Having shut the original Shoreditch incarnation of Scout, acclaimed drinks consultant Matt Whiley – aka The Talented Mr Fox – is now introducing Hackney to his cocktail credo. Simplicity, seasonality, sustainability, foraging and zero-waste are the watchwords in the spartan spearmint ground-floor bar.
Here an evolving drinks list is split into short chapters: Sea, Ground, Tree and Plant. Try a clean, light Highball combining gin, elderflower, samphire and honey. Alternatively, choose edgy Manhattans or modern Martinis that call for the recherché likes of acorn milk, oyster shell distillate, button syrup and hemp-based ‘whipped CBD oil’. By contrast to the main bar’s asceticism, Gold Tooth, Whiley’s pitch-black, graffiti-daubed basement gangsta dive, resembles an LA hip-hop joint, circa 1988. Beers and house ferments plus four simple kegged pre-mixes on tap – cascara and tonic, say – keep things sweet until fashionably late.
Food (snacks and small plates) is tailored to Scout’s seasonal drinks menu.