Douglas Ankrah, Ghanaian-Brit who created Pornstar Martini dies

The drinks world is in mourning as today we learned of the death of one of its legends, Douglas Ankrah, who is best known for inventing the Pornstar Martini.

There aren’t many bartenders who invent a modern classic, made the world over from the starriest hotels to ordinary pubs and pizzerias. There is Dick Bradsell, inventor of the Espresso Martini and the Bramble, but Douglas Ankrah’s creation, the Pornstar Martini, is probably now more ubiquitous.

Sadly, we learned today via a family member on Facebook that Ankrah died yesterday (16 August). She wrote: “The Legendary Douglas Ankrah of #PornstarMartini fame is no more. A mighty oak has indeed fallen. Our family is heartbroken. Our mum is inconsolable. Dee left us without saying goodbye.”

His cause of death has not been confirmed though the trade outlet Master of Malt reports Ankrah had a history of heart problems and ‘went peacefully in his sleep’.

The Ghanaian-born entrepreneur invented the Pornstar Martini in 2003 while he was working at his cocktail bar Townhouse, in Knightsbridge, west London. The cocktail features a mix of vanilla vodka, fresh passion fruit, passion fruit liqueur, vanilla syrup and lime juice, plus a shot of Prosecco on the side.

Since its creation, the Pornstar Martini has regularly featured in top cocktail lists and was this month revealed as the World’s most popular cocktail, based on Google search data.

Ankrah is said to have come up with the name after a trip to a gentlemen’s club in Cape Town, telling Master of Malt in 2019: ‘The cocktail was so sexy and looked like what a pornstar would drink.’

He added: ‘When I first made it, I had no idea it was going to be neo classic’, but he later created a  bottled version, because he was fed up of tasting badly-made versions of his tipple.