects some quirky innovations, "I once saw extra-virgin coconut oil being used in a smoothie. It was a cocktail with tofu and marijuana infused absinthe."

Shroff's personal spin on the very popular English Breakfast Cocktail includes tea mixed with gin, marmalade, raspberries, a slice of orange and a side of mango panna cotta disguised to look like a sunny side up egg. It's a large cocktail that comes with a refill in a tea pot. "I don't like conformity, so I try to reach for what's not already put out in the world," says the bartender.