Queensyard restaurant, which opened this past March in New York’s high-end Hudson Yards complex, kicked off with a specialty cocktail menu titled The Icons. The drinks were inspired by legends of art and design, such as Jackson Pollock, Tom Ford, Van Cleef and Yves Saint Laurent.
Each cocktail, priced at $19, blends artistic presentation with ingredients and spirits that pay homage to each artist’s most iconic work with a multisensory experience.
For example, the Yvresse was named after the classic YSL perfume, which was originally called Champagne, but because of the controlled wine appellation Champagne, it had to change its name in 1996. (Yvresse is a play on the French word ivresse, which means “intoxicated with joy.”)
Like the perfume, Queensyard says, the Yvresse cocktail was designed to emulate “a sparkling, classy woman.” It’s infused with Champagne soda and homemade salted caramel rum to also reflect the brand’s Marrakech origins.
The D.O.T.O (Dream of the Orient), shown atop, evolved from YSL’s collection of kimono and Asian/Indian dresses displayed at Pierre Berger’s Museum in Paris in 2017. Made with saffron-infused gin, purple shiso, spicy kombucha and Gula Melaka, the cocktail is presented on a traditional fan with smoking incense.
Pollock n°32 recreates Pollock’s unmistakable painting style using a chocolate-spattered cocktail glass, serving as a liquid dessert with bourbon-washed Black Forest gateau, melted chocolate, sherry, cherry bitters and white chocolate air.
The Secret by Van Cleef cocktail was inspired by visual delight of the Van Cleef & Arpels necklace collection, and made with Suntory Toki whiskey, ylang ylang soda, cherry blossom bitters and house chinato.
And the Tobacco Vanille cocktail brings to life Tom Ford’s tobacco vanilla perfume.
The rich, aromatic libation combines Woodford Reserve bourbon, vanilla liqueur, tobacco-infused maple, amber tinctures and cacao butter; the glass is served within a leather handbag.
The Icons series is curated by head bartender, Jeremy Le Blanche, who joined Queensyard after leading the cocktail program at London bar German Gymnasium. “I was passionate about fashion and art, and I wanted to associate fashion, art and drinks,” Le Blanche says. He’s launching a new cocktail menu inspired by gastronomy at Queensyard in late June.
Queensyard is part of U.K. restaurateur D&D London, which operates more than 40 restaurants and bars. The company opened a New York outpost of its Bluebird London restaurant this past September.