Dick Bradsell
Quick Facts
Biography
Richard Arthur "Dick" Bradsell (4 May 1959 – 27 February 2016) was a London bartender noted for his innovative work with cocktails, including the creation of many new drinks now considered to be modern classics. The Observer described him as the "cocktail king", while Waitrose Food Illustrated compared him to celebrity chefs and the San Francisco Chronicle credited him with "single-handedly (changing) the face of the London cocktails scene in the 1980s."
Bradsell was born in Bishop’s Stortford, England. Bradsell was acclaimed for inventing several new cocktails, including the Espresso Martini, the Bramble, the Treacle, the Carol Channing, the Russian Spring Punch and the Wibble. It was reported that Bradsell could "rarely enter a bar without an enthusiastic bartender thrusting his version of the (Espresso Martini) drink at him."
In 2003, Bradsell and Tony Conigliaro co-wrote several articles for the now-defunct bartending magazine Theme. He died from brain cancer in London on 27 February 2016.