Botanical cocktails and how to choose them

The word “botanical” appears on a lot of cocktail menus. It doesn’t always mean much. In the broadest sense, any drink made with plant-derived ingredients — which covers almost everything, including a standard gin and tonic — qualifies. What the word should indicate is a specific approach to ingredients: sourcing, preparation and the use of plants, roots, herbs, flowers and bark in ways that go beyond what comes out of a standard spirit bottle.

At Hokus Pokus, the underground cocktail bar at 1 Belgrove Street, King’s Cross, botanical has a specific meaning. All botanical concoctions are distilled, infused, pickled or smoked on the premises. Nothing is sourced from off-the-shelf mixes. The flavour in the glass comes from ingredients that have been worked on before they reach you.

What botanical means in practice

A botanical cocktail built from scratch starts with the base spirit and works outward. Infusing a spirit means submerging botanicals — herbs, spices, fruits, flowers — in alcohol and allowing the compounds to transfer over time. The result is a base that carries flavour the original spirit didn’t have. Fat-washing — a technique used in several Hokus Pokus cocktails — works differently: a fat is combined with the spirit, allowed to infuse, then frozen so the fat solidifies and can be separated, leaving behind its aromatic compounds without the fat itself. The gin fat-washed with avocado oil in one of the house cocktails picks up a richness and subtle nuttiness from the avocado that a standard gin doesn’t carry.

Smoking adds a different dimension — not the sharp chemical smoke of a cheap ingredient, but a layered, aromatic character that works with certain spirits and against others. The team at Hokus Pokus uses smoked garnishes and finishing techniques where they add something rather than simply signalling effort.

Aquafaba — the liquid from cooked chickpeas — appears in several cocktails as an egg white alternative: it provides the same silky texture and foam without the egg, and it’s neutral enough not to interfere with other flavours. The cherry-infused cognac cocktail, finished with black walnut bitters and apple fan garnish, uses aquafaba for exactly this purpose.

Flavour profiles and how to navigate them

The Hokus Pokus cocktail list is built around balance — unexpected combinations that work because someone has thought carefully about why they should, alongside reworked classics that have been given enough of the house approach to feel like they belong on this particular menu.

Broadly, the list breaks into a few flavour directions worth knowing before you order.

Spirit-forward and complex: the gin fat-washed with avocado oil, Lillet Blanc, fig liqueur, Fernet Branca and cardamon bitters is a cocktail that rewards slow sipping rather than drinking quickly. The components are distinct but well-integrated. Good for guests who enjoy bitter, herbal notes with aromatic depth.

Fruit-led with botanical depth: the vanilla-infused vodka with apricot liqueur, Velvet Falernum, mango juice, aquafaba and passion fruit — described on the menu as a modern steampunk twist on a pornstar martini — is tropical and rounded, with the Velvet Falernum adding a spiced, slightly floral edge that lifts it above the original format.

Tea and spirit combinations: the cherry-infused cognac with peach liqueur, earl grey tea, lemon juice and aquafaba uses the tea not as a flavouring note but as a structural ingredient — its tannins provide dryness and length that balance the fruit and cognac. This one is for guests who like cocktails that feel more vinous than sweet.

How to choose

The honest answer is to tell the team what you usually drink and what mood you’re in. The cocktail list at Hokus Pokus is described as a mischievous little playground — it’s designed to be navigated with some guidance rather than alone. The team can recommend based on what direction you want to go: lighter, heavier, more bitter, more fruit-forward, something entirely unfamiliar.

The bar makes no claims of health benefits from its botanicals. It does make the case that a drink built from ingredients prepared in-house tastes different from one assembled from standard bottles — and the difference is consistently noticeable.

Planning the evening

If dinner comes before cocktails, Spagnoletti — the Italian restaurant at 23 Euston Road directly opposite King’s Cross and St. Pancras — is the natural starting point before heading to Hokus Pokus for the rest of the evening.