Douglas Ankrah, inventor of the pornstar martini, dies

Douglas Ankrah – mixologist, bar consultant, inventor of the pornstar martini and former proprietor of London bars including LAB and Townhouse – has died aged 51.

A post on Ankrah’s website announced his passing. The cause of death has not been confirmed.

Born in Ghana, Ankrah attended Westminster College, after which he worked at London’s Hard Rock Café. He created the London Academy of Bartending (LAB), originally a bartending course at the Atlantic bar in the West End in 1996.

He launched LAB bar in Soho in 1999, followed by Townhouse in Knightsbridge in 2002, which is where he created the recipe for the pornstar martini, or maverick martini: a mixture of vodka, passion fruit and vanilla served with a shot of Champagne.

He went on to launch his own bar consultancy, a retail business selling pre-mixed bottles of the pornstar martini as well as make-your-own kits and authored the book Shaken & Stirred: Douglas Ankrah's Cocktails, published in 2004.