Mr Lyan’s new cocktail venture

a master mixologist is making new waves

When White Lyan opened in 2013, it broke the cocktail-making mould. at the monochrome bar in hoxton, east London, Ryan Chetiyawardana (aka Mr Lyan) poured pre-mixed bottles starring unbranded spirits, weighed measures on dig ital scales, and prohibited perishables – no ice, no lime wedges, not hing t hat would go to waste. his approach, radical at the time, got the drinks industry talking about sustainabilit y. ‘it’s amazing now to see t hose ideas as commonplace,’ he tells me.

t i me for a new cha l la nge, t hen. White Lyan closed in april, reopening as Super Lyan and serving classics such as army & navy, el diablo and Clover Club – with the menu listing the spirits used and whether the cocktail is fresh, fruity or sour. Sound a bit... reverse ferret? ‘White Lyan broke down barriers, but i want to star t another conversation,’ he explains. ‘to ser ve drinks to suit a customer’s mood or palate, but also guide them to something new.’

Sup erLy an retain sChe tiyawardana’s innovative tinctures( the rum-based Queen’s park stars avocadoleaf bitters, and elsewhere there’s fizzy black li me, a nd cobnut orgeat), a nd later this month he’ll open another project in the same building. a new look is also on the cards for dandelyan, his award-winning bar at the Mon- In the mix a recent collaboration with Firefly drinks has resulted in superfly, a limitededition, non-alcoholic grape-juice-based concoction of wormwood, kola nut and angelica in a beautifully illustrated bottle. it’s a superbly adult, bittersweet soft drink; naturally, though, chetiyawardana tops it with a splash of gin. £1.99 for 330ml, from selfridges (selfridges.com) dr i a n, L ondon, where he cu r rent ly ser ves a ‘f ield g uide’ menu of dr inks starring plant extracts and herbs, such as blue flax and dock leaves.

‘it must sound as if i have a terrible attention span,’ he says. ‘But i want to keep evolving our ideas, especially in sustainability, to get people to look at things in a different way. i want to make it weird again.’ it’ll have people talking, that’s for sure. mrlyan.com