This week’s Londoner is Alex Kammerling, entrepreneur and maker of the first British Aperitif, Kamm & Sons. We catch some words below…
Firstly, how long have you been in the big smoke and where’s home?
I moved to London in 1997 to become an artist. I was living in Whitechapel with 8 others, I was making art in my studio in Cable St. in the day and making cocktails in the West End in the evenings. I now live in Crouch Hill with my fiancé. Although it is a bit of a mission to get to (Compared to Highbury where Kamm & Sons was invented) it is lovely and quiet and means I can have my office in the shed at the end of the garden!
How did Kamm & Sons come about?
Not easily. The whole recipe development and design took 5 years to perfect and involved whittling down hundreds of botanicals to just 41 including ginseng, fresh grapefruit and juniper. Kamm & Sons was born from the need for a healthier British pre-dinner spirit to compete with the classic Italian and French Aperitif’s.
Can you give our readers an easy cocktail recipe to make at home?
Kamms Bitter Lemon. Simply fill a tall glass with Ice cubes, add 50ml Kamm & Sons, 150ml Fever-Tree Bitter Lemon and garnish with a stick of celery and a lemon wedge.
You obvs know your drinks, what’s your favourite cocktail and where can we find it?
Everything they make at Oskars bar at Dabbous is fantastic
Finally, what would your perfect day in London be?
I love the diversity and juxtposition of architecture and culture in London, so it would be a day that included people-watching in Mayfair, food shopping in Broadway Market, visiting art galleries in Shoreditch and drinking cocktails in Soho.
Sounds like a pretty good day to us! Want to learn more about Kamm and Sons? Then check out the website.
Photographs by Addie Chinn