The Edinburgh Cocktail Bar Bringing Scottish Folklore To Life
Cocktails with a side of storytelling. Bar Prince at The Balmoral has unveiled Mythical Legends, a new menu inspired by Scotland’s folklore and mythical creatures.
Planning a Christmas shopping trip or festive catch-up in Edinburgh? Bar Prince at The Balmoral has unveiled a new cocktail menu inspired by Scottish folklore, offering a rather lovely way to round off an afternoon in the city.
With Christmas shopping trips, festive lunches and long-overdue catch-ups beginning to fill the diary, now is a good time to consider where to stop for a cocktail or two.
And if your plans involve Edinburgh, there’s a rather intriguing new reason to make The Balmoral part of the itinerary.
At Bar Prince, the hotel’s elegant cocktail bar, Scottish folklore is providing the inspiration for Mythical Legends, a new collection of cocktails celebrating everything from unicorns and selkies to witches, dragons and kelpies.
A little theatre behind the bar. The Bar Prince team brings Scottish myths and legends to life through inventive cocktails and imaginative presentation.
Scottish Myths, Legends And Cocktails
Following the success of last year’s Connected Icons, Head Bartender Mattia Rovaris and his team have turned to Scotland’s ancient tales and mythical creatures to create a menu that’s as much about storytelling as it is about what goes into the glass.
And the attention to detail is rather lovely.
Each signature cocktail has its own story and bespoke illustration, while the menus themselves have been handcrafted by Edinburgh’s Crawford Bookbinders, transforming the cocktail list into something resembling a beautifully illustrated storybook.
There’s even a specially created scent mist, blending Scots pine, cedarwood, sandalwood, chamomile, citrus and warming spices to evoke Scotland’s forests and mist-covered lochs.
Scottish folklore meets cocktail craftsmanship, with each drink in the new Mythical Legends collection accompanied by its own specially commissioned illustration.
From Unicorns To The Loch Ness Monster
As for the drinks, the inspiration is wonderfully imaginative.
The Untamed One pays tribute to Scotland’s national animal, the unicorn, combining Scottish vodka with coconut water, white chocolate, banana and lime leaf. Double Identity takes its cue from the selkie, the mythical creature said to move between land and sea, with a coastal Scotch whisky sour featuring honey, citrus and warming spice.
For something richer, Kingdom’s Cauldron draws inspiration from the Witch of Fife, bringing together whisky, botanicals, chocolate, vanilla and caramel. There’s also Messy-Nessie, a bright, herbaceous whisky highball inspired by the Loch Ness Monster, and Fairy Queen, a decadent interpretation of the Mai Tai with aged rum, roasted Brazil nuts and dark cacao.
It’s an inventive celebration of Scotland’s storytelling traditions, with a little theatricality and plenty of craftsmanship.
And while Christmas shopping might be the reason for heading into Edinburgh, we’re rather taken with the idea of making an occasion of it. A leisurely lunch, a wander around the shops and a cocktail in one of the city’s most beautiful hotels sounds like an excellent way to spend a December afternoon.
Particularly when there’s a unicorn on the drinks menu.
Mythical Legends is available at Bar Prince, The Balmoral, 1 Princes Street, Edinburgh.