Get Fresh

Jardiniére Cocktail - glass by Toasted Glass

It's about this time of year that we in Britain consider debunking into the garden to expose pasty limbs and hobbit-like feet to the warmer air. Pinning all our hopes on meteorological clemency, we plan our weekend barbecues and even entertain the idea that salad might constitute actual food. However, more often than not, the weather lets us down and a planned afternoon sur l'herbe becomes a quick Pimms before the familiar plip plip of raindrops moves the whole shebang indoors again. 

All the more reason to get the drinks just right. After all, if you only have time for a drink in the garden, you want to make sure it's absolutely delicious and will go some way to assuage the disappointment of another Great British wash out - and of course, if the weather does hold out, then you'll have time to try all three of these fabulous, fresh and fruity cocktails.

The Jardiniére cocktail, as the name suggests, takes its inspiration from the garden, combining the flavours of strawberry, rose and lavender in a subtly floral, long drink with plenty of fruit and fizz. The recipe calls for Chase Vodka because it is incredibly smooth with a slight sweetness and creamy finish that comes from the traditional and artisanal distillation of the King Edward and Lady Claire potatoes it is produced from. Incidentally, it is also gluten free which will be welcome news to Coeliac sufferers. 

Lavender syrup is available to buy online, but can be made quite simply at home and will last for months in an airtight container. You can use fresh lavender flowers if they are in season or dried, culinary lavender which can be purchased all year round from Lavender World.

Jardiniére

2oz Chase Vodka

2 tsp lavender syrup (click here for recipe)

4 strawberries

2 dashes of rosewater

Prosecco to top up

Sprig of lavender to garnish

Chop the strawberries into quarters and set four aside.

Add the remaining quarters to the bottom of a shaker and squish to a pulp.

Add the vodka, rosewater and lavender syrup and mix together.

Shake the mixture along with a handful of ice and strain into an ice filled tall glass.

Pop in the remaining pieces of strawberry and top up carefully with Prosecco.

Stir with a swizzle stick to mix and garnish with a sprig of lavender.

Tip - if you gently smack the lavender between your palms before garnishing, it will release it's beautiful, floral scent.

Jardiniére Cocktail - glass by Toasted Glass

Clementines are characteristically sweeter than their larger cousins, the orange, which makes them perfect for this gin based cocktail. The addition of elderflower liqueur adds a floral element and a touch of thyme gives an extra fragrant layer to the drink, all of which combine to create a very fresh, light flavour. Whitely Neil Gin is a good fit with this drink as the Baobab tree fruit and aromatic cape gooseberries in its distillation, give it plenty of fruity, citrus zest.

Clem and Thyme

2oz Whitely Neil Gin
1/2oz Chase Elderflower Liqueur
2 sweet clementines
Small sprig of fresh thyme
Clementine wheel to garnish

Gently muddle (squish) the thyme along with the gin and elderflower in the bottom of a cocktail shaker.
Squeeze the juice from the clementines and add to the shaker along with a handful of ice.
Shake hard and strain into a tall glass filled with ice and garnish with the citrus wheel.

Clem and Thyme - glass by Toasted Glass

Creamy cocktails are not usually considered to be particularly fresh and light, but the proliferation of fresh raspberries in this cocktail make it surprisingly refreshing and utterly delicious. The inspiration came from the traditional Scottish dessert of the same name, that like this cocktail, features raspberries, honey, cream and whisky. In addition to whisky, this drink features Absolut Raspberi vodka which is naturally flavoured and stops the whisky overpowering the mix. Like the dessert, the whisky is a subtle undertone, which isn't to say that you shouldn't pick your scotch carefully. In this instance, nothing too peaty or smokey, but a light, honeyed single malt such as Jura Origin is ideal.

Cranachan 

1oz Jura Origin single malt whisky
1oz Absolut Raspberi
2 tsp Tiptree Scottish Heather Honey
8-10 raspberries
1oz single cream

Set aside 3 or 4 raspberries to add whole to the glass.
Press the remaining raspberries through a fine sieve to remove the pips and collect the juice in the bottom of a shaker.
Add the rest of the ingredients with a handful of ice and shake hard to mix.
Strain into a tall glass filled with ice and the remaining raspberries.

Cranachan cocktail - glass by Toasted Glass

In an ideal world, you'll be enjoying these cocktails under the shade of a parasol on a glorious, sunny afternoon as the smell of barbecuing something or other wafts across the garden, but fear not, they taste equally great, huddled round the kitchen table, wrapped in a picnic rug...

Retox

Lavender Martini Spritz

The weeks that follow the Festive period are generally fraught with guilt and wavering resolution after a month long bacchanalian booze fest. Buttons don't seem to fasten properly, elastic seems to cut into body parts, turning limbs into link sausages and the last time you awoke feeling vaguely human is a dim distant memory. So it's no surprise then, that for most of us, January has become a month of avoidance, restraint and low level misery. Whilst there is a definite need to let the body recover, there will come a time when you want to start to drink again without entirely undoing all that good work you've put in. So, as you sip on your hot water with a side order of self-sacrifice, why not undo a button or two of your hair shirt and start planning your 'retox' diet....

Cocktails can of course be very fattening; often they are laden with sugar to make them taste like pop which in turn makes them easy to quaff at an alarming rate. However, if you make them yourself, you can control exactly what goes in the glass. Many recipes will call for an ounce of sugar syrup which can equate to over 150 calories before you've even added the alcohol. All of these recipes use only a teaspoon or two of syrup, but will still taste great and you'll be less inclined to chug them down like a  Sunny D crazed teenager. Each cocktail contains around 180 calories which is less than a large (250 ml) glass of wine.

First up is a far less sugary version of the Mojito; a cocktail of rum, mint and lime whose origins are Cuban, but whose popularity has spread worldwide. This version uses a little runny honey to sweeten the taste, but far less than the equivalent sugar in a traditional Mojito. As a result, the other flavours really come to the fore, so be sure to use a good quality white rum and the freshest of ingredients.

Mojito Flaco

2 oz white rum
3/4 oz freshly squeezed lime juice
6-8 mint leaves
2 tsp runny honey
sparkling water to top up
sprig of mint to garnish

Add the mint leaves, honey and lime to the bottom of a shaker and muddle (squish). Don't overdo the muddling as the mint will end up tasting vegetal rather than deliciously minty if the leaves become too bruised.
Pour in the rum,  a handful of ice and give it a good shake (with the lid on of course).
Put plenty of ice into a chilled glass and strain the cocktail into it - be sure to check the strainer isn't clogged with mint or you won't be able to get all the cocktail out.
Top up with a little sparkling water and give it a little stir to mix.
Garnish with a sprig of fresh mint.
(Tip - if you gently slap the mint between your palms, it will release a fabulously minty aroma that will enhance the drinking experience)

Mojito Flaco - glass by Toasted Glass

This next drink uses Berkley Square Gin which is distilled in the traditional, London style and then infused with a bouquet garni of botanicals, including lavender, sage kaffir lime and basil. The Lavender Martini Spritz uses a little lavender syrup and fresh lime juice to enhance those wonderful flavours and just a little dash of sparkling water to diffuse the intensity.

Lavender Martini Spritz

2 oz Berkley Square Gin
2 tsp lavender syrup (click here for recipe)
1/2 oz freshly squeezed lime juice
dash of sparking water
lime wheel to garnish

Add the gin, syrup and lime juice to shake with ice and shake hard until the outside frosts over.
Open the shaker and add a dash of sparkling water.
Strain the cocktail into a chilled martini glass and garnish with a wheel of lime.

Lavender Martini Spritz - glass by Toasted Glass

Finally, to celebrate the end of detox and the start of retox, a champagne cocktail that is fresh, light and fabulous. Of course, in the spirit of restraint, you can use a brut cava instead of champagne...

Apple Mint

1 oz vodka
2 oz apple juice
4 mint leaves
1 tsp sugar
champagne or cava to top up
sprig of mint to garnish

Add the sugar to the apple juice in the bottom of a shaker and stir until dissolved.
Add the vodka, mint leaves and muddle gently before popping in a handful of ice and giving it a shake.
Double strain the cocktail to remove the bits of mint and pour into a chilled champagne flute. Carefully top up with fizz and add a sprig of mint to garnish.

(Tip - fruit juice and fizz can react quite vigorously so add the champagne or cava incrementally, waiting for the bubbles to subside before adding more.)

Apple Mint - glass by Toasted Glass

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.

Lavender Cocktails

Lavender Highball Glasses by Toasted Glass

I am always on the look out for new cocktail inspiration and last week it came from Gin Monkey, whose fabulous website gives independent and impartial reviews of  cocktail bars in the UK and around the world. I am an avid user of twitter and was following the exploits of @GinMonkeyUK, tweeting about cocktail bars in Prague and in particular, the Hemmingway Bar where one of the drinks on offer was a Lavender Martini. As a huge fan of anything with lavender in, this instantly got my attention and I set to work, tracking down lavender to make lavender syrup, full details of which you can find by going to my Lavender Syrup post.

Having made the lavender syrup, the first recipe I tried was a classic martini with the addition of lavender syrup. I have to admit that I am not a lover of neat spirits, hence my love of cocktails and whilst I can appreciate the nuances of a neat gin for tasting purposes, I would find it hard to drink a whole shot. Therefore, I am perhaps not best placed to judge this impartially, but I have to be honest, this was a tough drink to get through. Gin is very aromatic and the lavender syrup is very floral. Combined with only a little vermouth and bitters, no amount of shaking will disguise the fact that there is a lot of alcohol in there. The result, I have to say was a bit like drinking your grandmother's perfume. That said, I did drink it all, albeit, very slowly and if you are a fan of the classic gin martini (and/or Yardley), then do give it a whirl. I am definitely going to experiment a little more with some of the more classic cocktails and see if I can't educate my palate.

Lavender Martini

Ingredients

2 1/2 oz gin (I used Hendricks)
1/2 oz dry vermouth (I used Noilly Prat Dry)
1/2 oz lavender syrup
dash of orange bitters

Add all of the ingredients to a shaker with ice
Shake vigorously and strain into chilled martini glass

Slightly deflated by my result, I decided to try another recipe, loosely based on the martini, using home made vanilla vodka. You can find out how to make it in my Vanilla Vodka post. Don't worry, it's ridiculously straight forward. The resultant drink here, was far more to my taste. The vanilla vodka has a slight natural sweetness and a little earthiness that is a suprise hit with lavender which is used to a lesser degree in this recipe. The lemon juice works very well with lavender and gives the whole drink a nice sweet/sour balance. For me, this was a big hit and my independent tester, neighbour Amy (Mr TG is away), enjoyed it too. She did comment that it too, was reminiscent of Yardley, but not in a bad way.

Lavender Martini Glasses available on Etsy

Vanilla, Lavender Martini

Ingredients

1 1/2oz vanilla vodka
1/2oz lemon juice
1/4oz lavender syrup

Add all of the ingredients to a shaker with ice
Shake vigorously and strain into a chilled martini glass

Lavender Martini Glasses available on Etsy

This next cocktail is a great, refreshing drink that marries together the obvious pairing of lemon and lavender. It makes a fantastic non-alcoholic drink, minus the alcohol and is delicious with either gin or vodka. I have chosen to go with gin on this occasion as the botanicals that flavour gin really add more depth to the drink. I wanted to try a different gin this week and so tested Blackwoods Vintage Gin, made using botanicals from the Shetland Isles. The gin is very competitively priced and really does deliver. The label stated that amongst other things, it was distilled using violet and water mint, both of which I could discern from sipping it neat. It was slightly floral and fresh and seemed perfect for this drink.


Lemon and Lavender Cooler

Ingredients

2oz Blackwoods Gin
10z lemon juice
1/2oz lavender syrup
sparkling water

Add the gin, lemon and lavender to the shaker and half fill with ice
Shake vigorously and strain into highball glass with ice
Top up with sparkling water

Lavender Highball Glasses by Toasted Glass

Keeping with the long drinks, in the hope that the sun will start shining again and I can sit in the garden, sipping iced cocktails, this next drink mixes vodka with dark, berry fruits, lavender and citrus. It is quite sweet, depending on how much sparkling water you use to top it up. For my tastes, I would only half fill the highball with ice, leaving more room to add sparkling water, making a longer, more refreshing drink.

Lavender Berry Cooler

Ingredients

1 1/2oz vodka
1/4oz creme de cassis
1/2oz lavender syrup
1oz lime juice
6 blueberries

Muddle (squish) the blueberries in the bottom of a shaker with the lime juice. If you don't have a muddler, then improvise with a pestle or handle of a cooking implement.
Add the vodka, cassis and lavender syrup to the shaker.
Half fill with ice and shake vigorously before straining into a highball glass, half filled with ice.
Top up with sparkling water.

Butterfly Highball Glasses by Toasted Glass

Finally, and this is a first for Toasted Glass, I have made a whisky cocktail, loosely based on a Rusty Nail (whisky and drambuie), which is one of the few ways I have ever been able to stomach Scotland's finest. It is a shameful admission that as a Scot myself, I have no love for the whisky, but a cocktail is an incredible thing, that done correctly, can really turn flavours around. Because I wanted to add sweetness and warmth to the whisky, I chose to mix it with King's Ginger, which, if you follow this blog, you'll know I am a fan of it's sweet, earthy warmth. Knowing that I like the lemon and honey of a hot toddy, I was fairly confident that lemon and lavender syrup would work with the whisky. I deliberately chose a whisky with a sweeter flavour and honey overtones, but decided to go for miniatures as I'm not quite ready to embrace whisky wholeheartedly. This Jura 10yr old whisky definitely has a sweet finish to it, but one sip was enough to tell me that I've a long way to go before I'm able to drink it neat. My late gramps would turn in his grave if he knew what I'd done to a good single malt...

Summer Toddy

Ingredients

1 1/2oz Jura 10 yr old whisky (or similarly sweet)
1/2oz King's Ginger
1/2oz lavender syrup
3/4oz lemon juice

Add all of the ingredients to a shaker and half fill with ice
Shake vigorously and strain into a chilled tumbler

White Stag Tumblers by Toasted Glass

I was pleasantly surprised to find that I liked this and who knows, maybe, in the same way as I have been with tequila, I'll be persuaded to choose it more often. I'm not sure what whisky purists would make of it, but I think anyone who enjoys a whisky with a mixer, will approve.

Next week, I'll be looking at cocktails to impress your father with, on Father's day, so probably a little less of pink drinks and glasses with butterflies and possibly a little more whisky - who knows....

Have a great weekend and drink safely x

All of the spirits and liqueurs listed are available to buy at Amathus Drinks (see link to their shop on the  left of the page) or similarly high quality purveyors of wines and spirits.

Lavender Syrup

miniature bottle by Toasted Glass

Lavender syrup is so easy to make and is a delicate, floral ingredient that can be used in a number of cocktails. I have put together a selection in my Lavender Cocktails post that all use this delicious syrup. It will keep in the fridge for at least a week and to be honest, probably a lot longer, but you can scale the ratios up and down to make more or less as you please. Also, if you omit the lavender, you have the recipe for simple syrup, which I use all the time the majority of cocktails I make.

Lavender Syrup

Ingredients

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 tbsp lavender flowers

If you use fresh lavender flowers, try to pick the ones that have plenty of colour but aren't fully open. Alternatively, you can use dried culinary lavender as I did. I bought mine online from Lavenderworld.

Add water and lavender to the pan 

Bring to the boil and stir in sugar until fully dissolved

Reduce heat and simmer for 5 mins

Remove from heat and allow to cool

Pour into a bottle or air tight container and keep in fridge

Click here for delicious Lavender Cocktail Recipes

Mother's Day Cocktails

Flush with the success of last week's cocktails, using the fabulous Chase Elderflower Liqueur, I decided it was definitely worth using again for today's Mother's Day special. After all, I'm a mother of two and I love it, but that aside, it has a delicate, floral bouquet that seems appropriate for the occasion.

Visit the Chase Distillery

First up is the ridiculously quaffable Elderflower Fizz, which is not only delicious, but so simple to make. I have decided to use Cava for this, but you can use Champagne if you prefer. The addition of Elderflower liquer will significantly sweeten the drink, so do be careful if you decide to use Prosecco, as it can be slightly sweeter to begin with.

Elderflower Fizz

1 oz Chase Elderflower Liqueur
Champagne or Cava to top up  glass

Pour the Elderflower liqueur into the bottom of a champagne flute and top up with Cava - simple and totally delicious!

Champagne Flute by Toasted Glass

This next cocktail, was the winner of the May 2012 Vodka Cocktail Contest and with good reason. It is a fruity, herbal mix that is a joy to drink and was inspired by the creator's mother's garden. As ever, I have adapted it slightly, not least because the name made me howl with laughter. The original recipe calls for Grey Goose vodka, hence the name, 'A Goose in Spring'. I can only imagine that in the US, the term 'goose' does not have the same connotations, or perhaps his mother is partial to a goose in spring - who knows? Anyway, I do not have Grey Goose Vodka and I used lavender in the cocktail, rather than infusing the vodka for 6 days and as I am so enamoured of Chase Elderflower Liqueur, I have decided to call it:

Chase in the Garden

3 raspberries
Sprig of Lavender
2 oz vodka
3/4 oz Chase Elderflower Liqueur
1/4 fresh lemon juice

Muddle the raspberries and lavender  in a cocktail shaker
Add the spirits and lemon juice
Fill to halfway with crushed ice
Shake well
Strain into a chilled, lavender rubbed cocktail glass

Waterlily Cocktail Glasses by Toasted Glass

I hope you get a chance to treat mother to a cocktail or two, this weekend, or even just try them for yourself - they won't disappoint, but please remember to drink responsibly and never drink and drive. Have an amazing weekend xxx