The Monarch Cocktail

Shannon Tebay is the head bartender at The American Bar at the Savoy Hotel, the oldest cocktail bar in London. The gin in her martini-style cocktail adds a pleasant dryness that is tempered by the fruity addition of Lillet Rose and pamplemousse (French for "grapefruit") liqueur. Lillet Rose is a liqueur that adds hints of berry and orange blossom, along with a touch of acidity, and the pamplemousse, a liqueur made with pink grapefruit and lime, adds a mellow citrus flavor with grapefruit notes, as well as a slightly bittersweet note.

While shaking and stirring will both blend cocktails, Tebay prefers to use a cocktail spoon. She finds it creates a drink with a much more satisfying and velvety mouthfeel. A spoon mixes the drink while it gently coaxes the flavors out of the ingredients. She will stir the drink until it tastes just right, and to see if it's ready, she tastes the drink occasionally as she mixes it, using a small straw to draw a tiny amount of the drink out of the mixing glass. It's ready when the drink is bracingly cold and has a smooth, silky texture.

For straining the drink into the glass, she prefers a Hawthorne strainer, a utensil with a flat metal back and a handle, with a coil wrapped around the top edge. The coil fits snuggly on top of the mixing glass, making it easy to cleanly strain the cocktail into a martini glass. She recommends adding the ice cubes to the mixing glass last, to achieve the perfect amount of ice melt. When choosing the grapefruit for the garnish, find one that is organic, if possible, with skin that hasn't been waxed. Find one with a lovely orange and pink hue so it looks pretty in the glass.