Click on the constellation icons below to discover more about our cocktail inspiration. Developed with thanks to the team of Blackrock Castle Observatory.

Cloud Nine - Cassiopeia

The Cloud Nine cocktail is a twist on the classic cocktail, Clover Club, a firm favourite here at The River Club.

With berries, Hendrick’s Lunar gin and vermouth, this is a jaunty, pretty cocktail, with plenty of spirit. We have twinned this cocktail with the constellation, Cassiopeia.

A mythological Queen from Ancient Greece, who, as legend has it, was rather taken by her own beauty.

Cassiopeia’s vanity and claim that she was more beautiful than the Nereids (or sea nymphs) ultimately angered Poseidon, God of the Sea.

As punishment, they placed her in the sky upside down on her thrown, with her skirt over her head.

Here, she serves an infinite sentence of indignity for her vanity on earth.

In 1572 a rare exploding star or supernova appeared in Cassiopeia and its remains can be viewed to this day with a telescope.
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The Wright Flyer - Orion

The Wright Flyer cocktail is The River Club’s bold and brazen twist on Hendrick’s Lunar Gin’s perfect serve, Moonlight Buck.

With the addition of winter punch syrup and ginger ale, this refreshing long drink takes on a more macho persona. We have twinned this cocktail with the constellation Orion.

Orion’s hunting prowess was such, that a Greek King hired him to kill the terrifying creatures that were tormenting his island.

Allowing this power go to his head, Orion boasted that once he completed his task, he would kill all of the animals on the earth.

This greatly angered Greek primordial deity Gaia, the personification of the earth and Goddess or mother to all life.

In her rage, Gaia set a giant scorpion upon him. Orion was no match for the creature and met his end.

Gaia placed Orion in the sky next to a scorpion as a reminder to be kind to all living creatures and to respect our planet, or ‘Mother Earth’.

Orion is home to a stellar nursery, a region in which new stars just like our own life- giving Sun are forming, visible to the unaided eye just beneath the hunter’s belt.
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Birds of a Feather - Cygnus

The Birds of a Feather cocktail is based on the iconic Tom Collins. Zesty, refreshing and elevated with the addition of rhubarb – these ingredients form a true match made in heaven.

We have twinned this cocktail with the constellation, Cygnus, or ‘The Swan’.

This celestial waterfowl swims through the river of the Milky Way and is said to be the disguised Greek god Zeus on his way to a tawdry tryst with Leda, wife of Spartan King Tyndareus.

Helen of Troy became the product of this forbidden union. Cygnus is a beautiful constellation that is fairly easy to spot in the summer or autumn night sky, especially if you are far from light pollution.

The best way to locate it is by finding five stars in a cross shape, called ‘The Northern Cross’, that make up its bulk, which run through the Milky Way.

Cygnus contains one of the largest stars thus far discovered – so large that Earth would be completely swallowed up by it, if it were at the same distance of our own Sun!
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Moon Mist - The Seven Sisters

Moon Mist is a low-alcohol cocktail with a fresh, sparkling finish. This drink has been
twinned with The Pleiades constellation, also known as The Seven Sisters, and is
an open star cluster in the constellation Taurus.

It is among the star clusters nearest to
Earth and is the constellation most obvious to the naked eye in the night sky.

It is possible that the stories of the Seven Sisters and Orion are so old that our ancestors were telling these stories to each other around campfires in Africa, 100,000 years ago.

These could well be the oldest myths or genesis tales in the world.

The stars in the Pleiades are much larger than our Sun and will last for another 250 million years.

That may seem long, but our Sun has 5,000 million years of life left!

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Freefall - Virgo

Freefall is our delicious non-alcoholic cocktail, which features Atopia, a non-alcoholic
spirit made by Hendrick’s master distiller, Lesley Gracie.

Punchy, fresh, and virtuous, this cocktail is twinned with the constellation Virgo – the emblem of purity, innocence, and grace.


Virgo is the second largest constellation in the sky and located in the southern hemisphere. It is a Spring constellation, visible from March onwards.

Its brightest star, Spica, is 11 times heavier and 7 times wider than our Sun – and 20,000 times brighter!

Thankfully, it’s very far away!

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