The Social’s ‘LTD’ Occupancy

Established in 1999, The Social, Oxford Circus, has been serving drinks, food and good times to Londoners for over 10 years, but recently its owners felt it was time to shake it up. Cue LTD, a temporary bar within The Social that hopes to freshen up the traditional cocktail bar format by promoting a unique concept: stocking only one brand of each spirit, ie. one whisky, one vodka, one gin etc.

According to Dré Masso, drink designer and committee member for LTD, it all came about from a challenge that was extended to him to prove that, in general, people really don’t notice the difference between spirits of each type. However, as one patron questioned, isn’t that premise going against the years of fine tuning that have made the best cocktails what they are today? Turns out it’s not, according to Dré, as long as the ingredients are really good quality. To that end, the committee has been designing and sampling drinks for the project in the last few months, ready for the opening which happened at the beginning of October. But how long will the experiment run? ‘Three months, and then it’s someone else’s problem,’ said Dré, making light of the amount of work it has required for only a three-month run until the New Year.

Has it been worth it? Hell yes. The mouth-watering Mojito, Tropicana (rum, mango, pineapple, lime) and Dark and Stormy (rum, ginger beer, lime) proved that Havana Club rum needs no alternative, and the Sazerac (Irish whiskey, absinthe), although not for the faint hearted, proved that the Irish and Swiss can really work together to make something special. The best two I tried though were the Bumble Bee (gin, honey-water, raspberries) and the Armenian Plum (brandy, apricot liquor, apricot jam), absolutely quaffable in their fruity punch and gone in seconds. What’s more, the cocktails are a feast for the eyes as well as the tastebuds, being served in rustic jam jars, half pint tankards, metal travel mugs or quaint martini glasses.

Prices are a little steep at £8.50 upwards, which is surprising given that they will be buying the single spirits in bulk, but the quality is worth it. The only real negative I would say is the wooden-clad room itself, which resembles a ’70s ski lodge, and is a little on the small side. In fairness though, you won’t notice as soon as you get your first cocktail and sit down in your own booth with personal light and dimmer switch. Furthermore, there are intriguing pictures on the wall of people associated with the project which will also keep your thoughts away from winter sports. Filmed in the lomographic style, LTD will even host lessons on how to achieve similar styles yourself.

What the next experiment at The Social will be come January is still to be seen, but for now, they have done a great job in simplifying the cocktail concept, with no detrimental effect on taste.

Quite the opposite, in fact.

LTD @ The Social
5 Little Portland Street
Oxford Circus
W1W 7JD

Tel: 0207 636 4992