Humboldt Bar

A sumptuous corner banquette is the perfect perch for your history lesson on Alexander von Humboldt. The 19th-century naturalist and explorer is the inspiration behind almost everything (drinks, artwork, sharing plates) in this small and wonderfully romantic bar led by Brant Porter. Cocktails trace von Humboldt’s life through flavour profiles spanning from bright and fresh to bold and spicy. An Old Fashioned by way of Chihuahua is made with piloncillo (Mexican cane sugar) and pechuga sotol, a spirit distilled from the desert spoon plant and flavoured, in this case, with walnuts, seasonal fruit and raw venison suspended in the still. A fan favourite is the Cyanometer, a citrusy Azure-tinted cocktail named after the instrument von Humboldt used in 1802 to gauge the darkest shade of blue sky ever recorded, on Mount Chimborazo in Ecuador.