Roast creates Shard-inspired cocktail

Roast restaurant is celebrating the opening of The Shard with a new cocktail and the chance to win one of three pairs of evening tickets for the opening of its viewing gallery.

The View at the top of The Shard opens to the public on February 1, 2013 and, as a curtain raiser, Roast Restaurant has introduced the Shard Sour, a combination of premium Hakushu whisky, fresh lemon juice, egg white and cherry juice.

Bar-goers will also be invited to leave their business card to be in with a chance of winning tickets to experience The Shard's 360º, 40-mile views over the city and beyond.

Iqbal Wahhab OBE, founder of Roast Restaurant, says: "Roast tries to source locally when possible and appropriate, and we like to source local friends as we are with The Shard. Just like we also have regular visitors from other countries, so too do international products have a space on our menu when they can enhance the Roast experience. Our customers have loved our work with Japanese whisky. This is Britain in the United Nations, not Britain in splendid isolation."

As part of Roast's ongoing relationship with Japanese whisky, it will also be giving whisky aficionados the chance to sample five of the most celebrated Japanese brands at a series of tasting sessions, on November 19,  December 12 and January 16. It includes super premium 25-year-old Yamazaki - voted the world's best single malt whisky for the past two years, and which is one of only five bottles available in the capital.

• Sommeliers