Bartender's Choice Daniel Bannon, Citrus

Where the stars behind the bars reveal their favourite drinks

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“The area’s massively populated with students, but this bar’s something different that you don’t get elsewhere in Headingley,” says Daniel, general manager at Citrus. “I mean there’s Arcadia, who are similar in what they serve, but in terms of the bar it’s quite unique. And obviously because we’re not on the Otley Run and we don’t allow fancy dress in the bar, and we’ve got artwork up that’s just from local artists – that says what we’re all about.”

Daniel moved up to Leeds from Surrey, but he’s originally from the north-west and worked in Manchester for a number of years. “I knew Leeds from friends at university here, you’re going back about eight years now, but I didn’t know Headingley at all. But I knew it was a similar sort of place to Fallowfield in Manchester – when the students are here the place is buzzing, and it’s great for the residents when it’s quiet and the students aren’t here.”

Term time or not, what’s immediately noticeable is that Citrus certainly has a very impressive range of beers in its well-stocked fridges behind the bar – everything from Blue Moon to Vedett, Mythos to Palma Louca, Sagres, Steinlager, Maredsous, the list goes on – and the bartenders also have access to a fine range of spirits. Daniel reveals he’s very much a lager drinker, although he’s also a fan of bourbon, red wine and, as he proves here, innovative cocktails.

Daniel starts rustling up his drink of choice, which turns out to be a unique concoction that he recently came up with. He tells us about the meaning behind the name of the drink – Blood, Sweat & Tears – as he combines the ingredients: “Basically I thought of it because when we opened this place, the four of us – me, the two directors and bar manager Andy – were doing like 100, 110 hours a week, just putting a lot into the place. And I just thought obviously there’s a lot of blood, sweat and tears gone into the place, so why not – I’ve created a few cocktails over the years and I just tried this the other night and it worked perfect.

“We sell a lot of cocktails,” he says. “On the menu there’s 42 cocktails, but we’ve got 12 of them that are £4.50, or two for £6.50, and they sell like mad. And this one is available on the two for £6.50 offer.”

Was he inspired by other drinks when he came up with this particularly easy-drinking, finely balanced cocktail? “No, it was just because we’ve got a really good range on the back bar and I wanted to utilise some of that. As long as you know what goes with what then you can do that. Because the Plymouth’s only 26%, I used the export gin at 43% to give it a little kick but it’s not taken away from the flavour at all. It works for me. And it also looks like a glass of blood, sweat and tears as well! But it tastes awesome.”

Drink: Blood, Sweat & Tears

Price: £4.50 (or two for £6.50)

Ingredients: 1 shot St Germain Elderflower liqueur; 1 shot Plymouth Sloe Gin; ½ shot Tanqueray Export Gin; pressed English apple juice; lemon juice and a dash of gomme.

Posted on Wednesday 15th September 2010
SO'H

Citrus

11 North Lane, Headingley, Leeds, LS6 3HG

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