Draft House are branching out with their first brand new bar a "dive bar and distillery" right beside the existing Draft House at Tower Bridge.
The bar is apparently inspired by the "late-60s psychedelic movement" or more specifically on the 1960s underground party "The Happening" as well as "Tom Wolfe’s Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, light shows, freedom, the destruction of phony 1950s morality, ear melting music and hallucinogenic drugs." Well, quite.
Assuming you survive that - they'll be distilling their own spirits too, courtesy of Max Chater who's their "Bump Chemist, Distiller and Rectifier". He'll be using a rotary evaporator to create syrups, liquors, vermouths and infusions and this is allowing them to try some bizarre concoctions.
And it's from Chater that the bar gets its name, as he's the Inventor of The Beer & the Bump (contrasting beer and spirit pairings). So he'll be putting together "outrageous flavor combinations" and matching his house-distilled and rectified spirits (Bumps) to the ever-changing beer list from Draft House's Charlie McVeigh. As McVeigh.says "We have been playing around with fun stuff like “Tequila Slammer” in Bump form or even The Monster Dog Bump, infused with essence of Draft House’s famed BaconChilli-Cheese Hot Dog." There's also the some special matchings including:
- Beer: Beavertown Gamma Ray and Bump: Peach, Sauvignon Blanc and Lavender Honey Mezcal (£8.75).
- Beer: Mikkeller American Dream and Bump: Cut Grass and Mahaleb Cherry Distillate (£9.75)
- Beer: Wild Beer Co Put It In Your Pipe and Bump: Conference Pear and Jasmine Brandy (£9.75)
McVeigh adds "I am a little bored of the Speakeasy - I promise you will not need to drink a cocktail out of a teapot. The Speakeasy is OVER. The new day of BUMP has dawned. The age of the bar as distillery, as pharmacy, as lab. An assault on all five senses"
Bump Caves opens 10 July at 208 Tower Bridge Road, London SE1 2UP - open Monday - Saturday 5pm – late. For more information, follow them on Twitter @BUMPCAVES or book at trip@bumpcaves.co.uk.
