Cocktails at Bergdorfs with William Yeoward

With designer William Yeoward
I had the pleasure recently of going up to Bergdorf Goodman to have a cocktail with English designer William Yeoward who produces crystal, china, furniture, accessories, fabrics and table linens. I wrote about William in the past for Elle Decor magazine; you can read that piece here. But we had talked over the phone so I was looking forward to meeting him in person.
The occasion for the celebration at Bergdorf Goodman was the launch of William's American Bar Collection of crystal cocktail glasses.

The designer has also just published his book William Yeoward's American Bar - The World's Most Glamorous Cocktails

The gloriously glossy book offers more than 150 pages of cocktail recipes from his favorite bars including The Connaught Bar, Annabel's, and the American Bar at the Savoy.

In the book he writes, "Beautiful crystal is the ultimate enhancement for any drink but cocktails in particular afford the opportunity to use many different shapes and sizes." At Bergdorf Goodman, his collection offers a sparkling range of options, reasonably priced at $21 - $150.

At the party bartenders concocted Green Park drinks from the Savoy, a fresh blend of basil, celery bitters, lemon juice, sugar syrup, Old Tom gin and an egg white. With it was offered cheese sticks made by William's cook in London. It was a delightful treat at the end of a work day. "I love to mix cocktails, no less than four," William said with a wink.
TD and I don't often make cocktails at home but recently we have been mixing for fun Old Fashioneds, which are a blend of whiskey and lemon juice over ice with a slice of orange and a maraschino cherry. The smell of an Old Fashioned reminds me of childhood at 611; it is my Proustian madeleine. Last Christmas, after a midtown outing we landed at cocktail hour with my sister Cynthia and her partner Barb in the Monkey Bar, Graydon Carter's restaurant on East 54th Street. There, the Old Fashioned came with big, truly old-fashioned square ice cubes that you don't see anymore, and was gloriously laden with fruit. For a luxurious cocktail, don't miss the Monkey Bar.