Cheers to literature

The Ivy Temple Row’s Literature Festival cocktail menu makes for excellent reading.

As Birmingham Literature Festival returns to the city on Thursday 3rd October, The Ivy Temple Row has penned an exclusive menu of author-inspired cocktails.

With some of the country’s most respected writers heading to the second city, The Ivy Temple Row will welcome four specially curated drinks styled on the works of iconic authors throughout history. Agatha Christie’s Black Coffee, Ernest Hemmingway’s The Old Man and the Sea, Anthony Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange and William A. Brady’s A Gentleman from Mississippi will all be served for the duration of the festival from Thursday 3rd October until Sunday 13th October.

Named after her first ever script as a playwright, Agatha Christie’s Black Coffee (£10.50) is a perfect blend of Grey Goose vanilla vodka, Patron XO Café and sugar, with a kick of freshly pulled espresso.

Adding The Ivy Collection flair to the presentation, Ernest Hemmingway’s The Old Man and the Sea (£9.75) will be one of three drinks served from a hardback book and will combine Bacardi 8 Year Old, Maraska Marachino liqueur, pink grapefruit juice and sugar.

Anthony Burgess’s Clockwork Orange (£9.50) takes influence from the book’s title with Grey Goose A L’Orange mixed with cranberry, lime and Fever-Tree Ginger Ale, and William A. Brady’s A Gentleman from Mississippi (£9.75) uses Gentleman Jack and 30&40 Double Jus topped up with Aspall Cyder.

The partnership with the Literature Festival is the latest in a series of activities with well-known Birmingham events including Pride, The Legitimate Peaky Blinders Festival and Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake at Birmingham Hippodrome.

Liz Burton, General Manager at The Ivy Temple Row, said: “Some of the best authors in the country are heading to the city during the next two weeks, and we want to welcome them with some fresh cocktails designed around some of the most recognisable names in their industry – we’ll even serve the drinks to them in a special Ivy Collection book.”