Classic Cocktails

Cocktail Tumblers by Toasted Glass

Well, it's been a busy old time; so busy, in fact, that it has been almost a year since I last shared my love of cocktails with the blogosphere. On the positive side, this is because I am kept so busy painting that it's hard to find the time to drink, let alone, create cocktails, but rest assured, my love of a libation, remains strong, if infrequent.

This week, I've been creating a range of simple, classic, cocktail tumblers, so it seemed only correct, that they should be thoroughly road tested before I unleash them on the world. Each one will come with a handwritten, little recipe card, but you can try them out here and see which is your favourite. I love them all!

None of the above recipes, specify a particular brand of alcohol (other than Campari), so if you find a new, favourite cocktail, here, why not try it with a couple of different ones and do a taste test. As a huge fan of the Negroni cocktail, I can attest that it can taste completely different, depending on the brand of gin you use.

Negroni Tumbler by Toasted Glass

Negroni

1oz Gin
1oz Sweet Vermouth (the red one)
1oz Campari
Garnish - orange zest

Add all of the ingredients to a cocktail tumbler with a few cubes of ice and stir.
Garnish with a slice of orange zest (cut straight from the peel of an orange, avoiding the pith). Squeeze gently over the glass, to release the aroma, before popping it in.

Mojito Tumbler by Toasted Glass

Mojito

2oz Rum
2 teaspoons sugar
6-8 mint leaves
1 fresh lime - chopped
Garnish - sprig of mint

Gently muddle (squish) the ingredients in the cocktail tumbler until the sugar is dissolved.
Add plenty of ice and a little sparkling water to top up.
Stir to mix.

The most important thing with a cocktail like the Old Fashioned, is to use a great quality bourbon or rye that you love. With so few ingredients, there's no hiding from the whiskey, so make sure it's a good one!

Old Fashioned Tumbler by Toasted Glass

Old Fashioned

2oz Bourbon or Rye Whiskey
1 sugar cube
3 drops of bitters (your choice)
Garnish - orange zest

Pop the sugar cube in the cocktail tumbler and shake a few drops of bitters on top and let the sugar dissolve.
Pour in the bourbon or rye and stir to mix.
Add a cube or two of ice and garnish with orange  zest as before.

Margarita Tumbler by Toasted Glass

Margarita

2oz Tequila
1oz Triple Sec
Juice of 2 freshly squeezed limes
Garnish - crushed salt flakes, lime slice

Place the crushed, salt flakes on a small plate.Wet the rim of the glass with the slice of lime and roll it gently through the salt so that the rim becomes salt encrusted.
Add all of the ingredients to a cocktail tumbler with ice (crushed, if possible) and stir.
Garnish with the lime slice.

Julep Tumbler by Toasted Glass

Julep

3oz Bourbon
1 tsp sugar
5-6 mint leaves
Garnish - mint sprigs

Pre-chill the cocktail tumbler in the freezer.
Add the mint leaves and sugar to the chilled tumbler and gently muddle.
Pack the tumbler with crushed ice and pour on the bourbon.
Stir and add more ice.
Garnish with lots of mint, slapping it gently in your palms, beforehand, to release the minty loveliness.

Cachaça, a Brazilian spirit, akin to firewater, is more widely available these days, but if you don't have any, why not try Caipiroska instead, substituting the Cachaça for vodka.

Caipirinha Tumbler by Toasted Glass

Caipirinha

2oz Cachaça
2 teaspoons sugar
1 lime - chopped

Muddle the lime and sugar in the bottom of the glass, allowing the sugar to dissolve.
Add a generous amount of ice (crushed if possible) and top up with Cachaça.
Stir to mix.

I really hope you try some of these classic recipes and if you are thinking of ordering a tumbler for your favourite cocktail, have a little gift from me - enter the code COCKTAIL at the end of the payment process and get 10% off that product. You can use the code as often as you like and on as many cocktail tumblers as you fancy. Enjoy!

The Julep

Julep Tins available on Folksy

Ever since I got my bottle of Buffalo Trace Bourbon, I have been wanting to make Juleps, thinking, like the great Mary Poppins, that, 'a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.' Not that I don't like bourbon - after a little experimentation (which you can read about in my previous post, Kentucky Fried) I actually got a bit of a taste for the stuff, but a little sweetness always helps and I am rather partial to mint, so the traditional Mint Julep seemed like a winning combination.

The origins of the Julep are a little hazy, but I rather like the theory that it evolved from a traditional Middle Eastern drink made with water and rose petals, called the Julab. Even if it's not true, it sounds like the basis for a nice drink, to me. It is thought that the Julep was being drunk as early as 1700, but may have contained other spirits and in fact, gin or genever was often used, but lost popularity over the years. As a true appreciator of the elixir that is gin, I think this is a tragedy and in fact, for me, a gin and rose julep sounds like a far more delicious cocktail. However, I digress....

A publication from 1803 describes the Julep as 'a dram of spiritous liquor, that has mint in it, taken by Virginians in the morning.' Well, yee ha to that! What a jolly place Virginia must have been around breakfast time. Apparently it was considered a morning drink (much as we would have an espresso, perhaps) that was popular with the farmers of the agricultural eastern and southeastern states who would be working from dawn.

In 1938, the Churchill Downs racetrack, home of the Kentucky Derby, began serving Mint Juleps in souvenir glasses at 75 cents and so the drink became synonymous with the event and anywhere between seventy to a hundred and twenty thousand drinks are sold every year over the two days it runs for.

Nowadays, the Julep is generally sold in a tall glass, but the traditional way, is to serve it in a pewter or silver cup, that hass to be held around the flared base to avoid transferring heat to the drink and melting the ice. I really wanted to be able to serve my Julep in the traditional Julep tin and after much searching, managed to track some down and give them a Toasted Glass makeover.

The Mint Julep and the Lavender Julep were both easy enough to make and certainly made an attractive cocktail, but I just kept wishing there was some lemon in there too. So, for me, from now on, my Julep will contain a 1/2 oz of lemon or lime, which means it's more of a Sour than a Julep, but hey, my drink, I can do what I want. I suggest you try the traditional way and see if you like it and if not, stir in bit of lemon or lime and see what you think.

Mint Julep

2-3 oz bourbon (I went for 2)
1/2 oz simple syrup or 1 tsp superfine sugar with 2 tsp water
15 - 20 mint leaves
Sprig of mint to garnish

If you are using superfine sugar, first dissolve it in the water in the bottom of the glass or Julep tin
Add the mint leaves and muddle gently so as to release the essential oils but not so much that it will taste 'leafy'.
Add the bourbon and fill the glass/tin with crushed ice, then stir until the outside of the glass/tin becomes totally frosted.
Take the final sprig of mint and slap it gently between the palms of your hands, to release the minty aroma and pop it atop the ice.
Make like Scarlett O'Hara or Rhett Butler and sit out on the veranda sipping your Julep.

Julep Tins available on Folksy

Lavender Julep

2-3 oz bourbon (I used 2)
1/2 oz lavender syrup
2-3 heads of lavender (flowers in bud if possible)
1 head of lavender to garnish

Remove the flower buds and muddle gently in the bottom of the glass/ tin with the lavender syrup.
Add the bourbon and fill the glass/tin with crushed ice, then stir until the outside of the glass/tin becomes totally frosted.
Take the final head of lavender and slap it gently between the palms of your hands, to release the floral aroma and pop it atop the ice.

Julep Tins available on Folksy

If, like me, you are more of a gin lover, then you should definitely try it with gin, in place of the bourbon. I rather enjoyed it that way, although best of all, was with a little lemon too. Let me know how you get on.