If These Walls Could Talk - Behind This Wall podcast: Recent Episodes

Behind This Wall ltd.

Liquid lunch: telling tales from Behind This Wall. A contemporary basement bar out of Hackney Central, London. Drinking talk, music chat, design focus; this podcast puts a mic in front of those that prop up and supply the bar with a good yarn to spin!

Jingle “Minimal Tiki” by Chloe Martini

Production by Calm E.

Before the bar was ‘the bar’, I used spend a lot of time in duty free contemplating the ideal home bar set up. Once you have some basic cocktail making kit (or a suitable array of kitchen utensils to act as sturdy substitutes) the main question revolved around which bottles you would need to be able to offer guests (and yours truly) a tantalising range of cocktails.

The obvious anchors are your speed rail staples: London dry gin, a versatile vodka, a blended scotch, bourbon and rye, white and gold rums, tequila, pisco and cognac. But that’s quite an outlay, even tax free! Then you have your modifiers to actually make these bases into drinks. Triple Sec, cordials, cherry brandy, herbal, nut and coffee liquers, as well as a range of vermouths, amaros and other fortified wines. Bitters! Shrubs! Tinctures and syrups. Cocktail books often make a stab at listing the essentials, but the essentials basically gets you to having a full bar at home.

Peer into any drinks cabinet this Christmas and you’re bound to find some crusting Grand Mariner, ageing Benedictine and unloved Angostura. We get a lot of requests like this; to assist in building up a home bar, but shy of just giving up a list of our speed rail and most used back bar bottles, it feels exhaustive and overwhelming. You may as well just come to the bar.

As a tonic, we’ve come up with something cute as an alternative. Introducing: our Equal Parts cocktail kits. We made these easy-to-use packs to introduce you to the fun of making killer, BTW quality cocktails at home. Each pack includes two well-chosen recipes made with equal parts, a sour and stirred down drink, utilising all the bottles in your chosen kit. All the products have been carefully vetted, look stunning and are fully endorsed by us here at the bar. That means ethical liquids from indies and smaller producers, cutting out the unnecessary sugar, additives, corn-syrup and high fructose.

Given that each recipe is built to equal parts, you can easily scale the amounts to fit your tastes and needs. This simple approach lets you use any measuring tools in your kitchen, helping you achieve impressive results every time you prepare a drink.

We have three packs out for Christmas - for GIN, BOURBON or MEZCAL lovers. Once you receive your box, you simply scan the QR code to join the members' area where you can access further information on each of your bottles and instructions on how to build your two selected drinks.

Bada bing.

Shaking out of the cold snap with a change of pace for the records at the bar. This rotation leans heavy on the ethereal sounds of the likes of M.L.Buch, classic Lana and Yves Tumor with a couple of spiky heaters thrown in for Scorpio season.

Here’s a playlist that draws a song from each in a some-kind-of-vibe order. Or, how we may piece this all together from over the course of a very extended service!

Excited to announce we have a new site in Hackney Wick; @ 415 Wick Lane, down towards Autumn St. etc. In the main, this is going to evolve into a drinks production facility. It’s an industrial site (in a mixed residential & industrial area) so, we’ve popped a café / event space at the front which is now open now to the public :)

Current opening hours are Monday – Sunday, 8am – 4pm. Baked goods by St. John, coffee from Climpson & Sons, sandwiches by yours truly. Our modus operandi for starters is: AFFORDABLE, BANGING, CROWD PLEASERS. A Bacon Buttie for £4.50 before midday, Chicken Salad Sando for £6.50 for lunch and a Vg. Falafel Gyro for £5.50. The menu will evolve and grow overtime but we want to prioritise ABC Breakfast and Lunch options for local workers and residents.

The build has been completed by Barry & Alex. The design on this one is from Studio Kitty McKibbin, who has created a calm, grounding environ carved into a stark industrial space.

Come see us from Monday and check the gallery below to track the journey :-)

Thrilled to be listed by MIXMAG in their pick of the Best Hifi Bars to Check Out in London. Written up by the venerable Gemma Ross.

Shout out to all the other spots up in there, lots there for us to check on too. Can’t believe it’s been 8years!

You can read the full feature here.

xox

Last night the periphery of Hurricane Nigel swept through London. I was caught in it cycling back from a dinner in Stoke Newington, down the Kingsland Road to Bethnal Green. Around Dalston I was grimacing at how soggy my trousers were, by the time I reached Haggerston I’d come to deliriously embrace how drenched I was, which given that wet trousers sits just above Mosquito bites as a personal irritant, was a thing of great marvel.

We talk a lot about the weather in the UK, but don’t really bare the brunt of it that much. I recall Justin Webb talking about his time spent in the US and remarking (sic.) “when they say ‘Have a nice day!’ they really mean it. You never know what natural occurunce could sweep through at any given time and turn your life upside down.”

Maybe Americans are cut from a hardier cloth? Last year I read William Finnegan’s fantastic memoir ‘Barbarian Days: a Surfing Life’. Whether you like surfing or not, his account of heading out repeatedly into the Pacific’s wild winter waters off San Francisco’s Ocean Beach, facing 12 foot waves that hit like icy concrete, and currents to sweep you to Alcatraz, is some of the most visceral writing I’ve ever indulged in. Maybe that put my 2 mile cycle down Kingsland into context.

Over here, Negroni Week is a thing. It is sponsored by the brand that has come to define the cocktail (C_____I) & preaches for creativity and fun takes on the classic (as long as you always use C_____I).

We don’t stock that (as has been visited previously), so in the eye of the encroaching storm & against the grain of myopic marketing, we wanted to push something with a focus on sustainability at core. Essentially, a Negroni is a simple 3 part drink stirred in equal measure, we thought to make one that champions three independent brands really doing their bit for the future.

GIN: East London Liquor Company London Dry Gin

BITTER: Vault Aperitivo Bitter

VERMOUTH: Regal Rogue Wild Rosé

The twist is in the slight switch up from rosso to rosé vermouth, but as the bitter/amaro is made from a red, it balances to something more delicate, circling the square if you will.

The real message is that all these independents sell to us (the trade) in 10 or 5L refill containers, reducing weight on hefty glass transportation and excess packaging. In light of the UK government’s decision to push back on centralised green initiatives and put them into the hands of businesses and consumers, it’s remarkable to see that it is often the smallest companies who make the biggest efforts in practise, whilst the big boys hide behind hollow hashtags and cheap slogans.

There is possibly no single spirit more synonymous with a cult classic cocktail than Drambuie to the Rusty Nail. Drambuie is a honeyed, herbal Scotch Whiskey Liqueur, dating back to Bonnie Prince Charlie. It shot to prominence with the Rat Pack in the 1960s and their thirst for the cocktail.

Answer: A virtuoso mobile bar hire service from us here at Behind This Wall, operating out of 411 Mare St!

We lost a real one this week. A composer across genres, time and space. Ruyichi Sakamoto has always been a favourite of the team at the bar; as a small tribute, Cami has put together 5 favourite cuts from the maestro. We’ve included serial numbers in case you want to seek any of these out on Discogs - although prices will be pretty steep at this present moment in time.

A playlist of the 5 is here (to open in a new tab) or at the base of this post, if you prefer to let it all play.

Ryuichi Sakamoto Featuring Thomas Dolby – Field Work / Exhibition (1985) — VINX 111

Incredible long version of Field Work and on the b-side a preview into Sakamoto’s later ambient excursions. Recorded around the same time CD only deep cut Compute, Compute, Compute is another window into the sound palette his later albums would venture into.

Ryuichi Sakamoto – Esperanto (1985) — MIL-1007

Like bandmate Haroumi Hosono’s S-F-X, Esperanto takes electronic music into the future. The sounds here wouldn’t be out of place on vaporwave playlists, ambient mixes or even drill productions with the icy FM tones and deep bass-y drum machines.

Riuichi Sakamoto & Robin Scott – The Arrangement (1982) — ALR-16001

One we play at the bar frequently and a favourite of Lewis and Cami. Perfect sophisti-pop music in what was another great meeting with the blossoming new wave scene in London.

U-Zhaan & Ryuichi Sakamoto Feat. 環Roy X 鎮座Dopeness – エナジー風呂 (2019) — JS7S267

“2019 peaked with Ryuichi Sakamoto making Hip-Hop, an absolute delight!” - discogs user Makkun70

Ryuichi Sakamoto – Plastic Bamboo (1983) – KMH 709225

Taken off the B-side of the Thousand Knives LP (why are the best tracks always B2?) This genius spin of nominative determinism sounds a bit like what would happen if Wally Badarou and Morph took a trip together.

Playlist 〰️ Playlist 〰️ Playlist 〰️

2022 marked 10 years of Behind This Wall. The bar only came into being in 2016, prior to that we shape-shifted through London’s outer-rings of music, drink and design. Knitting the story together as we went was the iconic workings of Shutupandance, helmed by David Matos. This collaboration between David and Alex is the cornerstone of what’s been built (and taken apart) over the past decade. To toast this landmark the two of them sat down for a chat to piece together this legacy in conversation and images.A Let’s start two years before we began working together. I think I was working at a label and you offered to improve the branding on email. In my mind I remember you basically saying it was a bit pants and you could make it better! I replied saying that that project wa sgoing on ice for a bit but that I liked your style/output (& cojones!) so if I ever needed to do something else I’d write to you…

D Right! I’ve tracked the very first email sent to Moscow Records, it reads Aug 2011. I was living in the Canary Islands, shortly after quitting my unfortunate incursion into the fashion industry in Barcelona and needed to gather good projects and people to collaborate with as an independent provider. I was already working with a few major electronic labels in Germany (inc. Mille Plateaux and M-nus) and had some decent work to show — that’s how I approached you.

Our first collaboration however happens already in 2012, with the visual identity for Laika Grama, the label that never was. We came up with a parody of His Master’s Voice dog and gramophone.

Behind This Wall is first mentioned right after that and you essentially suggest that I assume the creative direction of (everything visual for) the brand. I was very happy with it.

A That’s right! I had this three pronged idea of label, events and some kind of agency that never got beyond fleeting concept. Laika Grama was going to be the label (although one of the tracks ever got finished) and Behind This Wall was for the events. This led to the pitch for the original BTW event and branding. The one on the roof with a vinyl market etc; you delivered this wrap around text that looked like it was lifted off some graffiti and then compacted into a 2D setting with block colours. It was such a perfect visualisation of this rambling Skype chat that we had had, where I mentioned that the name was pinched from a bit of grafiti I saw every day on my way to work.

D The stuff for Netil × BTW, yes. It feels way too clean, looking back. But the corner concept was fitting and the flyer looked cool. It was all before we went wild.

A From that we did a couple of free parties and then secured the Plastic People residency which led us down this risograph route with Hato Press. We really hit our straps with the Mr Ties, Rodhad & Stingray posters where the text and shapes went totally freeform having been quite regimented to start (based on old New York rave flyers).

D And so we went wild! The series for Plastic People took inspiration from the old techno visuals, British punk and contemporary Berlin, along with minimal (and maximal) handmade glitches. The poster for Nicolas Lutz is probably still my most published and shared piece of work to date.

A Sadly, the club closed at the end of 2014 after we’d been there for 2 years, I moved to LA, Alex and Digby went to Berlin and seemingly that was that. But then I pitched the idea of the terrace to the guys at Oval Space in a meditative moment from my little condo in Santa Monica — for a whole terrace takeover with music, film and hospitality (on a craft spirits wave that was really taking off in California hand in hand with the vintage hifi thing). They bit, I came back to do it and suddenly we were going from this very clear, defined (if slightly chaotic) imagery for the rave posters into something super chaotic that needed to be very clearly defined as there was so much going on! The opening times were inconsistent to fit around the venue's programming, our listings were constantly in flux…

D There’s a lot to thank to those meditations and dreams of yours! True, we had to come up with highly informative, readable material to accommodate huge amounts of information with event descriptions and timetables. We’ve produced a lot of stuff for Oval Space, from posters and weekly programmes and socials to a big itinerant (not so much) lightbox! And of course, the (also weekly) No Requests Mixtapes.

A At the end of that summer, on a personal level, I’d been through it all physically and emotionally. To make that thing work I was literally the bar manager, the carpenter, the bin man & the gardener, with Silv managing all the promotions and events, everything on a screen. But we had built this amazing new team and we wanted to continue with them as a priority. The opportunity for the bar came up from connections to the terrace and it seemed like another impulsive ‘yeah let’s do that’ move that made sense in my head but was maybe harder to convey to our audience. The terrace had had dance music at its heart but now everything was condensing into a drinking concept with a vintage hifi element. I seem to recall most of our design discussions involved the wonky toilet light (which sort of linked the old to the new). But the re-brand you delivered was very sleek, quite restrained and I don’t think I appreciated at the time how considered that was for engaging an entirely new audience who had no interest in the fact that we’d been a club night at Plastics.

D The toilet neon, damn thing! An icon, nonetheless : ) You’re right, it can be cruel (and frustrating) to come up with something visually restrained, not immediate, exciting. Seems neglecting. And on paper things tend to look even worse. But with the brief we had for the bar, a careful approach with enough room for uncertainty seemed clever. Filling that space is what we’ve been doing since then, unapologetically changing things (from typefaces and palettes to the logotype itself) as needed, improving (and adding to) the brand with each new step. Paradoxically, that’s what holds it together — a quite cool achievement.

A And then, parallel to this, I wanted to put out some records that we’d been sitting on from the parties (not the Laika ones). This went to the super iconic Stingray album cover. Another total 180 turn but such an amazing piece. To have that physical item always felt like such a goal. It was in hindsight too much at once but again it made sense to me and I feel your visualisation was holding it all together. There was a day in Jan 2016 where we did NTS with Stingray in the afternoon, had the soft launch for the bar for the first time straight after with Sherard (Stingray) supping martinis, then did a record launch party at Pickle Factory where Moodyman showed up and played unannounced — I got to close it out 4-6 and I remember leaving the club at 6 to let in some plasterers to finish at the bar and thinking this is the best day of my life.

The record took a year to actually come out after that because it was impossible to ride so many horses at once, having it in our hands felt like a validation for all the work. The bar was suffering at that stage but this was like a victory lap for what the club night had been.

D That’s so good! It’s a delight to help build (and tell) this story. Oh, and I proudly display that record in my living room, too.

There’s two more things worth mentioning here: the many drinks launched by BTW and the seasonal menus, that I place among the best pieces/series we did along the way: they would connect the actual bar and service (readable and reliable) on the front to the whole story of the brand (glitchy and inspiring) on the back.

A Sadly now we don’t even have a menu! I know our customers really miss those but really we’re now just doing what we always were; our versions of classic cocktails, but more built to taste. The menus certainly lead our audience to this place and a few regualrs still lament for them. I guess now with the bar branding we’ve mad more space without the menus — we’ve recently updated and sort of linked back to those halcyon ‘wavey’ days. Moving away from the structure into something again a bit more playful with the text.

D Press play!

What’s on at the bar this December…

Our Resident Jock - Cami - went to NYC for Hallowe’en and did a guest show on The Lot.

Alex and Lewis have mangled together a Hallowe’en mixtape for your terror. Sifting through their respective collections to zoom on zombied pop and occult oddities.

From Hallowe’en to New Years and everything in between, we’ve got you covered.

Plenty of works completed at the bar this week to set up for the new season.

Not sure how this isn’t a thing? Claiming primacy here (cc. Simon Difford) - “cheers” to Ian and “you’re most welcome” to the rest of you…

10 years ago to the day, 3 mates with a blog threw a party on a roof in Hackney with an open-deck sound-system, vinyl exchange and stalls from the likes of EGLO, millionhands and WOLF Music.

Friendships were forged, many mojitos were drunk and the first steps on a long-and-twisty road were took. The one consistent from then to now is a steadfast belief in beautiful products and that things made well make well of things.

Today, we are all in Sweden as Digs’ is getting married.

Over the coming weeks and months we’ll be celebrating la decima properly on here and at the bar.

Much love [A.A.D.] btw x

Nobody:

Us in 2017: Dj Stingray electro bangers to go with your Manhattan?

It’s Martini Summer! Crushable drinks need no longer apply.

Our new website is now live.

Blended Irish Whiskey for the base, crème de banane (use a nice one, please!) for the maraschino, lemon in for lime and Green Chartreuse to tie it all together on the nose.

Here’s one for Earth Day.

For Good Friday and Easter Saturday we are gonna be lowering the decks from 9pm and running late with a pair of parties to shake into Spring in style!

All DJ donations on the door will be matched by the bar and donated to Save The Children via the Arsenal Vision Podcast

Wind back 12 months and, you’ll no doubt recall, the steep second wave of corona was receding with a relaunch date for hospitality on the horizon. At the time we saw this more as a ‘grand opening’ mark II than a restart. Everyone had been through so much and the world-at-large was altogether so different it felt more like a new beginning than picking up where we had left off. With that came more challenges than opportunities: would our audience be the same, how had the area changed, people’s habits would have inevitably shifted, what would people be willing to spend when going out?

Will you be mine,

Two years down the line,

Hinge was fine,

But I’m over it. This time

I baked bae quenelle

We Rock’t & Rih

Dabbed in Chanel

I’d lockdown with you,

And lie with you fu-

Be my valentine

Twenty twenty two

December’s schedule looks like this:

From now until Christmas we’ve teamed up with our good friends at WhistlePig (check our previous feature on the late, great Dave Pickerell here) to run a Friday special that, quite frankly, is too good to miss!

Tonight we’re celebrating 10 years of The Diggers - a collectors collective headed by the inimitable Mr. Chris Airplays. For our first ever event back in the heady summer of 2012, Chris starred on our open deck sound-system. Since then we’ve been intertwined as star-crossed nerds, confidants and collaborators with The Diggers contributing, consulting and mostly being solid mates to all of us at BTW over the years.

With the pandemic raging last Spring and so much uncertainty in the water, it woulda took some real chutzpah to see it as a chance to start up a business from zilch. Better yet, one that focused on helping and pooling struggling local businesses and serving the community. Max Fishman started The Quarter Store in May 2020 as a ‘dark store’ on Bohemia Place (the sunset strip of arches down by Hackney Central station). What began as a pitch to provide much needed aid to shuttered businesses (including - lately - yours truly) quickly evolved into a bricks & mortar, mom & pop neighbourhood convenience store on the Narrow Way.

Max chatted with Alex last week about the genesis of the store, the perks of becoming an overnight household shop-keep and how Saturday jobs should never be sniffed at.

This time a year ago we were sprucing up the space, setting the turntables and winding up for the passage of one year to the next. With all the hope, goodwill and optimism that this night brings. Eager to be in the clinking, chattering company of dear friends, colleagues and neighbours.

You don’t need me to say that business has been hard, that this years celebration will be muted and we’re all missing that fundamental feeling of community.

After a month subsisting like Junior Soprano under house-arrest we were all really looking forward to opening again on December 3rd. Last week, this seemed workable, the guidance was thin (no surprises) and we tentatively teamed up with Yard Sale to re-think our spot as a subsidiary pizza parlour.

However, over the weekend, we did a lot of soul-searching and came to the sad conclusion that we won’t be able to open under Tier 2 restrictions.

And so it was — the bar on the Narrow Way is closed again for the next 4 weeks at least. This is a fuzzy little pic I took last night of our ticket spike. On it is every order that’s gone out since the curfew was called; at which point, we genuinely felt that’d be curtains for us! No support on offer and four plus years of stats showing that 80% of our trade occurred after 10pm.

For Halloween this weekend we’ll be open Thursday through to SUNDAY.

We've always preferred the notion of Aperitivo over the bastardised Happy Hour. Stealing from Italian bar/cafe culture, why not while away a whole afternoon and evening up to dinner with lower ABV drinks and good, neighbourly conversation? It's communal and life-affirming.

The shifting sands of the dune-scape that is COVID Britain 2020 have forced us to tweak our quarterly/seasonal menu programme. One of the biggest challenges has been to draw up a reactive weekly offering (see what we got a lot of and make it into something) to best manage back-of-house operations. Because, when you live in constant fear of being closed again, the last thing you want is a load of literal liquid assets.

In a suitably revised format, London Cocktail Week is here and it’s running for the whole month of October! This year it’s all about bars. For reasons we can all by now make sense of, the festival hub will not be happening in 2020; that means the focus is on us - London’s beleaguered and defiant bar scene - to celebrate everything that makes us and cocktail week so great :-)

In response to yesterdays’ briefing from Downing Street, here’s our statement on where we go from here (again)…

Now following the Rule of Six.

We’ve gone bonkers for bubbles of late, with our new carbonation rig purring away behind the scenes and range of Hard Seltzers flying out the door. Here’s a little Bubble 101 laying down the science to the the zing in your drink!

HardSeltzerSummer is here, an empirical ‘White Claw’ shaped tidal wave is

rolling across the Atlantic; we’ve got a toe in the water, so here’s a little pocket guide to your new go to RTD.

July 4th - the pubs are open! A Nation Rejoices! Throw up the bunting! Re-coronate the queen!

Not quite.

In for a special edition of If These Walls Could Talk is Michael Kill from the Night Time Industries Association. Michael has been at the forefront of leading the charge for representation of the hospitality sector in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic.

Across an hour and half we discuss his bodies’ dealings with government & their response to COVID-19. We set out to provide a useful resource in a long-form format as to what is actually going on with the hospitality sector, to debunk some unhelpful rumours and to think constructively about what a future might look like for the night time economy in the new normal; addressing issues with social distancing, track and trace and public safety as paramount.

We’d like to thank Michael profoundly for taking so much time out his schedule to talk to us in such an open fashion. He’d come straight out of a ministerial meeting to record with us! We hope this proves useful to many of you out there and an insight into the challenges faced by the sector as a whole in lifting out of lockdown.

Norm was supposed to play the bar this month but due to obvious reasons we had to reschedule a later date. As a consolation he's been kind enough to record and send over a vinyl only set full of summer heaters and some air tight mixing.

Episode 2 of our podcast, ‘If These Walls Could Talk’!

Full time family, part time bottle shop

Back in 2015 I was caught between trying to move out of teaching and back into hospitality. Frustrated in London, I took a work placement in Los Angeles for 5 months at the start of the year with a half-a-mind to extend it further. Behind This Wall had run its course as a club residency in London with the closure of Plastic People, but we’d always dallied a little in making up drinks and running peripatetic bars & sound-systems in unloved spaces.

To help you through homebound entertainment procedures, and to accompany our new bottled Mixed Drink range (plug DELIVERED TO YOUR DOOR gulp), we’ve added a Mixtape Jukebox to our HIFI page. Bringing something of the BTW experience to you in lockdown and beyond.

Episode 1 of our brand new podcast, ‘If These Walls Could Talk’! At some point last year, whenever that was, Alex sat down with Byron Knight: he of the bar Off Broadway, co-founder at Beavertown, current brain behind the Deviant & Dandy brewery and fellow poké pioneer. The original interview was set to be transcribed for the Zine but turned out to be so expansive and covered such a range topics but especially the craft beer boom here in London, we thought it better served as a podcast to lock your ears around. Hopefully it’s the start of a bit of a lovely such series and you enjoy this chit chat in your homes.

Our basement bar is closed until further notice, in keeping with the government mandate on delaying the spread of coronavirus.

Stay at home, stay safe and support our wonderful NHS wherever you can.

COVID-19: Please read, copy and share! Our hospitality industry needs you.

Sometimes it’s hard to mess with the classics. Classics are such for a reason, a lot of people have democratically stated with their historic wedge that they like this and that a-certain-way-thank-you & hail to the portrait of the moustachioed creator gleaming over the bar…

One of our most beloved residencies at the bar happens every first Thursday of the month when Richard Greenan of Kit Records takes control of the hifi for the evening. To those familiar with the label and longstanding NTS show, you will know the cosmic polymath pulling the strings. We sat down with the man himself for a candid chat about his projects, beginnings and inspirations.

Our most popular serve so far this season has undoubtably been the Suzaku Maru, our storied seasonal CBD sour. A total collaborative effort from the whole management team, last week Alex spoke to the ES Magazine about the process behind creating it and the importance of story-telling! Here’s the full unedited transcript.

And so it goes.

Celebrating 4 years at 411 Mare Street.

Happy New Year everyone!

We’ll be opening up again on Thursday 9th January. Richard from Kit Records will be down playing some records and as it’s the first time we’ve opened (apart from the odd party) since December 20th, our Winter Menu will be making it’s first appearance.

Tonight sees the launch of our Winter exhibit by Richie Round-Turner. Rich takes the pictures of the bar up on the site and has put together this project around our menu theme for Winter: “Into the Woods”. While the drinks will follow on from next week as the season (officially) changes, we are launching the exhibit tonight and may have a few advance peeks from the menu to try.

It’s that time of year when you’re either out or you’re in bed. Here’s our opening schedule with for the Christmas season into 2020 in a handy cut out and keep format…

Useful notes on something that applies to putting together any cocktail or drink to dazzle (could equally apply to making wine or beer-making for instance, although that isn’t done in a ‘live’ environment as of a bartender mixing a drink on the spot at the bar). Think of any such drink to draw delight from as needing three parts: the base, the body and the perfume…

SUGO

A Sunday Party by friends Lorenzo Cibrario & Francesco Fusaro

A parade of odd soundtracks, jazzy moods, velvety sounds, calypso breakdowns, a zest of exotica and some seriously groovy disco beats.

This Sunday our crew will be driving the system themselves for the inaugural Be In My System event. The idea is to put together a mixtape using the hi-fi and odds bits found in the cupboard under the stairs without any of the recording being digitised or touching a DAW/computer.

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Entering party season presents a plethora of choices for eager hosts. Once you’ve pegged your canapé menu (or opted for this writers safe bet: a big bowl of chilli, guac and steamed rice) and scored your mates to DJ, your attention should turn to the drinks offering. Beyond bottled beers in a bucket and everything you have left over on the dusty spirits shelf, why not think about a modern spin on a punch?

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A lot of you ask about the sound-system and the story behind it. Whilst perpetuating myth by keeping mum can be fun, we’ve sought to debunk the riddles from facts with a handy cut out and keep guide…

Witching season is well and truly here. Tomorrow: Borne Fruits are in situ with their spooktacular Boogie Against Brexit which was, akin to Frankensteins’ monster, plastered together and given the kiss of life before Count McDoncula and the PLP decided they were up for a trip to the polls after all so the whole thing’s off (for now) & we can breathe & jus dress up & dance a bit…

It’s kinda rare that we go out of our way to book DJs for our end of month parties. Mostly pitches come to us or we work with repeat partners. John Fitzgerald aka. DJ Fitz is an exception: we have actively hunted this one out for a late, esoteric session. Tonight we are very excited to present his collective taking over the turntables from 9pm – 3 or 4am.

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For London Rum week we’re teaming up with our friends at Plantation to host portfolio tasting and voyage to the heart of this most storied of spirits.

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In association with Impulse Records, we are delighted to be hosting one of several John Coltrane listening parties for the previously unreleased BLUE WORLD LP this Thursday, a few days after what would have been the great man's 93rd birthday.

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Tequila tasting and masterclass

With VIVIR TEQUILA

❧

Behind This Wall

Thursday 19th September

6pm – LATE

With summer drawing to end we’re moving our seasonal CBD syrup out of the ice wells and into the store for you to enjoy!

Our Cõvco steps up for The Face mix series…

Pink Gin is everywhere… join us next week at the bar to get to grips with the pastel-punch in the 1st Annual Pink Gin Expo!

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If you’ve been in recently it’s hard not to notice Jonathan’s vibrant prints adorning the walls. As per, the exhibit was curated by Des & to to toast the fact that we’ve added the prints to our store today, she pinned down JT for a words about the exhibit.

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Something new from some new friends :-)

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Alex was interviewed by the lovely folk at The Extract for their vlog on lifestyle cafes (and bars) doing CBD in London.

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This Wednesday we’ll be running our first tasting tour with Firecrown whisky tastings.

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Teaming up with our friends at Reyka tonight to launch a special menu that will run for the next month or so working on the tricky theme of tiki &… vodka.

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Under the deluge of news you may have missed that this is National Negroni Week.

Count Camilo’s beefed up Americano concoction (add the gin) has become so popular we-in-hospitality now roll out the bunting each year to celebrate it’s subtle, bitter charms. Regular readers of this parish will know we’re no champions of Campari so, our twist has often involved looking back at original recipes to find producers currently doing it closest to the old formulas. But now, in this week of all weeks, comes the un-holy twist. Sub-off on the gin, enter genever.

…

Most people loved eating jellybeans and gummy bears as a child, and now you can have them with the healing benefits of CBD!

There are hundreds of people who are loving the benefits of CBD capsules and oil, but now a gummy version of CBD is becoming popular because of how easy they are to use, their taste, and the numerous positives that align with the medical benefits of cannabis.

In simple terms, CBD gummies offer the same benefits as any other form of CBD, but you don’t have to deal with getting the right dosage as you would with CBD oil or oil tinctures.

Cannabidiol, CBD, is a naturally occurring compound found in the cannabis plant. CBD is different from THC because it doesn’t make you high. Instead, CBD is said to help treat numerous conditions, including chronic pain, arthritis, anxiety, insomnia, and more.

The effects of vegan CBD gummies should be similar to taking the same dose of CBD oil or capsules. For instance, when comparing a 20 mg gummy and a 20 mg dose of oil, the underlying cannabinoid amount is the same, no matter how it was ingested.

We’re going to take a closer look at vegan CBD gummies and see why they’re becoming a popular method of nutritional supplement.

What Are Vegan CBD Gummies?Essentially, CBD gummies are candies that have a pre-measured quantity of CBD oil in them – they also include other ingredients like flavoring, sugar, corn syrup, preservatives, and cane juice. CBD gummies don’t have any drops of THC, making most non-psychoactive, meaning they won’t have any psychoactive effects and they won’t mess with your consciousness.

Ultimately, CBD gummies help you avoid becoming high when you just want to relax.

Why They’re PopularThere are a ton of new CBD products coming to the market every day. It’s a largely unregulated industry, which means that there’s no shortage of companies trying to cash in on the “CBD craze.” This has resulted in low-quality and ineffective gummies that are sold at a high price by fly-by-night companies.

If you purchase high-quality products from a trusted company, like Sunday Scaries, CBD gummies can offer natural relief from a bunch of ailments, and they’re a tasty treat.

However, because the FDA doesn’t control CBD extractions, it’s up to you to figure out the quality of the gummies you’re buying. Here are some things to look for when purchasing gummies:

You want to make sure that the gummies have less than 0.3% THC in them. Anything higher than this amount can be considered marijuana
Check to see if the gummies have been through third-party testing
Make sure that they were created with CO2 extraction; this makes it so that the product has no residual chemicals

CBD gummies are also more convenient to take than CBD oil and are easier to administer in terms of dosage. Why? Because they offer a pre-measured dose of CBD directly into your system, and almost immediately after you ingest the gummy, the CBD interacts with receptors in your body, as we’ve discussed earlier in this article.

Compared with other CBD products, gummies take less time to act, given that the digestion tract is entirely different. When you eat a gummy, your body absorbs the CBD – and the other active compounds – via the digestive system to reach the cells. Oils and tinctures need to pass through glands before they hit the bloodstream. Gummies are a great way to get fast delivery of CBD to your system.

Side EffectsCBD gummies have not been tested in a laboratory or clinical setting, but there has been some generalized research done on the side effects of CBD.

CBD can result in appetite and mood changes, dizziness, drowsiness, and diarrhea. On a more serious level, there have been some suggestions that CBD oil can possibly affect liver enzyme levels.

The consumption of CBD gummies has few notable side effects (according to the little bit of research and stories from users), but it’s still wise to use caution when using gummies because some can offer potent cannabinoid doses. For instance, while CBD gummies come in tiny doses, they can still contain up to 25 mg or more of active CBD – enough to make you feel drowsy or dizzy.

You should also keep in mind that many of CBD gummies are made using corn syrup and processed sugars, so you should always try to read the label of any product before you consume anything – this is especially true if you have diabetes or are concerned with the “nutritional value” of what you’re consuming. With all of this in mind, if you want to purchase high-quality vegan CBD gummies to help you relax, deal with chronic pain, depression, anxiety, insomnia, and more, then head on over to Sunday Scaries to get started.

All around the country, pagan-identifying types are tuning bare-breasted towards their nearest haul of ancient stones. The ground around Stone Henge will creak under the weight of flashers and dogging enthusiasts expunging ritual joy at the altar of the saggy boob and wonky dong. The Waitrose at Fleet Service station - positioned perniciously before turning into the tailbacks of the A303 - will see a year’s worth of trade between here and Glastonbury and back again. Pull up the effigies! Burn Farage! Burn BoJO! Just don’t forget the mini Molten Mowbray pork pies.

…

There’s a lot going on this weekend: late-enders on Friday, Saturday & Sunday, DJs, dancers, delectable drinks (as ever), Yard Sale pizza, warm sounds +⁺₊ Barry is back!

…

If you’re in the vicinity this evening we have a special in-session on the turntables.

𝙁𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙞𝙨

𝘪𝘕𝘍𝘌𝘙𝘕𝘖

𝗢𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮

5 _ 11

Free entry as always.

Sweet, sour, booze.

This little triptych of ingredients form the basis for a wealth of cocktails and mixed drinks that have been adored, pored over and modified since such a time that these recipes were recorded. We know the ones: sidecar, daiquiri, margarita; and we know the genres: swizzles, fixes, rickeys. All have been ripped in two and rebuilt with cut bases of spirits, flavoured syrups, botanical enhancements, fire and smoke, alchemy and voodoo. One thing that remains largely untouched however, is one of those three key elements: the sour. Lemon and lime (occasionally grapefruit) sit unchallenged at the heart of all.

…

Tonight sees us team up with Pensador mezcal and LemLem kitchen for a special night of strong drinks, esoteric music and Eritrean-Mexican street-food!

…

CBD Cocktail Recipes to Relax & Entertain Your GuestsWe all love a good cocktail – and since you’ve probably already tried all the good stuff, how about taking things to the next level? If you don’t mind introducing an entirely different compound to your drink, then CBD cocktails are perfect for you.

One benefit of adding CBD to your drink is that it actually prevents those awful hangovers, improves cognitive function when drinking, and reduces the symptoms of intoxication. Keep in mind this doesn’t mean you can keep chugging those cocktails without getting drunk; it just means you’re able to enjoy many of the benefits of CBD, and still get drunk.

Before we get on to the recipes, let’s address a few common questions:

• What is the proper CBD dosage for a cocktail?

Just use a reasonable amount of CBD in your ingredients. One thing to keep in mind though; smaller doses make you sharper, but in high doses, it can make you sleepy.

• Can you OD on cannabidiol?

This isn’t possible, but most CBD products recommend a dosage of up-to 50mg per use.

Here are 4 amazing CBD cocktails to try today!

1) The Derby Cocktail There’s a long standing tradition of cocktails and horse racing, and the Derby Cocktail is a classic.

Ingredients:

• 2 oz (60 ml) CBD-infused bourbon (how to get CBD into bourbon)

• ½ oz (15 ml) orange curacao

• ½ oz (15 ml) sweet vermouth

• 1 mint leaf

• 1 lime wedge

Directions:

• Fill a cocktail shaker with ice

• Add the bourbon, sweet mouth, and lime – shake well

• Strain the mixture into a glass

• Add mint leaf and lime wedge

It’s always a good idea to include fruit in your cocktails because apart from improving taste, it reminds you to eat healthy food. Lime juice containsantioxidant properties and it’s great for the immune system; and when combined with CBD, it makes for a nice drink.

2) CBD Mint JulepIngredients:

• 15 ml CBD oil

• 6 mint leaves

• 2 ½ (75 ml) ounce bourbon

• ½ (15 ml) ounce syrup

Fantastic drink for when you need to unwind in the evening. Has a rejuvenating taste that will definitely get you in a higher vibration and move away from stress.

Directions:

• Put the CBD into a julep cup and add the leaves. Crush the leaves and add the bourbon

• Swizzle the mixture and top off with ice

• Garnish with more fresh leaves and/or mint sprigs

3) CBD Pimm’s CupIngredients:

• 1 Lemon

• 2 ounces sweet ginger beer

• 1 Cucumber slice

• 10 ml CBD oil

• Ice

Mix up this drink with friends and family, or when a beer won’t do. A squeeze of CBD oil combined with ginger beer, lemon, and fresh cucumber slice will do the trick – and you’re free to try different amounts of the ingredients.

Directions:

• Mix up the ginger beer and CBD oil in a shaker

• Squeeze the lemon into the mixture and shake

• Pour into a glass, add a cucumber

• Drink with ice (optional)

4) Sour T-iesel CocktailIngredients:

• 2 ½ oz (75 ml) tequila

• 1 oz (30 ml) fresh lime juice

• Agave

• 6 mint leaves

• Ice

This cocktail was first sold at Maxwell Reis, a restaurant in West Hollywood. Try with more variations of the ingredients to modify taste.

Directions:

• Crush a few leaves and place in a shaker

• Mix the rest of the ingredients in a shaker for a minute

• Pour into a glass with a pinch of salt, and some ice

CBD cocktails are easy and fun!

It’s fun to mix up drinks at home especially when you have company – so the next time you want to bring the party to your place, have something unique to serve. Remember, adding CBD to your glass means the alcohol won’t quite hit you as bluntly as it normally does, so the conversation should keep going for a while longer.

CBD Central Tip

In case you drink too much on your night out with friends, or you suspect a hangover is in the works, take CBD as a tincture or gummy before going to bed, and hydrate to remove the toxins. CBD works well to keep you alert and remove toxins, but this process won’t work when liquids are low in the body, and alcohol hydrates. If some of your guests prefer to chew CBD, as opposed to taking it in a drink, there are tons of chewable CBD edibles with flavour such as mango, citrus, and chocolate.

Out with the old and in with the new. The Spring equinox always feels somewhat cleansing; just as winter’s drawn on that little bit too long and the festive season is a vanquishing speck on an expandingly-bleak horizon. Suddenly, day matches night and the weight lifts a touch. It’s only going one way from here.

As ever, we try to reflect this gentle optimism in what little way we can through our shifting drinks selections. Out with those robust, deep flavours and earthy spice, in with lighter strokes: fresh mint and lemongrass, violet and forsythia syrup (it’s purple and has CBD in - woof), grappa!

On the list we’ve got a blended mezcal and reposado Sazerac; sweet and smoky with a soft verdant spice. A Boulevardier with the best - independently of each other - amaro and rosso vermouth we’ve ever tasted (Argala’s Amaro Alpino and Discarded vermouth in case you’re wondering). An armagnac or Sidecar-type sour with cured lemon paste, dubbed the ‘Uber XL’.

For the highball it’s our first ever go at a Collins with a distinctly Turkish twist melding sumac and grapefruit. That purple CBD syrup marries up to Reyka vodka and Birds botanical spirit in the crushed ice fix that is and only could be ‘Purple Drank’. Then to finish we sorta-made-our-own white creme de menthe by infusing ume sake with mint which pairs with that Domus grappa for a palette cleansing Stinger to finish.

The list in full starts this evening and will be available to taste up until the summer solstice (or thereabouts) when we’ll all dress-up like druids and wind-down for summer. If you read this and come down tonight (Thursday March 21st) ask the bartender ‘when do the clocks go forwards?’ and we’ll give you something free to try. Call that an Easter egg for following us this far!

From maligned and near-extinct, rye whiskey has undergone a serious renaissance over the past decade. A lot of that is down to one man’s passion: the late, great Dave Pickerell. Dave passed away at the end of last year but his imprint on whiskey is huge. Master distiller at Maker’s Mark up to 2008, Dave went on to start up WhistlePig Rye in Vermont and breathe new life into a sleeping American classic. Here, in our first Grain Focus interview; Alex spoke with Daniel Khan - the senior steward of the brand - to debunk a few myths, chat American history and knit through the fabric of the Whistle Pig story.

Our most popular serve this winter has been our dessert cocktail offering, synonymous with the alias of its’ creator. You’ll all know Anna as Anna but, by day, she sun-lights (sic?) as recording artist and producer Chloé Martini. Anna’s favourite drink was a Last Word, her favourite spirit Green Chartreuse. She’s worked here on her own version using pine and plum for this menu; more of a pallete-cleansing ‘Stinger-esque’ night-cap than an out-and-out sweet finisher. It was reasoned, as well, that this seasons’ CBD offering would be with this serve, just the tonic before cosying up in bed for a night of lucid dreams. It’s the first drink she’s made for us and certainly won’t be the last! Suffice to say her favourite drink now is a Chloé Martini.

Chloé Martini

Dessert Cocktail / Sweet

2 oz (60 ml) London Dry Gin, preferably Victory; infused with damson jam (see note)

1/2 oz (15 ml) Green Chartreuse

1/4 oz (7.5 ml) BTW Pine CBD Syrup

3/4 oz (22 ml) Lime Juice

3 squirts Bittermens Krupnik Honey Bitters

Lemon Zest (for garnish)

Chill down a Nick & Nora or a small martini glass and set aside. In a cocktail shaker, add all the liquid ingredients including the bitters, pack with ice and shake vigorously until sufficiently chilled. Double strain the contents into your chilled glass, garnish with a lemon zest and serve!

Note: To infuse gin with jam take two bottles gin per 220g jar of jam (work up or down to that ratio dependent on how much gin you want to make). Combine the two in a sealed jar and leave over-night. Strain the liquid through some muslin cloth the next day and re-bottle.

This is actually a thing…

We’ve never really listed a BTW variant on a margarita, unless anyone recalls that basil vodka, black salt and cucumber abomination from summer year 1. Lesson learnt: classics are such for a reason, no need to mess with formula. A good margarita needs three things shook hard to an imperfect 3-2-1 ratio:

Earthy Tequila (or Mezcal) for body NB. ours had neither
Acid (lime or lemon, Mexicans actually name these the other way round)
Sweet (agave syrup for the Tommy’s version or Triple Sec for the punchy original)

Savoury can be added in the form of a salt rim to kick against the acid, but the basics are there and, hey, it works. (FWIW we really like this Smoked Viking Salt from Sous Chef.) It’s actually our most popular drink, despite never featuring on the menu asides that ill fated attempt to add to the canon. Chances are you will have enjoyed these with us in one of two ways (or three if you want to include Anna’s slightly odd brown concoction; we asked, she dosen’t even know why). Des likes the Tommy’s, Alex reaches for the Combier. Both are fairly set in their ways so, in the never-ending age of lists, click-bait and the people-having-the-final-say we’re putting it to you tonight to see which one is preferred.

Like any good referendum tonight’s results will be wholly undefinitive and we’ll probably still be debating the minutiae a further two years down the line. But, you know, it adds a bit of spice to our third year celebrations and this post scored us a helping hand from the great folk at Tapatio (other tequila brands are available but frankly they’re not as good) allowing us to drop the price and up the stakes.

Des and Alex are both behind the stick - so, ladies and gentlemen, let battle commence and may the best tender win!

See you later for a ‘Marg’ (don’t call it this, you won’t get a discount) and a dance for 3 years and many more!

x B T W

3 years old!

…

⍨ Peeling pink walls, 1 chisel and a hammer (+ ‘Handsome’ Pat), discovering power tools, Handy Andy’s youtube building channel, non-diy DIY, about 6 million bags of haribo, tiles, ply, dark ‘ocean’ floor (pfff), sound-system tweaks, opening night with tools still out, 12 menu changes, poké, £1 oysters, poké dogs, fermented fish, ‘not doing food’, Mao Chow, Yard Sale pizza, Silvija and Inga, Barry on every-night, Gordi ‘spare change, bruv’, adding the tops, cutting the taps, Freddie’s out, Ryan’s in, the age of Gwilly, “Beer-tini” vid (pff pfff), Luke’s lil farts, drive to Cambridge backwards to fix an amp, speakers upside down, Jon Rust Wednesdays, Custom’s Thursdays, Lord Gout and Prince Cackhands, enter Louie doing lovely bits, Serena and Giulia (og & Dutchie), on the radio, stealing Callum’s happy hour idea (sorry), where’s Clive & Susan, trip to Iceland (thanks Fab - will list Reyka one day again, promise), Macca trailblazing regular to staff, Auntie Char and RoRo, endless roadworks, ‘got a new gin for you to try, it’s got 650 botanicals including rare reindeer anus’, toilet door is jammed, age of Des, maybe a daiquiri?, Des does art curation too (!), Anna with the blue tick, Diego on the taps, Covco made a party, everyone wants a party, the DJ booth, CBD lab rats, Jordi…

& Thanks to you all above everything for keeping the circus flowing. Come dance with us next Friday (22nd Feb). Open till 4am.

Covco, Macca, Alex & Louie on tunes.

x BTW

Tonight sees the opening of our latest exhibit by Canadian photographer Jordan McGregor, curated by our own Desirée Balma.

Des took some time last week to ask Jordan a few questions about the selected works, his background, drawn to B&W prints, studying up in Vancouver (the Canadian riviera!), passing through London and the complexion of peripatetic photographer vs cityscapes. You can read the interview below,

The prints will be available to buy tonight up at the bar and listed here in the store from tomorrow.

Doors 6 – 11 pm. Macca on tunes ⍡

Who are you and what do you do?

Hey, my name is Jordan McGregor, I’m from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and currently reside in Toronto, Ontario. I’m a photographer who shoots fine art and street photography.

When & where did you get into B+W photography?

I got into shooting B&W street photography about half way through my program, studying digital photography in Vancouver, BC, in 2017. I was drawn to B&W because I found the simplicity of it allowed the viewer to focus more on the images composition and subject matter, rather than bold or distracting colors and gave my images a timeless feel.

Did you take into account the models background, values, and personality while taking their portraits ?

When I’m out on the streets or in public looking for photos, almost all of my images are reactionary. I rarely stop on one street corner or area and wait out images. I continuously move and look for scenes that interest me and react as they unfold. So I never really consider much about the subject before taking the photo. If something, or someone, or the light catches my eye, I snap a photo.

Do you switch mindsets when you’re taking pictures in other countries?

That mostly depends on the country and their culture and norms I suppose. In some countries nobody bats an eye when you’re snapping a photo of them on the street and in other places people can be less receptive to it and don’t want to be photographed in public. I found London very easy to shoot street in, because most of the time it’s so busy and everyone is in such a rush that no one even notices you taking their photo.

What’s the most fascinating thing you can think of about london?

I think it’s diversity and history are fascinating. The history of the buildings and places and the stories that go along with them, and the city’s wide range of cultures and people make it an endlessly interesting city to photograph in.

Why did you cut your 2 year visa short?

I cut my visa short because as great of a city as London can be, it’s also a tough city to live in and after living in 4 different cities in 4 years, I wanted some more stability in my life and chose to move back to Canada.

Been a long time coming…

Our signature syrup from the Autumn drew a fair old amount of hype, so now we’ve bottled it up and made it available to you. Great in cocktails (obviously) with sprits and in hot drinks (we’ve been sipping recently with our lemon zinger kombucha tea). Also works wonderfully as a flavour-enhancing food supplement. Add one or two tablespoons to your recipes and away you go :)

⥽ Special offer on the first batch pre-order for early subscribers [30% off] ships out Monday ⥼

VISIT THE STORE HERE

Is it too early to mention the ‘V’ word?

Ah, Valentines. The most cursed & contrived of all the holidays. Couples dotingly gazing across each other eyes; yearning Lady, horny Tramp, unbroken spaghetti. ‘Oh but our love is special and unique’ and… shared with two dozen other pairings clinking and slurping and carefully concealing unruly gas.

Maybe you’ll get laid tonight if you go for the oysters and bellini lovers-combo starter? A sparkly heart-shaped flan could seal the deal? Should we stay for the aphrodisiacs coffee?

It blows on our side too. Flipping tables for pairs. Often awkward service. Nonsense specials. People staying too long, leaving too soon. is it busy enough to be a vibe but quiet enough to be intimate? No spark, no fun. Bring In The Singles.

This year we’re going singles only. We’ll throw in some solid party-starters courtesy of our pals at Tito’s Vodka (plug) & our CBD kitchen (plug 2); mix with a group of up-for-it people, loud music, some off-kilter conversation starters and we have the tonic for a good night out.

Interested? ~ sign up below to bypass our normal bookings procedure and we’ll send you full details the week before:

13.02.19 NB ~ due to excessive demand this list is now full to women and we have a spots only left for *men!*

Name

*

First Name

Last Name

Email Address

*

Number of guests

Status

Single

Curious / "it's complicated"

Cheating

❤︎ ✞ ❤︎

*Not an essay on the genesis of the current constitutional crisis.

There’s enough of that out there already. Here’s a short bulletin on that sweet, intoxicating reprise: parties / late 4am sessions / communal dances & gatherings, will all be held on the last weekend of every month this year providing clarity and sanity to us, punters and our neighbours alike. If you want to make use of the booth and host a seedy soirée please do reach out through the usual channels.

We will still take requests for private hiresfor special occasions (weddings, birthdays, divorce settlements etc) on other such weekends and put in for late hours if requested.

By the time this reaches you it may, nay probably will, already be too late.

12 day advocates will have diligently dispensed with decor and festive firs on Sunday gone (or Saturday depending on your interpretation). If however, like us, you’ve slumped into January with a month long hangover and about as much energy for clearing out your now unwanted relics of the festive fortnight as a doped sloth, this could be for you. Summon your inner strength, be that you you blabbed on about up to midnight on new years, grab your shears (or buy some) and get trimming!

PINE SYRUP

Please note, we used a whole tree for this as we’re batching for a 3 month menu in a commercial bar. This took a long time. Home enthusiasts can scale down and appropriate something much quicker.

First up check your tree is not poisonous before you batch to bottles and kill your friends. From our understanding anything with red berries is bad, or Yew in the title. Firs tend to be OK. Ours was a hardy Nordmann Fir that had been up for a month; drying out but still retaining that magic aroma.

Trim down some branches and get picking the pines needles, you don’t need to be too delicate here but try to avoid twigs and stray bits of plastic decor. Ideally we want the needles loosely chopped to release the scent but if you’re working with a pretty dried out tree this should come quite naturally through picking. Once you have a satisfactory amount of needles in a pot or measuring jug (bearing in mind that your harvest will yield about double that amount in syrup) rinse the leaves thoroughly under the tap with several blasts of cold water (at least until the water runs clean) and set aside to dry out. We picked 15 pints worth of needles. To put in context: that’s about two seasons and an aneurysm worth of Friends looping inanely in the background while two of us set to work. You needn’t exert yourself this hard. No-one needs to go through this.

Once you have your ‘chopped’ needles, have restored sanity to your fingertips and have measured out your pickings it’s time to make syrup. We work to equal parts pine:water:sugar. So whatever fluid volume of pine needles you have apply that to water and granulated sugar too. Using the same measuring jug here helps. Buy some water from the shop that’s been filtered as tap water will kill off your creation much quicker and get some decent sugar from some-place nice. This goes without saying really; it doesn’t need to be a wafty life-choice that spawns corduroy and a beard, just don’t-be-a-dick-in-2019.

Mix the sugar and water and bring slowly to the boil while stirring constantly. If you don’t do this the sugar will sit at the bottom of the pan and just caramelise. Heat low and slow because you don’t want too much water to evaporate. Once you hit boiling point that’s the time to get the pine in. But, instead of taking off the heat immediately, ramp it up for a sec until you feel it boiling properly again. Adding cold needles to hot syrup will bring the temperature down. We want all the needles to feel that high heat to kill off any undesirables so it’s worth going hard on the hob for a second or two.

Mix everything together thoroughly, squeeze in a little lemon juice (this will help preserve), mix again and then set aside to steep for up to 24 hours. You check intermittently on your work for potency by lifting the lid and copping a smell. Winter in Lapland: good - wet dog: bad (don’t pick up dead trees from the street!)

Once you’re happy strain through muslin cloth (twice) and part into sealed glass bottles in the fridge. This should keep for up to 3 months.

We add CBD extract to ours but how would be telling ☃︎

NYE ⤳ we’re having a houseparty for friends and family. ‘Tis the season: strong drinks, warm sounds, on until the last one stops dancing. No reservations, booking fees or bulls**t and all been strung together on a bit of a whim and a wave of goodwill.

Only things to know: capacity is limited, be nice to Barry, when it’s full it’s full. We’ll be there for the countdown but expecting most to join after, if you need more info get to us on the usual channels tomorrow.

Thanks for making this year ~ here’s to the next

⨯ B T W

And so the story goes… The pilgrims arrived in the new world and wanted to celebrate the first harvest with the Native Indians but, the Americans (for that is what they are) turned around and said: “screw thee, for where is my samosa to go with the beer you puritanical pikers also conveniently forgot to bring?” and told them to pack up their poxy harvest and go back from whence they came.

As of tomorrow at Behind This Wall we will be celebrating the real Thanksgiving with the fabulous Secret Samosa Club taking over the kitchen and offering fab flavours from ‘Punjabi Cheeseburger’ to ‘Vegan Dosa Samosas’. It’s a paltry fiver for two hearty pockets and it’s fair to say we are salivating at the prospect of this partnership. In the words of ol’ honest Abe: “a more perfect snack whilst on the razz could not be found”.

To cap the first week, Sunday brings this gift:

㋡ ⎔ ⤳ Announcement time ꜝꜝꜝ ⠀

The weekend is barely on us but we're already greedily making eyes at next week. When you think perfect drinking food you'd be amiss to jump over that salivating beat in your brain that goes 'SAMOSAS' 〠 Especially when you’ve got flavours like Butter or Jerk Chicken, Punjabi Cheeseburger, Butter Chicken, Cheesey Bean Burrito (veg) & Dosa for our #vegan friends. Lovingly prepped and seasoned by the most excellent @secretsamosaclub. Starting Wednesday. Book it in, drop in, pop it in (your piehole) ፦ 2 for 5£

❦ Join us for a special celebration of the Mexican Day of the Dead with Mezcal Amores ❦

❧ To launch their Verde Momento mezcal, we'll be putting together a tasting menu with 4 unique cocktails and courses to match; this will be followed by a masked ball. Seats are limited to 30 places. Masks provided ✞

⤙ 𝑻𝒉𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒅𝒂𝒚 ⤛ 𝑆𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑎𝑦 ↜
⦤⨷⨹⨷⦥
Some you may have noted our custom pulley DJ booth; this will be out in play on the days listed, shifting the bar into a dim-lit, extra-sensory listening and dancing space! We have some great bills coming up with Panatype, Vandelay Radio, Planet Panama and Tiff's Joints
⦕⦴⧆⦳⦖
You can book booths as normal on either of these days - if you're interested in throwing an event on Sunday and you know us or want to know us better; please pop in and say hey.
⧙⦹⧉⦺⧘
The booth is also available during private hires which can be booked here.

On Monday, to open London Cocktail Week, we'll be hosting a special event with Seedlip at the bar looking at the marriage between CBD and no / lo serves with a talk from Spiros Malandrakis and insights into our house syrup. To attend rsvp to alex@behindthiswall.com

☇ This is our newest offering: The 'Fo'Sizzle Dizzle Swizzle' - Drum & Black spiced rum, Akashi-Tai Honjozo Genshu sake • House CBD honey & ginger syrup, lime juice, Birds weissbrand • Bittermens burlesque bitters, kenaf leaf

Let that seep in.

Watch things on g-d-pr
Feels like it's finally safe to poke our little heads above the parapet here. Still not much wiser on what is GDPR, who made it up and why this newsletter continues to circulate; but, hey, beyond the meta existential crisis we are all invariably avoiding through carefully construed inbox management, the inter-world rumbles on and I'm still getting emails about PPI.

♔ Return of the Mao ♔For real ✌︎ Remember November and those tasty noodles? Julian is back in the kitchen(ette) and is here to stay, or at least until the drains block & the arches implode.

Old classics and future favourites like a 'tuna' 'sashimi' that's actually dehydrated watermelon rehydrated in broth to look at taste like raw fish. But it's not. It's all vegan - X'ian inspired inauthentic Chinese. Fancy that ⍤

Here every Thursday through Saturday from now until forever or drains etc...

Book through the site pls, in an orderly fashion

Little Concert with KATIS
This Sunday it's our first try at live music; doing a special show with Airbnbstarring singer + songwriter on the rise, Phoebe Katis.

Doors are from 18:30 as an ACOV special we'll give the first 5 people to reply to this blogpost 2 tickets. Just like that!

All the info you need for this one is ⇢ here

⌇Liner Notes
Ok - cutting through the grease here like a discarded body building supplement through an underground fatberg (read the news - it's a good simile).

Last time out one member left the flock for the trifling reason of 'spammy content'. *yesweseethatandithurts* I guess the opening paragraph about the weather was little trite, but you have to push through to get to the good stuff.

Good stuff like this; presented here in an easily digestible list form because people seem to like that. Blame buzzfeed but don't dress it up and take it out on the town thinking you're fooling anyone...

23 great reasons to visit Behind This Wall this week!!!!!!:

We built a DJ booth
It comes down from the ceiling on pulleys
Yup, that strange box hanging precariously over the dancefloor is not an air conditioning unit
It has two decks and a mixer in it
We will use it on Sundays (and maybe some Thursdays)
Sundays like this one coming
Where we will be in collab with the good folk at Reyka Vodka (told you last time we liked them)
We'll also be exploring rare/unheard Icelandic psych/funk/soul from the 70s and 80s
Check the facebook event out
There will be a punch bowl - proceeds of which will go to crowdfunding the Icelandic cricket team
The football team did well so we thought why not give 'em a hand to get a summer activity on the get go?
They have enough light in summer
But, this is the idea for 'Liner Notes' you see
We'll be doing one every month or so
Where you can get closer to a brand we love and dig around an oddball native music scene that accompanies it
There will be lots of lovely Icelandic drinks & other bits
You can visit at other times too
This is quite hard to fill out
And we don't have a natty map or graphic to support it
So, we imagine you're quite bored now
Can we throw a free Vodka Tonic your way?
Come to the bar and say 'I got to 21' and we'll give you one
That's it.
⍨

Surviving heat rash
Last week was hot and you all decided to go to the park which we don't blame you for. But with the dangers of dIY BBQing now well documented in the mainstream media, you should really look to establishments like ours for refuge after a long day frazzling yourselves outside.

There's an old wives tale that you should never eat an oyster in a month without an 'R' in it. With that in mind we'll be ceasing to shuck from May 1st through to the end of August while the little fellas do their breeding business in peace. This means there'll be a new exciting food offering launching instead: making us - your friendly, local, neighbourhood basement bar - the perfect hotspot to recharge on your way home.

Watch for the announcement next week. ✌︎

Spring's technicolor dreamcoat
Good afternoon. Hoping this finds you drenched in the torrid rains of spring optimism? Just as the easterly beast came and went, so the transition into the new season has been met with as much damp-grey as a drowned suit.

Downstairs at 411 Mare St. we have a new menu in play; wherein we make it feel like it really is winter's end, not this wheezy, flaccid lurch. The bar is set to stun and the new drinks line up like sweet, delicious, pert macaroons.

⍢ "It’s here, it’s really here. Hoist up the maypole and run naked through the meadow."

⍡ 'Careful not to cut yourself on the wheat, now. That can really stick.'

We’re on a bit of a French leaning tip this time out; a booze-cruise to Calais that went wrong when the wi-fi dropped out and somehow we found ourselves channeling that Manon de Source vibe down in Provence. A peaty, verbena-laced Cognac sazerac, that rhubarb and lavender daiquiri, a calvados-cum-pistachio-cum-amaretti fix, a purple ‘vivant’ French 75 (for Prince) and an ode to the ferry crossing from Plymouth to Normandy; all served up in glorious technicolor!

Come taste ❀

Easter weekend
With the season comes a tonne of bank holidays; the first being this weekend, which, unless you're holy (come on), is an excuse to really lean out into a good solid stretch of drinking. From Thursday we'll be open longer and later & if you fancy finding a real 'easter egg' you'd do a lot worse than to pop your hollow-choccy head round the corner on Sunday.

~

Meantime here's a picture Alex took in Iceland last week with the Reyka vodkaexpedition. They deserve a plug for taking care of him, and frankly, you do too for quite possibly getting him there on a lovely all-expenses jolly. So this is the thanks you get: a picture of a tourist checking her picture in front of something actually worth looking at. You should go.

And drink Reyka. Always. ✌︎

St. Patrick's

It's encroaching on time of year where everyone pretends to have a little Irish in them and that they actually really love Guinness: dontchaknowthataboutme really, LITERALLY, like I drink it all the time. This can be proven at the bar when ordering the next round in three phases of explicit braying noncery:

critique of the pour - angle, speed, colouration (it's black**)
gratification that the rest-time is observed (based on knowledge gleaned from that black and white tick follows tock ad ~ correct timing or reasoning unknown)
smack/sigh/exhale combo on taking the first sip to accentuate the satisfactorily acquired white frothy moustache, followed by a benign comment about this being the best Guinness in the area and the best you've tasted outside Dublin.

Didn't know you'd ever been to Dublin?

er, yeah, my Grandfather's actually from there.

Rinse repeat etc.

On Saturday we'll have some Guinness on draft but we have the wrong gas in the cellar for it so if anyone says it's the best we've either fluked it and created a beautiful accident or you're stuck with someone largely undesirable.

To up the Oirsh, Macca will be playing records; who isn't actually Irish but from Liverpool and that's as close as we could get.

If you wanna practice your accent try the following line ~ "I'll be fine with all this oil" ~ but say 'Oil' for 'I'll'. How useful this sentence will be in real life situations is largely unknown. You can thank us later. Actually, scrap that: use that line at the bar this week with you're best accent and we'll give you a free beer.

Equinox ~ 20th March
new menu

Next Tuesday we'll be launching our macaroon inspired new menu for Spring. It's the equinox which we think means that the day and night are the same length all around the world. To celebrate with the pagans we're putting out 6 new drinks, 3 new aperitifs, some light snacks and we'd love you to join us.

Book a table for Tuesday with the message MACAROON in the special requests box and we'll knock 50% off your bill*.

*You may be required to taste everything and then give lucid feedback.

☊ new ℳix〶ape ⇥ Holiday stocking filler to baste your turkeys to. Big shout to Rosie for the hot selections (especially on track 3!) ⇤ №019 ⎌

⌁ Listen in ⌁

Mixtape / No Requests 019: Last one of the year; fill your stocking with these tasty treats from one half Kiara Scuro - Rosie Cain; big TIP on track 3! Compiled and recorded to cassette at Behind This Wall (14.12.17), edited and re-mastered at Rushes Studios.

☊ new ℳix〶ape ⇥ A week late but worth the wait (also means you'll get 2 in yer stockings before Friday). We met Nicole back on the terrace in her SOTU days and we've always rated her as one of the best ~ here she is flying solo and zapping dots ⇤ №018 ⎌

⌁ Listen in ⌁

Mixtape / No Requests 018: Tape playback no longer drunk - so this one ona time lag but no lapse in sonics. Deep exploration of influences from one of the best out there on this number 18! Nicole joins dots that swim different; mighty MIC-y, jump in! Compiled and recorded to cassette at Behind This Wall (23.11.17), edited and re-mastered at Rushes Studios.

Still looking for that end-of-year-party spot?
Everyone loves a get together at this time of year: booze, nibbles, pap music and bad sweaters; retired dance moves and pack movements; the unfamiliar embrace of Fiona from accounts who, come January, will swear she's never drinking again only to fall into the same putrid cycle next December... Must be Christmas!

If you're still ummming and ahhhing about where to throw your annual big bash, we're here to make things interesting and add some extra spice. You all know we're big fans of the Soju down at 411 Mare St. So, if you use the code SOJU 5709 in the 'special requests' box when booking in your Christmas party with us - we'll dose you in a round of the good stuff for table bookings or a bottle of it for Private Hires. Let's not pretend to be civilised here. With space for up to 45 and late weekend licenses plugged in till the big day get those spots locked in ⇥ BOOK ME IN

On the Rushes ⇥ BTWr1703
Abuja 336 – Violet Hour / Sega & Chess – Night Elm on Mare St.

⌍Repeat from last post kalxon⌌

Owing to the massive delays at MPO (that's a place in France where records get made) we (finally/actually) have an AA single out next week ~~> You can once again listen to those clips and pre-order here.

There will now be a super-secret release party on SUNDAY 3.12 at the bar; which you all should come to if only to drink copious amounts of soju and punch (which we'll be doling out on the house for the early birds) and try to catch that pesky night elm for yourselves ⌽⌽

Info & credits as above, so below:
⌁
Abuja 336 is a collective led by Bow-based vocalist Jim Caesar; Violet Hour dubs heavy on a psychedelic jam recorded during a moment of inspiration at Villa Lena, Tuscany.
⌁⌁
Sega & Chess is a collaboration between two artists unknown; catch the ‘Night Elm on Mare St’ during the wee hours outside our bar after drinking too many shots of soju.
⌁⌁⌁
Mixed by JoOrs at Rushes Studios. Mastering by Frank at The Carvery.
⌁⌁⌁⌁
Artwork by David at Shutupandance. Illustration on AA by Louie Isaaman-Jones.

✰⎝hush • ☻・hush⎞session ⌁ BTWr1703 release party ✰

BTWr1703 is OUT THIS WEEK so we want you again for an extra special one-off sesh down at 411 Mare Street...

✰ 2 decks & a mixer ⍢ Sound⌃Up ⍩ Lights⌄Down

✰✰ FREE PUNCH for the party starters ⍨ cheap drinks otb thereafter ~~> £2.50 on BEER \ £4.5⌄G&T / V&T / S&M / etc ~

✰✰✰ Knock twice, play nice

⇢ New prints on show by Louie
⇢ Party props that pop
⇢ Fam-a-lama DJs

* CLICK TO BE ADDED TO THE GUEST-LIST ****

☊ new ℳix〶ape ⇥ Elbows primed for a double side of dusty delights from the ever dynamic lads over at Customs: happy birthday Guy! ⇤ №017 ⎌

⌁ Listen in ⌁

Mixtape / No Requests 017: Customs held down Thursday on their tod for quite some time so it only felt right to invite them in to compile this tape for Guy's birthday - elbows greased and primed to swing. Compiled and recorded to cassette at Behind This Wall (09.11.17), edited and re-mastered at Rushes Studios.

☊ new ℳix〶ape ⇥ No Requests sessions are now locked in on Thursday nights; RA's Aaron Coultate will curate the first of each month and for the first edition he sent down Steven and Patrick from HQ to spin this loving yarn ⇤ №016 ⎌

⌁ Listen in ⌁

Mixtape / No Requests 016: Stevie and Patrick dropped by from the RA offices to kickstart our more regular Thursday NR recording session; lovely range from a pair of lovely fellas. Compiled and recorded to cassette at Behind This Wall (02.11.17), edited and re-mastered at Rushes Studios.

With drinking season in full bloom & this Hallow'een weekend marking the start of the 'festive fun run'; we've pushed the boat out on our opening hours to extend to 1:30AM on Friday nights and past midnight on Saturdays. This means that between now and Christmas you'll be able to usher in the small hours in decadent company down at 411 Mare St.

With this in mind; if you are thinking about hiring the space out for your seasonal shindig now would be as good a time as any to pounce on this opportunity. It never cost to ask... ⌽⌽

On the Rushes ⇥ BTWr1703
Abuja 336 – Violet Hour / Sega & Chess – Night Elm on Mare St.

We have an AA single out next Friday (3.11.17) ~ you can listen to snippets and pre-order here.

There will be a release party on the Friday at the bar, which you all should come to if only to drink copious amounts of soju and try to catch that pesky night elm for yourselves. Info & credits as below:

⌁
Abuja 336 is a collective led by Bow-based vocalist Jim Caesar; Violet Hour dubs heavy on a psychedelic jam recorded during a moment of inspiration at Villa Lena, Tuscany.
⌁⌁
Sega & Chess is a collaboration between two artists unknown; catch the ‘Night Elm on Mare St’ during the wee hours outside our bar after drinking too many shots of soju.
⌁⌁⌁
Mixed by JoOrs at Rushes Studios. Mastering by Frank at The Carvery.
⌁⌁⌁⌁
Artwork by David at Shutupandance. Illustration on AA by Louie Isaaman-Jones.

Cookin' In November ☛

When not slaving over the hot-mix desk at The Rushes, the lesser-spotted JoOrs can be found in the kitchen making 'Hawaiin Fcking Poké bowls' every Tuesday at Behind This Wall. If you were round at the start you'll know the drill here: £6 bowls of sumptuous raw delicousness best washed down with a Happy Hour drink (cough ONE THIRD off beer on draught & wine by the bottle + £4.50 cocktails cough*). Every Tuesday; kitchen 7 - 11 pm, Happy hour 6 - 8 pm.

Following through from our triumphant 'E Is The Magic Number' (shout out Hannah Norris) series this October we're handing the Wednesday kitchen duty over to Mao Chow who helped inaugurate a pilot for the series back in Septemeber. Julian cooks up some pretty devilish Chinese-American vegan plates and we cannot wait to give him this run of dates across November plating up on the pass and turn-table. Happy Hour will run as normal, kitchen again will be operational from 7pm till the food runs out.

*+ NB:* there's one last chance to catch Rob Sachdev of the Quality Chop House in tonight as part of the E numbers series!

☊ new ℳix〶ape ⇥ Future funk from Walthamstow: Chris completes the hallowed triptych with a third entry into a BTW mixtape series (props to anyone who can dig out the first, and inaugural BTW tape) ~~~ birthday blessings to the man ⇤ №015 ⎌

⌁ Listen in ⌁

Mixtape / No Requests 015: Chris completes the hallowed triptych with a third entry into a BTW mixtape series - birthday blessings to the man. Compiled and recorded to cassette at Behind This Wall (13.10.17), edited and re-mastered at Rushes Studios.

⍩ Pre-orders on BTWr1703 are now live via Lobster Records ⍥

☈ AA single from Behind This Wall. From London to the world.

Abuja 336 is a collective led by Bow-based vocalist Jim Caesar; Violet Hour dubs heavy on a psychedelic jam recorded during a moment of inspiration at Villa Lena, Tuscany.

Sega & Chess is a collaboration between two artists unknown; catch the ‘Night Elm on Mare St’ during the wee hours outside our bar after drinking too many shots of soju.

Mixed at Rushes Studios in Bethnal Green. Mastering by Frank at The Carvery.

Artwork by David at @Shutupandance. Illustration on AA by Louie Isaaman-Jones.

AA single from Behind This Wall. From London to the world.

Abuja 336 is a collective led by Bow-based vocalist Jim Caesar; Violet Hour dubs heavy on a psychedelic jam recorded during a moment of inspiration at Villa Lena, Tuscany.

Sega & Chess is a collaboration between two artists unknown; catch the ‘Night Elm on Mare St’ during the wee hours outside our bar after drinking too many shots of soju.

Mixed at Rushes Studios in Bethnal Green. Mastering by Frank at The Carvery.

Artwork by David at Shutupandance. Illustration on AA by Louie Issaman-Jones.

☊ new ℳix〶ape ⇥ Steamed selections from a certain stingy lobster - Anete Lapsa (aka. Nettles) - adding the grace n' grooves ⇤ №014 ⎌

⌁ Listen in ⌁

Mixtape / No Requests 014: Steamed selections from a stingy lobster. Compiled and recorded to cassette at Behind This Wall (15.9.17), edited and re-mastered at Rushes Studios.

Summer's out, but don't despair, drinking season is upon us & we are here to ⎼⎻⎽ HELP

3 points to consider if you wish to continue reading this bulletin:-

1. I enjoy eating tasty food
2. I'm unafraid of change / would(n't) consider myself conservative
3. I drink whisky and am partial to vermouth (or at least think I might be as it sounds sophisticated) and would like to or have previously enjoyed visit(s) to Melbourne (Australia) &/or Berlin?

Appetite whetted? Then please continue. Otherwise, unsubscribe now. We know who you are...

❦ E is the Magic Number ❦

Every Wednesday in October we're inviting a guest chef from a favourite restaurant based within the local(e) 'E_' postcodes in to take over the kitchen and hifi for a one night stand.

On the bill is Chick n' Sours mastermind Carl Clarke, the friendly narroway neighbours at Tonkotsu (Dave Wrigley and Tom Wykes), Magnus Reid from Morning Lane's luscious Legs and Rob Sachdev from The Quality Chop House.

Expect the chefs to whip up some easy aperitif style treats, join in on some fine drinks at the bar and then jump on the stereo to indulge in some deep, dark guilty kitchen pleasures.

Should be ✔︎ Book in here

⌘ So, that's ⇢ WEDNESDAY ♒︎
4th (Carl Clarke)
11th (Dave Wrigley & Tom Wykes)
18th (Magnus Reid)
& 25th (Rob Sachdev)
♒︎ october; 6 – 11pm ⎋**

London Cocktail Week ☛

Next week the bar is being taken over by two of our favourite brands for LCW. Starward Whisky have only had their wine cask in the UK a week (we are the only bar currently stocking it) but they are already top of our pops with a scintillating double Solera Whisky offering from Down Under. Aged for just 3 years they are producing a malt and shiraz cask that rival many of our favourite 8 to 12 yo Scotch Whiskys. Blasphemy? Come see for yourself...

The other half of the bar will be helmed by Berlin's Belsazar Vermouth. Bringing a bit of the Grey City's knowingly decadent charms to the fortified wine game, these guys use prime fresh bio-dynamic German juice as a base making the range a real go to for us since we were first acquainted two years ago.

There will be a special menu for the week celebrating both products; snacks to match and two masterclasses with each brand respectively on the Tuesday (Starward) and Thursday (Belsazar) from 6-7 pm.

Again you can book a spot on the masterclass ⇢ here

Or, just pass through to be transported on trans-continental journey ⎌

☁︎ Autumn Menu ☁︎

We held off for the equinox (as you should) but we finally kissed summer goodbye last week and launched our Autumn Drinks menu to a spectacular fanfare ✰✰✰

There's 6 delectable new drinks on an odd-galvanised never-ending-Brexit-theme for you to discover; but, most excitingly, we've upped our Happy Hour game to provide a real 'aperitvo' experience...

Every day from 6 – 8 pm you can now enjoy ↓

⇥ 3 special aperitif cocktails for £4.50 or 1/3 off beers on draught & wines by the bottle
⇥ £1 oysters with a choice of shallot vinegar, marmite or curry sauce consumé
⇥ Complimentary snacks**

Nicey nice ✓

☊ new ℳix〶ape ⇥ heady late-July bar sesh pre-Somine Saturday with that man Jack Rollo pushing the levels ⇤ №009 ⎌

⌁ Listen in ⌁

Mixtape / No Requests 009: pre-Somine selections by that Jack Rollo (Time Is Away). Compiled and recorded to cassette at Behind This Wall (29.7.17), edited and re-mastered at Rushes Studios.

⚆⚆ We recently acquired a Nakamichi tape deck to start putting together mixtapes from all the wonderful selectors who pass through the bar ⇥ First effort was compiled and recorded last week by Rhythm Section's Mali (aka Z Lovecraft) ⇤

⚡︎⚡︎ To fit the format: it's just one selection after the other; we then cut up the tape to edit out clicks and minimise gaps back at the Rushes, before remastering for you to enjoy...

Mixtape / No Requests 008: selections by Rhythm Section's Mali aka Z Lovecraft. Compiled and recorded to cassette at Behind This Wall (21.7.17), edited and re-mastered at Rushes Studios.

Long light, parklife, heady basement nights...

Must be ☼ summer ☀︎

❦ NEW MENU LAUNCH ❦

How about a green chilli & pisco sazerac? Triple strength pineapple and tomato daiquiri for you? A BTW riff on the zombie or classic pimms cup? The motif for our new summer drinks was simple: build 'em robust and boozy. There's few finer things in life than easing out of a long day spent over-sunning oneself in the park with a long, strong drink in a spicy basement.

We love the late night summer vibe down at 411 Mare Street and have come up with a selection of drinks to set the right mood for the shorter, warmer nights.

The menu launches on Wednesday, 21st June; and, again, we'd like to extend a special invitation to you (our most loyal readers) to join us for a taste.

Hit the button and click through to book a spot and claim a ▶︎ free welcome drink ◀︎ ++ 30% off everything thereafter. Will Lister upon on the stereo. Should be ✔︎

⌘ So, that's ⇢ WEDNESDAY 21st June; 6 – 11pm ⎋**

On the rushes ☛

⇢ BTWr1602

Our second release is out in all good record stores now. Two hot acid white-label edits in a club style for summer dancefloors. Day & night.

⍢ Listen ⍩⍥ Buy ⍡

⇢ No Requests #007

Mason Dixie is also repping on the pod this week with a mix of sample heavy jams from Italo to Miami Bass. Cop it here

👍

& they say April is the cruelest month...

.-MAY DAY BANK HOLIDAY INCOMING-.
We'll be open this Sunday, because:

SPRING TASTING:

Our good friends at TUTTO WINES are co-hosting their annual Spring Tasting during the day time this coming Sunday; and it's just round the corner at the Hackney Roundchapel. If you've missed this before we strongly recommend checking it out - pure bacchanalian vibes with some of Europe's most unkempt wine-mongers doling out their best wares. It's only £15 to enter and then you can taste AS MUCH YOU LIKE & you get a FREE GLASSto take home with you...

++ as the festivities die down at 5pm we'll be opening up for a special unsolicited & unofficial after-hours should you wish to straddle down. Tutto affiliate and demon selector - Jonny Rosato - will be picking the records while we pour more wine, beer and funky libations to keep the good times rolling into Monday:

- BECAUSE you CAN
or (to quote a young, aspirational and entirely uncontroversial US soft drink manufacturer)
- LIVE... FOR NOW

...on the rushes
BTWr1602: Mason Dixie – 4u / Y.u.Hr will be out in stores and online soon :)

You check preview clips out here <---

---> Or you can pre-order TP's, 12" and digital here

.:something special:.

In fact: ask for 'something special' at the bar before the release date (May 17) and we'll give you a TP, mp3 or a drink on us*.

While stocks last & one per group.
Bartenders say on the drink is final.*
Told you it was worth reading this far.

NEWS: we'll be launching our Spring Menu from today. We're hosting our normal 'press' launch night tonight; BUT, to mirror our trendsetting cousins across the way – NO_ONE FROM THE PRESS IS INVITED!

That's right – you're freeloading places have been taken by our 'friends' (or eager folks who bother to read these memos and newsletters when they go out - see below). If you want to come and try you'll have to pay as all the free spots are taken. So there. You can preview it HERE.

It's delicious. End. No questions. No gum.
(That's how we do this now, right?)

THURSDAY:

Dalston-based photographer Olivia Thompson is known for her abstract and unorthodox approach to photography. She encompasses colour and light to create imaginative landscapes that are both striking and beautiful. Her latest collection will be on show at Behind This Wall this Thursday night, where you’ll be given the opportunity to join her in an open discussion and purchase limited edition prints.

NTS Radio's very own breakfast don- Charlie Bones - will be joining the Customs* boys to bring the noise on the hi-fi.

So, that's – THURSDAY, 9th MARCH; 7 – 11pm**

*DISCLAIMER: if not already overly doused in spicy cocktails.

There's a light at the end of the tunnel:

WINTER >>> SPRING

Our menu is changing and we'd like you to come and taste. FOR FREE.

"What?"

Yep - free!

We value your custom & feedback {as long as it's positive} so when we launch our Spring Menu on WEDNESDAY 22nd MARCH, we would like you to be there to try and tell us how great it is.

To book a table drop us an email HERE. Space is limited and each table will get a choice of 2 x cocktails pp and selection of food. The theme is slightly Levantine but who really cares about that 'cos its all free.

T&Cs

--> First come first served.
--> Tables will be flipped after your assigned time is up.
--> You may be forced to Instagram something.

Thank you for your continued support.

& remember: BUY OUR STUFF

👍

From Behind This Wall –
LOVER's DELIGHT: it's a valentines mixtape by JoOrs.

*FLESH 4 FANTASY <-- listen here via SoundCloud
Subscribe here via iTunes --> FLESH 4 FANTASY*

< Red-light / karaoke / Seoul >

Laying tracks for St. Valentine's day with JoOrs taking the reigns to re-ignite our 'No Requests' podcast series. Put this fiery number in the hifi for GUARANTEED RESULTS whichever which way your evening turns. Or, join us tonight for a mass, collective love-in* as we debut it on the stereo system downstairs at 411 Mare St.

Beware: this hot s** tape is especially potent when mixed with oysters.

There are a few spots still for booths to join us tonight. BOOK HERE

Unable to make it? Pre-order a hard copy from us which will be packaged and delivered direct to you in time for St Valentine's Day, 2018.

It's one year since we opened at 411 Mare Street... While we're unsure of the veracity of a birthday for a basement bar it seems an opportune moment to celebrate. So, without restrain, we are declaring this week:

THERE WILL BE CAKE

*there may not be any cake.

What we do have in abundance is beer, wine and liquor; so with dry still January casting faint trails why not come by and shake off that long cleanse with a drink or two?

*Specials on soju and mezcal all week. Soak it all up with some of our scrumptious steamed buns and subliminal sound-tracking from Rustie, TTB, Danny P. Bushes, Sam Insane Deelay and a few other special guests thrown in for good measure. Just tell the bartender "it's my birthday too"* and we'll put out a deal for you and your mates and/or date.

How about those steamed buns, though?

Well we finally did it... Having evolved from being a record exchange, to a club night, to a bar. We finally did the thing we set out to do in the first place: release a record.

For those who've been paying attention on our Instagram there's always been a recording studio surreptitiously attached to BTW. This is what we affectionately call The Rushes; and from this year on we'll be working with some of the talented folks who pass through our establishment in there to produce some cuts for you all to enjoy.

The first offering features the elusive JoOrs and one of our favourite repeat guests from the Plastic days on remix duty: the idiosyncratic DJ Stingray. Beyond those two there's a load of people to thank for bringing this life: Jimmy, Joe and Rosy et al at Lobster distribution, big Gwilly, Auntie Char Char, E. Barnes, David on the designs as ever, Neal and Frank at the Carvery for the slick mastering job, the NTS mob and the prawns.

You can preview and pre-order direct from us through our shiny new Bandcamp page:

The Nines by JoOrsOr the 12" will be available in all good outlets and stores from tomorrow! To celebrate we'll be doling out a few copies and special Stingray cocktails at the bar on Friday night for a special price of £9.

Hope to see you downstairs x

With the festive season fanning into its final pre-Christmas throes, we felt this an apt point to alert you to our schedule for the week after December 25th.

The bar will be closed from December 23rd through to the 27th. We will re-open on Friday the 30th to warm up for the big one on the 31st. Anyone without best laid plans for New Years Eve could do a lot worse than booking out a booth with us and saying good riddance to 2016 in good company.

You can book a table here through OpenTable.

We'll also be opening up the office/loft warehouse/lock-up/prep kitchen in Bethnal Green for an intimate dance once the bar winds down. Tickets for this will be available to purchase at the bar on the night

Hope to see you

xBTW

Something a little special on tonight hosted by our good friends and Thursday night residents: Customs.

For one night only Tim Lawrence takes us on a one-deck, one mic journey through early 80s NYC to celebrate the launch of his new book, Life And Death On The New York Dance Floor.

If you’ve read Love Saves The Day or his wonderful biography of Arthur Russell, you’ll know why people were so excited about this release. Tim is also a co-founder of Lucky Cloud Sound System, who’ve been throwing loft parties with stunning sound long before “audiophile” was a London buzzword. Expect to hear some gems!

Signed copies of the new book available on the night. Get down early to bag a seat and avoid disappointment: lord knows we've had enough of that already this week.

Artwork: Louie IJ // Copy: Customs & Alex