Frequently Asked Questions

Yes. Leave out the vodka, keep everything else the same, and you have a virgin mary. The seasoning, the gentle mixing and the seaweed powder rim all work exactly the same without the spirit.

Yes, and it arguably improves the drink. Spiced rum's oak and warm spice stand up to cola better than a neutral white rum. We use Shanty Seaweed Spiced Rum, where the honey and cacao notes meet the cola's caramel and the lime keeps everything sharp.

Yes. A ginger ale mule is softer and less peppery than the ginger beer version, which suits a characterful vodka. Our house Shanty Mule is built exactly this way: 50ml of vodka, 100ml of ginger ale, lime or candied ginger, over ice in a copper mug.

Yes. Stir a teaspoon of caster sugar into the lime juice until it dissolves, exactly as you would the honey. With a properly ripe, sweet melon you can even leave the sweetener out entirely and let the fruit carry it.

No. Muddling ripe fresh watermelon in the shaker gives a fuller, truer melon flavour than any pre-flavoured bottle, and it lets you use a vodka you actually rate. Flavoured vodka is a shortcut that skips the best part of the drink.

No. The egg white adds a silky foam and softer texture but changes nothing about the flavour balance. Aquafaba, the liquid from tinned chickpeas, is a like-for-like vegan substitute. If you use raw egg, UK food safety guidance recommends British Lion stamped eggs.

Choose one that feels heavy for its size, with a creamy yellow ground patch and a deep, hollow sound when tapped. Cut, the flesh should be dense, deep red and genuinely fragrant rather than pale and watery.

Not always. Amaretto's bitter almond flavour traditionally comes from apricot kernels, almonds, or both, depending on the producer. That is why some amarettos are almond-free and safe for some nut-avoidant drinkers, but always check the specific bottle's label.

The ingredients overlap, but the Moscow Mule is a specific serve: vodka, ginger beer and lime in a copper mug. Vodka and ginger beer in a tall glass is simply a highball. Add two dashes of Angostura Bitters floated on top and it becomes the Stormy Shores.

Vodka and rum are the classic partners: vodka lets the ginger lead, while dark rum adds weight and molasses depth. Whisky and gin work in the same tall build too. The ginger's peppery bite is strong enough to carry almost any spirit, which is why so many named highballs rest on it.

It is Spanish for "free Cuba". The drink is named after the toast "Por Cuba libre!" used around the time of Cuban independence, when the cocktail first appeared in Havana.

Warm, peppery ginger with a dry, slightly earthy edge from its brewed origins, and less sweetness than ginger ale. Modern bottles are almost all non-alcoholic, though they vary widely in fire: some are mild and rounded, others sharp and intensely gingery.

Visually, it sits on the surface as a rust-red cloud, which is where the drink's name comes from. In the glass, it front-loads the aroma: clove, cinnamon and bitter spice arrive on the first sip, then fold gradually into the drink as you go.

It is our house take on the amaretto sour: Shanty Seaweed Spiced Rum shaken with amaretto, peach syrup, lemon and orange juice and aquafaba, dry shaken first for a silky foam, finished with Peychaud's Bitters and a dehydrated orange slice.

The classic is vodka, tomato juice, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, salt and pepper, served over ice in a tall glass with a celery stick. The International Bartenders Association lists it among its official cocktails with essentially that build.

Three things: golden or spiced rum, cola and fresh lime juice, built over cubed ice in a tall glass. The lime juice is a full ingredient, not a decoration, and the spent lime shell usually goes into the glass too.

Vodka, ginger beer and fresh lime juice, served over ice, traditionally in a copper mug with a lime garnish. The IBA specification is 45ml vodka, 120ml ginger beer and 10ml lime juice.

Amaretto, fresh lemon juice and optionally egg white, shaken and served over ice in a rocks glass with a cherry and lemon peel. The standard ratio is two parts amaretto to one part lemon, with no added sugar because the liqueur is already sweet.

One with character. Tomato juice flattens a neutral spirit, so a vodka with a savoury, botanical edge holds its own in the glass, which is why the Shanty Mary is built on Shanty Seaweed Botanical Vodka.

Fresh lime juice, measured proportions and a rum worth tasting. A rum and coke is a free pour with no citrus; a Cuba Libre uses the juice of half a lime, which cuts the cola's sweetness and lets the rum's character through.

Ginger beer is traditionally brewed and fermented, making it spicier, cloudier and more intense. Ginger ale is a lighter carbonated soft drink flavoured with ginger, clearer and softer in taste. Either works in a mule; they just build different drinks.

Lime, mint, honey and clean spirits are the classic partners; a tiny pinch of sea salt or a whisper of fresh chilli also flatters it. In this drink, lime sharpens the fruit and honey rounds it out, so the melon stays in charge.

Nobody knows for certain. The name is often associated with Mary I of England, while other accounts credit a 1920s Paris bartender's regulars or the actress Mary Pickford. No single origin is documented, so treat every version as a good story rather than a fact.

Partly tradition: the mug was part of the drink's original 1940s marketing. Partly function: copper conducts temperature quickly, so the mug gets ice-cold fast, frosts on the outside and keeps the serve feeling colder in the hand.