Great piece in Punch. I’m only just discovering it now. I remember several times Sasha mentioned to me specifically that Angel’s Share had been his single most important inspiration for Milk & Honey. Having gone there a number of times prior to Milk & Honey’s opening, I remember that catching me by surprise, even though it made total sense.
But I think another important contribution to the evolution of cocktail culture that is so simple that it’s usually overlooked was just the use of fresh ingredients. For many years, juices in standard cocktails tended to be frozen concentrate at best, and often pre-fab mixes at their worst. His insistence on taking a fresh-only approach is now taken for granted and obvious, but at the time it was a real change and surprisingly unique. And it was also one of the reasons that many visitors found the drinks so revelatory, having never tasted the potential of many classic preparations before in their lives. In a way, he took the approach of a chef at the greenmarket on some days, buying things that looked good or were in season. And he did it at a time before the whole farm-to-table thing was mainstream, so we easily forget how important and big a change that all was.