Founder Ryan Chetiyawardana explains: “There were certain things that we knew we wanted to transport from London, but a lot of it has been about embracing where we are. We haven’t necessarily changed the profile of the drinks – what we try to do is have clarity of flavour and clarity about where something hits emotionally, and that’s a human thing that doesn’t change with the market.
“But we do want to look at how ingredients vary. We experienced this when we opened Silver Lyan in Washington DC. An ingredient like corn was very different in the Americas to what we have in the UK – we want to embrace those differences. Apples in the US, and particularly in New York, are very different, and apples have featured a lot on the new menu.
“We’ve done a fermentation on some carrots, and we know what kind of thing is going to happen there through experiments in London, but in a new place with a different product, there will be some differences, and so we balance to the locality. That’s where the philosophy of Seed Library gave us so much room to explore. It allows us to tap into a sense of place, but it also allows us to explore these things without having to be New Yorkers.”
C.R.E.A.M Margarita
The C.R.E.A.M Margarita is a Seed Library classic that has been reimagined through a New York lens.
“The C.R.E.A.M Margarita in London is essentially a Milk Punch Margarita brightened with champagne. The NYC one takes a different approach by fermenting cream and passion fruit separately using different strains of lactobacillus and champagne yeast over three days,” says Mr Lyan venues managing director, Alex Lawrence Milia.
“It’s basically a fermented creamy Spicy Marg, it has more texture than its counterpart in London and pushes fruity spice instead of more of a pure bright note.
“This ferment we nickname ATOM [which stands for ‘a ton of microorganisms’], and it’s essentially a ferment of a ferment. We’ve used it widely across the company recently.”
Lalo Tequila, mezcal, chilli & passion fruit ATOM, lime, clarified cream
Blue Hill 75
Hendrick’s Gin, fermented purple carrot, champagne
Shepherd’s Delight
Renais Gin, Maker’s Mark, enzymed Concord grape, raspberry, lemon
Thai Basil Vodka Soda
Belvedere, Thai basil, soda
