Bar Hemingway Mixologist to Jam at The Connaught Bar in Mayfair, London

This spring, two of the world’s most iconic hotel bars will come together when the Ritz Paris’s Bar Hemingway takes up a week-long residency at The Connaught Bar in Mayfair, London from 7-13 April 2014.

Representing their legendary venues, two cocktail geniuses – Colin Field of the Bar Hemingway and Agostino Perrone, Director of mixology at the Connaught Bar – will ‘jam’ together to create a specialised drinks menu that blends their respective styles.

Colin’s famed cocktails, Serendipity (a blend of mint, apple juice, Calvados and Champagne) and the Ritz 75 (his take on a French 75 using gin instead of Cognac) can be found alongside Agostino’s ever-popular Fleurissimo (bitters, sugar, Cognac and Champagne) and the Connaught’s signature martini mixed with the bar’s selection of homemade bitters.

The menu will also feature two new cocktail creations devised by the pair and fusing their talents. Every night during the week’s residency the pair will mingle with guests, explaining their creations and imparting a wealth of knowledge and great stories.

Named after its celebrated guest, author Ernest Hemingway, the Bar Hemingway has been a vibrant heart of the Ritz Paris since the 1920s. Currently closed for restoration, Bar Hemingway will return with the same wood panelling, vintage photographs and club-like atmosphere that have made it so distinctively appealing for years, all overseen by expert mixologist Colin Field, twice voted world’s best barman by Forbes magazine.

The intimate 54-seat Connaught Bar, which has its own distinctive entrance on fashionable Mount Street, was created to offer a perfect blend of the finest cocktail bar traditions of the past, coupled with new ideas and innovations for the future. This has also been reflected in the design by David Collins Studio which has built a reputation for seamlessly interweaving aesthetics from the past and present.

Commenting on the collaboration Colin Field said, “While the restoration of the Bar Hemingway is being completed, it’s so wonderful to take what we do at the Ritz Paris on tour to another great hotel bar. ‘Jamming’ with Ago has been so creative and fun. We are both inspired by our synergy.”

Agostino added, “It has been a real honour to work with such a legend of the cocktail world. We’ve both brought elements of what we do and fused them together in a completely creative way. The international cocktail scene is more diverse than ever and great hotel bars are at the very heart of it; they set the standards.”

The Connaught Bar is open 4pm to 1am Monday to Saturday and closed on Sundays.