The East 8 Hold-Up is that rare thing - a modern classic. Clinton Cawood tracks down the not-so-long-ago history.
Chalk up another contemporary classic to Milk & Honey, this time to the legendary bar’s London outpost, sadly shuttered in 2020.
Back in 2006, Kevin Armstrong, now owner of Satan’s Whiskers, set out to address a shortage of vodka-based drinks on the list at the time. “Vodka, and its relative lack of classic and classically-styled cocktails, meant we weren’t working with a lot of agreed-upon options, and it felt like a good thing to introduce one,” he says.
The result, with pineapple juice, Aperol, lime juice and passion fruit syrup, was the East 8 Hold-Up. “To make it unique and fit stylistically with the processes we used at Milk & Honey, the pineapple juice needed to be prepared fresh. To my knowledge, no other bars in London were doing this,” he adds.
It worked, with the cocktail remaining on the list at Milk & Honey until it closed, and showing up on menus around the world too, easy to replicate and with accessible ingredients.
Armstrong named the drink after an incident in which fellow bartender Sam Jeveons was “mugged with his trousers down” while taking a leak in London’s E8 after a night out, and proceeded to chase the mugger, trousers still down.