A Cocktail a Day (surviving the school holidays)

Amnesia Rose - glass by Toasted Glass

Now I know it is highly irresponsible to advocate daily drinking and no doubt some will be up in arms at the suggestion that spending time with one's children for six l-o-n-g weeks is anything short of idyllic, but here at TG HQ, we have discovered that the evening is far less fraught with tension after a cocktail (or two). So if you are looking around the war-torn slum that used to be your living room and counting down the days until September, then might I suggest taking one of these on a daily basis until the little blighters are back in full time education.

This first one I named Raspberry Refresher because Mr TG thought it tasted a bit like Refresher sweets, which is a good thing apparently...

 Raspberry Refresher

Ingredients

2 oz Absolut Raspberri Vodka
1/2 oz Giffards Creme de Framboises
1 oz triple sec
1 1/2 oz fresh lemon juice
Sparkling water to top up
Fresh raspberry to garnish

Shake all of the ingredients (apart from the sparkling water) over ice.
Strain into an ice filled tumbler and top up with sparkling water.
Garnish with a fresh raspberry.

Raspberry Refresher - glass by Toasted Glass

I absolutely loved this next cocktail as the bitter orange taste of Campari really works well with the Chase Marmalade Vodka. If you haven't got a bottle of this, I suggest you purchase one immediately as it is rather wonderful. If you want to find out a little more about all things 'Chase' (and who wouldn't?), then click here to find out all about my visit to the Chase Distillery.

Bitter Orange

2 oz Chase Marmalade Vodka

1/2 oz Campari

1 tsp icing sugar

2 oz soda

Add the Marmalade Vodka, Campari and sugar to a shaker, half filled with ice.

Shake hard and strain into a chilled tumbler with ice.

Top up with 2 oz soda and stir gently to mix the drink.

Garnish with a twist of lemon zest, allowing the zest to spray the top of the drink to release the citrus aroma.

Bitter Orange - glass by Toasted Glass

This next drink is a very simple cocktail to make and with an incredible taste of rhubarb and custard sweets.

 Rhubarb Martini

2 oz Chase Rhubarb Vodka
1 oz fresh lemon juice
1 tsp icing sugar
Slice of strawberry to garnish

Add all of the ingredients to a shaker, half filled with ice.
Shake hard until the outside of the shaker is totally frosted and the cocktail starts to form ice chips inside.
Strain into a chilled martini glass and garnish with a slice of strawberry

Rhubarb Martini - glass by Toasted Glass

Our next cocktail is rather sweet, but it's a great introduction to bourbon, if you are a little unsure as to whether or not you like it. Also, you could add a little sparkling water at the end if you find it too intense. I preferred it a little watered down, but Mr TG liked it just the way it was.

Sweet Bourbon

1 oz Buffalo Chase Bourbon
1 oz triple sec
1/2 oz Luxardos Maraschino Liqueur
1 oz fresh lemon juice
Strip of lemon zest to garnish
Cocktail cherry (or frozen cherry) to garnish

Add all of the ingredients, except the garnish, to a shaker, filled with ice and shake hard for about 20 secs.
Strain into an ice filled tumbler.
Garnish with a strip of lemon zest and a cocktail cherry.

Tumbler by Toasted Glass

 Sweet Bourbon

Generally I find that if a drink has lime and mint in it, then I'm going to love it and Mojitos are always a failsafe. This is yet another delicious variation on the theme. If you would like some more great Mojito recipes, click here.

Blueberry Mojito

2 oz Flor de Caña Rum
1 oz fresh lime juice
12 small blueberries
3/4 oz simple syrup
8 mint leaves
Sparkling water to top up

Gently muddle the mint and blueberries in the bottom of the shaker.
Add the rum, syrup, lime and half fill with ice.
Shake vigorously for about 20 secs and strain into a large hi ball glass filled with ice.
Top up with sparkling water and stir gently to mix the drink.

Blueberry Mojito - glass by Toasted Glass

Our next cocktail is must for gin lovers with a taste for the floral i.e. me...

Amnesia Rose

2 oz William Chase GB Gin
1 oz lime juice
2 oz Fentimans Rose Lemonade
1/4 oz simple syrup

Add all of the ingredients to a cocktail shaker (except for the garnish).
Half fill the shaker with ice and shake hard for about 20 secs.
Strain into a chilled martini glass and garnish with a sprig of mint

Hint - gently slap the mint between your palms, just before garnishing, to release the minty aroma.

Amnesia Rose - glass by Toasted Glass

This last cocktail of the week has mint, it has lime, it has Chase Elderflower Liqueur - what a great way to finish!

Elder King

1 oz Kings Ginger Liqueur
1 oz Chase Elderflower Liqueur
1 oz fresh lime juice
8 mint leaves
Sparkling water to top up

Gently muddle the mint with the lime juice in the bottom of the cocktail shaker.
Add the liqueurs and half fill with ice.
Shake hard and strain into a chilled highball glass half filled with crushed ice
Top up with sparkling water and stir gently to mix the drink
Garnish with an extra wedge of lime

Elder King - glass by Toasted Glass

The Ashes 2013

So, Wimbledon is over for another year and as the nation basks in the glow of Murray's victory, Mr TG settles back for six weeks of cricket as England and Australia battle it out on various pitches across England, to see who will win the tiniest cup in the history of sport. Yes, it's time for Ashes 2013, which kicked off at Trent Bridge on July 10th and will go on until August 25th, during which time, Mr TG's humour will depend on the performance of the England team against their old adversaries, the Aussies.

The term, 'The Ashes' came about as a satirical comment made by the press after a game at the Oval when England were beaten by the Australians for the first time, on home ground. In the aftermath of that game, a satirical obituary was published in the Sporting Times, in which it claimed, the game of cricket had died and 'the body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia'. The subsequent, series played between the two teams in Australia in 1882-83 was jokingly dubbed by the newspapers as England's bid to bring home the Ashes of English Cricket.

The tiny trophy which has become synonymous with game, is not in fact the actual trophy that was originally presented and is reputed to contain the ashes of a cricket ball. The original terracotta urn has remained at the Melbourne cricket club since it was presented at the end of the 1882-3 series. The actual trophy is a Waterford crystal reproduction of this and is actually quite impressive, but the media and the cricketers themselves can never pass up the comic opportunity of holding aloft a palm sized terracotta copy.

Despite Mr TG's great love of the game and the fact that we live within shouting distance of the Essex County Ground, I have managed to remain blissfully uneducated in the nuances of the game. In fact, I will actually be attending a Twenty Twenty game on sunday, but I look at as an opportunity for a picnic more than anything else. Expect to hear quite a lot from me on twitter that day... So, I feel it's in my best interests to come up with a cocktail or two to make the experience a little bit more fabulous and I'm sure , for those that love the game, it will be all the more enhanced by one of these.

I took as my inspiration, two cricketing greats, who are as well known for their off pitch personas as they are for their cricketing prowess; Phil 'the cat' Tufnell and Andrew 'Freddy' Flintoff seemed appropriate choices for cocktail monickers, given their, shall we say, 'fun loving' reputations. The Tufnell cocktail is a drink with a herbal twist, owing to ex-team-mate, Atherton's claim that Tuffers was partial to the, more than occasional, herbal smoke and The Flintoff is a potentially lethal mix of rum and beer that is quite liable to fuel an attempt at crossing the high seas in a pedalo.

The Tufnell cocktail requires a small amount of rosemary syrup which can be made quite simply by following this recipe. Rosemary Syrup (click here for recipe). The tequila was purchased from Tesco and the Chase Elderflower liqueur from the wonderful people at Amathus Drinks.

A young Tufnell in 1998, celebrating Test cricket success

The Tufnell

Ingredients
1 1/2 oz Sierra tequila resposado
1/2 oz Chase Elderflower Liqueur
3/4 oz rosemary syrup
1 oz lemon juice
Half a ripe pear, peeled, cored and diced
A little sparkling water to top up
Sprig of rosemary

Muddle the pear in the bottom of a shaker then pass through a sieve so only the juice remains.
Alternatively blitz it in a blender, which will give a slightly thicker consistency - both are fine.
Add the pear juice and rest of the ingredients, apart from the sprig of rosemary, to the cocktail shaker and shake hard.
Strain the contents of the shaker into a tall glass, filled with ice and top with a little sparkling water.
Stir to mix.
Garnish with a sprig of rosemary.

Hi ball glasses available on Etsy

The Flintoff cocktail requires honey-ginger syrup (click here for recipe). Leffe Blonde beer has a honey spice of it's own and a slight banana taste that pairs well with rum. It is readily available in larger supermarkets and I was able to purchase mine from Tesco. The Flor de Cana rum was bought from the City branch of Amathus Drinks and is also available to buy form them, online. For those of you who would like to try the cocktail, but would rather not have the full Flintoff experience, I suggest sharing one between two or perhaps leave out a shot of rum...

Flintoff in typically exuberant form

The Flintoff

Ingredients
3 oz Flor de Cana rum
1 oz lemon juice
3/4 oz honey-ginger syrup
3 oz Leffe Blonde Beer

Add the rum, lemon and syrup to a shaker with ice and shake hard.
Open the shaker, add the beer and stir carefully, with a bar spoon to combine all of the ingredients.
Strain into a tall beer glass, filled with ice.

Pint Glass available on Etsy