Green Tea Cocktails

Orange Chai(tea)ni

The inspiration for this post came about after a bit of chatter on twitter (try saying that after a few cocktails) with my friend, style blogger, Grey Fox. I was bemoaning the fact that after a week of abstinence, I was feeling quite ill and he suggested I drink more green tea. Well, I decided to take his advice on board as I am rather partial to a drop of green tea and I must say that after I had sampled this lot, I felt much better....

Green tea is much lauded for it's health benefits and there is some scientific evidence to back up many of these claims. As a result, its uses are myriad and diverse; from its inclusion in dietary products, to face creams, exponents believe its anti-oxidative and metabolic boosting properties are the secret to a youthful glow and a healthy heart. This is in part, due to its high levels of flavonoids, which can be found in greater quantities in green tea, than in many fruits and vegetables. Flavonoids are thought to help protect against heart disease and some cancers, so it certainly can't do any harm to include a cup or two of green tea in your diet, although levels of these health boosting phytochemicals do vary significantly depending on which teas you drink.

The origins of green tea are to be found China, where it has been enjoyed for over 4000 years and has been the subject of Chinese literature and medicine from as far back as 600 AD. It is the product of Camellia Sinensis, the tea plant, which, in it's various forms, produces all types of tea depending on the amount of oxidisation they have undergone. Black tea, which is the type we most commonly drink in the West, has undergone a much greater amount of oxidisation, whereas green tea is picked early, thus retaining more of the health benefits. This also means it is higher in tannins and must be brewed carefully to avoid it tasting overly bitter and woody. Boiling water, poured straight on to the leaves, can 'burn' them, causing the tannins to be excessively released. Therefore, it is advisable to allow the water to cool or catch it before the boiling point, to keep the tea a little sweeter. Most green tea leaves will also benefit from another brewing, becoming sweeter with consecutive infusions. So there you have it - healthy and economical. What's not to love...

Which brings me to the subject of Green Tea Cocktails (I get there eventually). No doubt the alcohol will mitigate all of the health benefits, but that aside, you can create some really delicious and interesting flavours by infusing spirits with tea or by using cold tea as a mixer. Indeed, this is a well worn path for me as I have created and sampled numerous Tea Cocktails in the past;

The delicate rose tea infused Hendricks gin in the Secret Tea Society Cocktail
The earl grey infused gin in the Earl Grey Martini
The summer punch tea infused Pinkster Gin in the Pinkster Summer Punch Mar(tea)ni
The addition of chamomile tea to Bloom Gin in the Chamomile Lawn

I highly recommend you try them all at some point. Just click on the titles to visit the post that features the recipe.

It won't have escaped your notice, I'm sure, that all of these cocktails are gin based. There are two reasons for this: one - I just like gin, a lot, and two - the fragrant nature of gin generally combines well with tea and often, if you look at the botanicals that are used in a particular brand, you will be able to make a pretty failsafe combination with a tea that has a similar flavour palate.

But enough revelling in cocktail victories past, and on to our latest crop of tea-based delights....

To begin, and just to prove that I can see past gin on occasion, I've created a cocktail that uses green tea infused vodka. To make this yourself, use a fairly decent vodka to keep the flavour smooth, but there's no need to invest in anything too flashy. For each cocktail you will need 2oz of vodka and 1 tsp of green tea. Flavour will vary according to which tea you use, but that's part of the fun. I used Chun Mee green tea, which amusingly, translates as 'precious eyebrows' (unless Wikipedia is just having a laugh at my expense). Add 1 tsp of green tea leaves to the 2oz vodka and leave to infuse for no more than 1 hour or the flavour will become woody, due to those pesky tannins. Strain the infusion and discard the leaves. Now you are ready to begin.

Rosemary Green

2oz green tea infused vodka
1oz Chase Elderflower Liqueur
3/4oz fresh lime juice
fresh rosemary(about 12 needles)
dash of sparkling water
sprig of rosemary to garnish

Add the vodka and rosemary to the bottom of a shaker and gently muddle (squish) to release the oils from the herb.
Add the lime and elderflower liqueur with a handful of ice and shake until the outside of the shaker has frosted.
Strain the contents into a tall glass filled with ice and add a dash of sparkling water to top up.
Stir with a swizzle to mix the drink and garnish with a sprig of rosemary.

Tip - to enhance the scent of the rosemary garnish, slap it gently between your palms beforehand

Rosemary Green-tumbler by Toasted Glass

 Next up is yet another variation on a classic Mojito, but in place of the sparkling water, I'm using green tea. If you are a fan of the Mojito, I expect you will like this drink, but it's different enough from the original to not seem like a pointless substitution. The addition of green tea gives it a little more bite and a little less sugar, keeps it suitably grown up.

Green Tea Mojito

2oz Clements Martinique Rhum Agricole
3/4oz fresh lime juice
8-12 mint leaves
1/2oz simple syrup
2oz chilled green tea
sprig of mint to garnish

Muddle (squish) the mint with the lime juice, in the bottom of your shaker, but don't press too hard or you'll bruise the leaves and end up with the taste of leaf rather than mint.
Add the rum and simple syrup with a handful of ice and shake it all for about 20 secs.
Strain the cocktail into a chilled, ice filled tumbler and top up with the green tea.
Give a stir with a swizzle stick and garnish with a sprig of fresh mint, slapping it gently in your palms to release the minty aroma.

Green Tea Mojito - glass by Toasted Glass

This next cocktail is served in the martini style, shaken over ice. The combination of jasmine and elderflower really is quite beautiful and the little kick of green tea keeps it from being too floral. As before, you need to infuse 2oz of spirits with 1 tsp of tea for no more than hour. Jasmine tea can come in many forms, but the one I used combined jasmine flowers with green tea. I would give you the name, but it was all in Chinese as I bought it in an Oriental Minimart. I can however, tell you that the gin was Aldi's own, Oliver Cromwell, London Dry Gin which, for the money is perfectly acceptable, especially for this purpose.

Jasmine Flower

2oz jasmine tea infused gin

1oz Chase Elderflower Liqueur

3/4oz fresh lemon juice

sprig of mint to garnish

Add the jasmine infused vodka, elderflower and lemon to a shaker with ice and shake hard.

Strain the cocktail into a chilled martini glass and garnish with a sprig of mint.

As before, gently slap the mint to release the aroma, before applying as garnish.

Jasmine Flower-Lace glass by Toasted Glass

Last but not least, is a cocktail made with Whittards Chai Tea which is actually a black tea, but combined so beautifully with the gin, I couldn't leave it out. As with the other infusions, use 1 tsp of tea leaves to 2oz gin and infuse for an hour at the most, before straining and discarding the leaves. 

Orange Chai(tea)ni

2oz chai tea infused gin

1/2oz triple sec

3/4oz freshly squeezed orange juice

1/2oz fresh lemon juice

strip of orange zest to garnish

Add everything apart from the garnish to a shaker, with ice.

Shake until the outside of the shaker is frosted and strain into a chilled martini glass.

Twist the zest over the cocktail, spraying it with a fine mist of orange oil, and garnish.

Orange Chai(tea)ni-Lace glass by Toasted Glass

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

Pop goes Christmas

Angelic cocktail-glass by Toasted Glass

There doesn't need to be much of an excuse to crack open the fizz in the TG household, but I know that I won't be alone in popping a cork or two this Christmas. For many, Christmas morning will start with a Bucks Fizz, which is fairly innocuous as Champagne cocktails go, being comprised in half from freshly squeezed orange, but all the same, a step too far far me. Much as I love a tipple, breakfast, (even on Christmas morning), is too early for Mr TG and I who will be sticking to a nice pot of tea until midday, when the bacchanalia begins in earnest. Whilst I've had little to do with the festive preparations this year, having been too busy, painting glass, I have found time to road test a few, new Champagne Cocktails that might just take your fancy this Christmas, although I suggest that unless you want to wake up, face down in a plate of turkey, you join me in holding off until midday…

This first cocktail is a nice alternative to the classic Buck's Fizz and has a gorgeously, festive hue that makes it perfect for a Christmas Day tipple.

Melba Fizz

Ingredients
1 oz Gin (Pinkster would be perfect)
1 oz Catron Creme de Pêche de Vigne
6 fresh raspberries
Champagne or Cava

Muddle (squish) the raspberries in the bottom of your cocktail shaker, along with the Creme de Pêche de Vigne.
Add the gin, a little ice and give it a quick shake just to cool the liquid.
Double strain the cocktail into a chilled glass and then transfer to a chilled champagne flute. This will avoid spilling the cocktail down the side of the glass if your champagne flutes are narrow at the top.
Carefully top up with fizz, avoiding overspill and then briefly stir with a swizzle stick to mix the drink.

Melba Fizz-glass by Toasted Glass

This next cocktail is a very delicate shade of green with an equally delicate flavour. The trick is not to overdo the Blue Curaçao, thus lending the drink a hint of orange and a beautiful sea green shade.

Hummingbird

Ingredients
1 oz Gin
1/2 oz Blue Curaçao
1 tsp fresh lime juice
Champagne or Cava
Twist of lime zest to garnish

Add the Gin, Blue Curaçao and lime to a large mixing glass, with ice and stir briefly to mix the liquids.
Strain the mixture into a chilled champagne flute and top with fizz.
Twist the strip of lime zest over the cocktail to release the citrus aroma and garnish the drink.

Hummingbird-glass by Toasted Glass

Now tequila may not be a drink you immediately associate with Christmas or with Champagne for that matter, but dispel those preconceptions and open your mind and your tastebuds to this delicious concoction that combines these two elements in a surprisingly light and pleasant quaff.

Angelic

Ingredients
1 oz tequila resposado
1 oz Chase Elderflower Liqueur
6 grapes (skins removed)
Champagne or Cava to top up
2 slices of grape to garnish

The easiest way to remove the grapes from their skins is to cut them in half and then hold the halved grape between your forefinger and thumb and pinch them together. The grape should just pop out. If not you can remove any little bits of skin by double straining the drink at the end.

Muddle (squish) the grapes with the tequila in the bottom of a shaker.
Add the Chase Elderflower Liqueur, a little ice and shake briefly to chill the liquids.
Double strain the cocktail into a chilled champagne flute and pop in the sliced grape.
Top up with chilled Champagne or Cava.

Angelic cocktail-glass by Toasted Glass

This final cocktail uses just a taste of Creme de Violette to give a floral note without straying into parma violet territory. The combination of Absolut Raspberri vodka and fresh raspberries keep the flavour fresh and light and a couple of dashes of simple syrup are all this needs to sweeten it.

Raspberri Royale

Ingredients
1 oz Absolut Raspberri
1 tsp Creme de Violette
2 tsp simple syrup
4 raspberries
1 raspberry for garnish

Muddle (squish) the raspberries with the vodka and add everything else except the garnish in the bottom of the shaker.
Add a handful of ice and shake  to cool the liquids.
Double strain the cocktail into a chilled champagne glass and pop a raspberry in the bottom of the flute.
Top up very slowly with Champagne or Cava to avoid the cocktail fizzing over.
Gently stir with a swizzle stick.

Raspberri Royale-glass by Toasted Glass

I hope that you have a wonderful holiday season and remember; a Champagne cocktail is not just for Christmas….

Absinthe makes the heart grow fonder...

Absinthe Espresso Martini - glass by Toasted Glass

Not many drinks can lay claim to their very own faerie manifestation, but the iconic image of 'La Fée Verte', popularised  in the 19th century and reinvented in the form of the preternaturally pert, Kylie Minogue in the film Moulin Rouge, is synonymous with Absinthe. Legend has it that the anise flavoured spirit is imbued with hallucinogenic properties and that given the right circumstances (vast amounts of alcohol and a copy of the aforementioned film), the green fairy will appear. Tosh and poppycock of course, but it doesn't stop people trying...

Absinthe is a curiously mouth numbing concoction that derives it's colour and flavour from the botanicals that it's distilled with; the most notable being 'wormwood' or 'artemisia absinthium', to give it, it's Latin name. Wormwood, apart from sounding like a character from Tolkien, is also credited with giving absinthe it's mind altering capabilities due to the presence of Thujone, a ketone that was erroneously thought to act on the brain in much the same way as THCs in cannabis. However, this turns out not to be the case as in fact, Thujone is most likely to cause muscle spams and convulsions - yikes! But you needn't worry, because the levels of Thujone are so minuscule that you would have long since died from alcohol poisoning before you could possibly consume enough Absinthe for the Thujone to kick in. The most likely explanation for the accounts of it's hallucinogenic properties are down to a combination of things - mainly, it's high alcohol content (it's distilled at anywhere between 45%-75% ABV) and perhaps the copper stills that it was originally made in. Poor maintenance, lax standards and highly unregulated production could have resulted in contaminated Absinthe that may have led to sightings of green fairies and goodness knows what else. Sadly, Absinthe's reputation is largely unfounded, but it is certainly a drink to be reckoned with.

The history of Absinthe dates backs to the 1790's when French Doctor, Pierre Ordinaire absolved himself of his inauspicious monicker and created his 'cure all' tonic by distilling the bitter  leaves of the wormwood plant with other herbs, local to his home in Switzerland, such as anise, lemon balm and hyssop. Rumour had it that he obtained the recipe from a pair of sisters who had been making this tonic for years, but whatever the truth, it remained the medicine of choice for the jolly Swiss locals until it hit the big time in 1797 when the Pernod brothers opened their distillery in Couvet, Switzerland and began production on an international scale. Distilleries opened all over France and the success of the Pernod brothers encouraged less conscientious producers to get themselves a cut of the action, resulting in unadulterated and frankly dangerous 'Absinthe'.

In the 1840's, Absinthe was used by the French army in North Africa, ostensibly as a water purifier (one assumes the bacteria were too inebriated to be bothered causing dysentery) and as a malarial preventative (again, rendering the mosquitos incapable of action...). Upon returning home, the soldiers brought with them a taste for the green stuff and it's popularity spread with such intensity across France, that the time between 5 and 7 in the evening when bourgeoisie hit the cafés for a post work beverage became known as 'l'heure verte' (The Green Hour'. From then on, Absinthe became very much associated with bohemian Paris and it's artists and poets such as Lautrec and Baudelaire which all helped to fuel it's seditious reputation.

Several years of reduced wine production in France due to weather conditions meant that Absinthe began to outsell it's vine grown rival and the country's annual consumption grew to a mind boggling 21 million litres, which made it's subsequent ban all the more shocking... So what went wrong? How did the French fall so badly out of love with Absinthe?

Well, no doubt it was due in part to pressure from the very rich and powerful wine producers who were unable to compete with low price of Absinthe and put added pressure on the government to find fault with the drink. Lurid tales of licentiousness and crime caused by drinking Absinthe, abounded and were much played upon by the press. The presence of Thujone which was considered a dangerous neurotoxin was grossly exaggerated and there was growing popularity for the Temperance movement across the whole of Europe which called for the ban of all types of alcohol. The final nail in the coffin for Absinthe was a terrible murder case in which the main protagonist had murdered his entire family whilst bombed out of his brain on vast amounts of alcohol. Much was made of the Absinthe he had consumed, although it was but a drop in the ocean of all the types of alcohol that had passed his lips before he raised the gun to his family. Nonetheless, a scapegoat was required and the whole debacle was labelled the Absinthe Murder by the gutter press. A nationwide ban ensued and many other countries took up the cause, although not Britain as we were probably too drunk on cheap gin to care.

Around the 1990s the myth and legend of Absinthe began to re-emerge and brave, young hedonists set forth on a quest to get annihilated on Absinthe in the hope of seeing 'La Fée Verte', but sadly, most were only to discover Le Green Sick and Le  Big Headache. Finally in 2002 the ban was lifted and production began in France once more and by 2007, even the US were allowing Absinthe back on their shores.

The traditional way to drink Absinthe is to place a sugar cube atop a slotted spoon, above a glass of Absinthe and drip cold filtered water through the sugar until it reaches the desired sweetness and dilution. There is a pleasing element to the rigmarole of this old fashioned routine, but it is of course, entirely unnecessary; a dash of simple syrup and a little water would produce the same results, but where's the fun in that?

As for Absinthe cocktails, well, the list is extensive; the Savoy Cocktail Book lists 108 cocktails containing Absinthe, the majority of which, use the spirit in minimal amounts. This is because the overriding flavour of anise and aforementioned mouth numbing property tend to destroy all other flavours in it's path. Many other absinthe cocktails from the book sound like the deranged and dangerous concoctions of a hormonal teenager left in possession of their parent's cocktail cabinet, containing nothing but hard liquor with an ice cube chucked in. (Note to any rooky Absinthe pilferers; do not attempt to top up the bottle with water to cover your tracks - also applies to Pernod and Ouzo as I discovered when I was 13) However, there are a few drinks that I would like to share, that you will hopefully enjoy whether or not you are already a fan of Absinthe.

The first is a classic cocktail with a name that has quite a history… The Monkey Gland cocktail was apparently named in reference to the experiments of much ridiculed and frankly, bonkers scientist, Serge Voronoff who, in the 1920's believed he could enhance male libido by grafting the tissue of monkey testicles onto human ones. The cocktail, one presumes, was supposed to do much the same job, although my findings, unfortunately, do not bear this out. Neither Mr TG or myself were overcome with lust after sharing a Monkey Gland, but we did agree that it was a pleasant enough drink with perhaps, just a hint of Benylin Cough Mixture to it.

Monkey Gland

Ingredients
1 1/2 oz Gin
1 1/2 oz freshly squeezed orange juice
1 tsp Grenadine
1 tsp Absinthe
Twist of Orange zest for garnish

Add everything except for the garnish, to a cocktail shaker with ice.
Shake hard, until the outside of the shaker begins to frost.
Strain into a chilled martini glass.
Twist the strip of zest over the drink to release the orange aroma and garnish.

Monkey Gland Cocktail - glass by Toasted Glass

Next up is a variation on a variation of a classic, the Corpse Reviver No. 2. The esteemed cocktail writer, Harry Craddock wrote that the Corpse Reviver should be imbibed 'before 11am or whenever steam and energy are needed'. The original hair of the dog cocktail, the Corpse Reviver No. 1 is a fairly unremarkable drink, but the No.2 is really rather wonderful. It's primarily a gin cocktail, but the smallest dash of absinthe gives it a depth and complexity that would otherwise be lacking. My variation was down to a lack of Lilet Blanc, a fortified wine that tends to be grouped with vermouth, but has a flavour all of it's own. In it's absence, I used a sweet vermouth, which, while different to the original, is still a great drink.

Corpse Reviver No.2 #2

Ingredients

1 oz Gin

1 oz triple sec

1 oz sweet vermouth

1 oz fresh lemon juice

1/4 tsp Absinthe

Twist of lemon zest to garnish

Add the Absinthe to a chilled martini glass and 'rinse' the glass- i.e. swill the Absinthe around to coat the inside of the glass and discard the excess (if any).

Add everything except the garnish to a shaker with ice and shake hard until the outside frosts over.

Strain the cocktail into the Absinthe rinsed glass 

Twist the strip of lemon zest above the drink to release the citrus aroma and garnish.

Corpse Reviver No.2 - glass by Toasted Glass

Moving away from the classics, this next cocktail is one of my own creation. It combines the heat of ginger and smoke of tequila with green tea, lime and a hint of absinthe. The flavour is complex, earthy and warming with the heat of the ginger, blending with the spirits to tame their flavours. 

The naming of this cocktail turned up an interesting little story that seems oddly appropriate. I was searching to see if I could find a colloquial name for a Mexican fairy and whilst that search proved to be fruitless, I came across an amusing news story from 2011 concerning an out of work brick layer from Guadalajara who claimed to have found a real live fairy. And what do you think he did with this momentous discovery? Why, he pickled her in formaldehyde and charged people to come and see. I like to think that our Mexican Fairy would have a happier end…

Mexican Fairy

Ingredients

1 1/2 oz Tequila Resposado

1/4 oz Absinthe 

2 oz chilled green tea

1-2 tsp freshly, finely grated ginger root

1 oz fresh lime juice

1/2 oz simple syrup

Slice of fresh ginger to garnish

Prepare the green tea ahead of time and allow to cool. The best green tea is made from loose leaf, infused for about 5 minutes using water that has cooled slightly from boiling point.

Add the spirits and fresh grated ginger to a shaker and muddle (squish) to really release the fieriness of the ginger.

Add the rest of the ingredients, apart from the garnish, with a handful of ice and shake hard until the outside of the shaker becomes frosty.

Double strain the cocktail into a tumbler filled with ice, to ensure the fibrous ginger is left behind and pop in the slice of fresh ginger.

Mexican Fairy cocktail - glass by Toasted Glass

As the name suggests, this next cocktail has a real kick, provided in the main from the chilli infused Campari, details of which you can find here - Chilli Infused Campari. Add to that, triple sec, a little Absinthe and Champagne and you've got yourself quite the little pick me up!

The Kick

Ingredients

1 oz triple sec

1/2 oz chilli infused Campari

1/2 oz lemon juice

1 tsp Absinthe

Champagne to top up

Add everything apart from the Champagne to a shaker with a little ice and give a quick shake, just to chill the contents.

Strain into Champagne flute and top up with Champagne or Cava

The Kick cocktail - glass by Toasted Glass

There's no messing around with this final cocktail - it contains a full shot of Absinthe and it's flavour is pure anise. What I like about this is the way it combines with the coffee and syrup to taste like liquorice for grown ups. However, if liquorice isn't your thing or you were planning on using your taste buds for anything else within an hour of drinking it, then it's probably not for you.

Absinthe Espresso Martini

Ingredients
1 oz Absinthe
2 oz chilled espresso coffee
1/2 oz simple syrup

Add everything to a shaker filled with ice and shake hard until the outside becomes frosted and then shake some more.
Strain the cocktail into a chilled martini glass.

Absinthe Espresso Martini - glass by Toasted Glass

Just for the record, the Absinthe used in all these cocktails was Nemesinthe and the Gin was actually Aldi own brand, Oliver Cromwell Gin. I had read in the Guardian that it had received various awards, following blind tastings and felt obliged to try it. I can confirm that it's not bad at all and at around £13 for a litre, it's worth getting a bottle to stock up your cocktail bar.

Vitamin C

Cranberry and Elderflower Mojito - glass by Toasted Glass

Mr TG and I have oft remarked that since I began my foray into the world of mixology, neither one of us is ever likely to fall foul of scurvy, given the vast amounts of limes we habitually consume through the medium of cocktails. Our livers may be the size of an elephant's, but by jingo, our vitamin C levels are through the roof...This week's cocktails all feature cranberry juice which is also high in vitamin C, not to mention antioxidants and flavonoids and has been shown to have an antibacterial effect in the body - admittedly, the health benefits are largely mitigated by the addition of sugar and alcohol, but it does look pretty and it tastes good too.

For those of you of an age to have been partying in the 90's, you will no doubt have sampled the delights of cranberry cocktails. The Cosmopolitan, the Woo Woo and the Seabreeze were all cocktail bar favourites and still persist today, but I wanted to mix up my own drinks, using some of my favourite ingredients. My problem with the aforementioned cocktails is that they all feature vodka, which is fine, but it doesn't bring a lot to the drink other than alcohol content and I wanted to mix some drinks that created new flavours with the cranberry, drawing on that slightly bitter fruitiness.

I personally love a cocktail with bitter sweetness to it and am a big fan of Campari and Aperol, so the combination of cranberry with that, works perfectly and creates the most beautiful colour as well. Cranberry and orange work very well together, so the bitter citrus of Campari and the sweeter orange of triple sec in this first cocktail, are a great combination with the juice. I used Williams Chase GB Gin as it's big, juniper and spice notes are fantastic with Campari and the addition of a little lemon juice balances out the flavours.

Vitamin C

Ingredients

1 oz Chase GB Gin

3/4 oz Campari

3/4 oz Triple Sec

1/4 oz freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 oz cranberry juice

Dash of sparkling water

Strip of orange zest to garnish

Add the everything except the sparkling water and garnish to the bottom of a shaker or large glass, with some ice and stir until the outside begins to frost.

Strain into an ice filled tumbler and add a dash of sparkling water to taste.

Cut a strip of zest from the peel of an orange and twist over the drink, releasing the essential oils, and garnish.

Vitamin C Cocktail - glass by Toasted Glass

This next cocktail was inspired by the Woo Woo, which is a rather sickly mixture of vodka, peach schnapps and cranberry juice. I actually used to love this drink, but since discovering the joys of Catron Creme de Peche de Vigne, I could never return to the artificial flavour of peach schnapps. The original drink is served long, over ice whereas this is served in the Martini Style. Rather than vodka, I have used Bloom Gin as it's delicately floral flavour works beautifully to enhance the peachy notes, rather than overpowering them. To avoid the flavour being too sweet, the addition of lemon juice is a must and as with all Martini Style drinks, it must be as cold as possible, so shake, shake, shake....

Poinsettia

Ingredients
2 oz Bloom Gin
1 oz Catron Creme de Peche de Vigne
1/2 oz freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 oz cranberry juice
Strip of orange zest and fresh cranberries to garnish

Add all of the ingredients to a shaker and shake hard for about 20 secs.
Strain into a chilled martini glass and garnish with a strip of orange zest and fresh cranberries, as shown.

Poinsettia Cocktail - glass by Toasted Glass

Now I have to be honest and 'fess up that I originally made this last cocktail with Bloom Gin and it was delicious. In my opinion it was even nicer than the rum version, but I absolutely love gin above all other spirits, so I would think that. In the interests of proffering options to those of you who who might want to drink something other than gin, I thought it only fair to try it with rum too and actually, it is very nice. The trick is to use a rum agricole such as the Clément Blanc which has an almost fruity taste to it and to avoid one that might be too nutty in flavour, which doesn't sit well with the Elderflower.

Cranberry and Elderflower Mojito

Ingredients
2 oz Clément Blanc Rum
1 oz freshly squeezed lime
6-8 fresh mint leaves
1 oz Chase Elderflower Liqueur
Dash of simple syrup
2 oz cranberry juice
Sprig of mint and fresh cranberries to garnish

Add everything but the cranberry juice and garnish to a shaker and muddle (gently squish with a blunt ended utensil) the mint with other ingredients.
Add a handful of ice and shake for 20 secs.
Strain into an ice filled glass and top with the cranberry juice.
Garnish with a sprig of mint and fresh cranberries, as shown.

Cranberry and Elderflower Mojito - glass by Toasted Glass

Overall, I found cranberry juice to be a versatile and attractive ingredient despite it bringing back hazy and often toe-curlingly, embarrassing memories of a bygone decade. In fact, I could have made many more cocktails, but Mr TG and I are trying to show some restraint in our cocktail consumption, so my ideas will just have to wait for another post. Watch this space....

Winter Spice

Rum Toddy - cup by Toasted Glass

In nature, winter is a time of hibernation, conservation and storing of energy, ready to burst forth and be plentiful again in the spring. Sadly, in the kingdom of men, there is no such respite. We may be top of the food chain, but with great power, comes great responsibility and apparently, it is our responsibility to buy vast amounts of Christmas gifts and eat our way through the rest of the food chain. So no rest for us; while foxes, badgers and squirrels snuggle up until spring, we must pull on our woolly hats and soldier on through the cold, battling the the elements and other high street shoppers as we try to find the perfect Christmas gifts. Alternatively, you could take inspiration from our woodland creatures and snuggle up indoors. Bearing in mind the cost of heating our homes this winter, a soft, woolly blanket, a pair of slipper socks and a cocktail that is guaranteed to warm you up from the inside, sound like the perfect accompaniment to a spot of online Christmas shopping....

After infusing Campari with chilli for last week's cocktail - 'Satan's Circus', I decided ( as I often do ) that it would taste even better made with gin, which proved to be the case in my opinion at least. Now this cocktail may be served chilled, but the heat of the chilli infused Campari will have you feeling toasty in no time. The trick is to infuse the Campari for just long enough to give you a glow without getting into ‘vindaloo’ territory. Let the chilli steep for no more than an hour and the resultant drink will warm you deliciously without burning the throat. To get the recipe for Chilli Infused Campari - click here.

This recipe also requires Cherry Heering, a cherry liqueur made from the maceration of real fruit with an intense, but natural, cherry flavour. If you do not already have some, you can buy online or in store from more specialist purveyors of spirits, such as Amathus Drinks. Finally, you will need gin, of which there are literally hundreds to choose from and all with surprisingly different flavours. I used Gin Xoriguer, a small batch gin from the Balearic island of Menorca, which has enough juniper and spice to stand up to the Chilli Infused Campari.

visit the Gin Xoriguer website

Cherry Devil

Ingredients
2 oz Gin Xoriguer
3/4 oz Cherry Heering
3/4 oz chilli infused Campari
3/4 oz freshly squeezed lemon juice

Add all of the ingredients to a shaker with ice and shake hard until the outside develops a frosty bloom.
Strain into a chilled martini glass.

Cherry Devil cocktail - glass by Toasted Glass

This next recipe uses the warming power of ginger to chase away the winter blues and will require making some honey-ginger syrup. To get the recipe for Honey-Ginger Syrup - click here

As the following recipe is a variation of a traditional margarita, it will of course require tequila. It is best to use a ‘resposado’ tequila rather than a young, ‘blanco’ or ‘silver’ tequila as the more aged spirit has an earthier flavour that works best with the honey and ginger.

Ginger Margarita

2 oz Tequila Resposado
1 oz honey-ginger syrup
1 tsp grated orange zest
1 oz freshly squeezed lime juice
Strip of orange zest and slice of ginger to garnish

Add all of the ingredients, apart from the garnish, to a cocktail shaker.
Shake hard for about 20 secs and double strain (to remove the grated zest) into a chilled cocktail glass.
Twist the strip of zest over the glass to release the essential oils and garnish the drink.

Ginger Margarita cocktail - glass by Toasted Glass

Our final winter warmer cocktail is a warm, boozy beverage that can be prepared almost as simply as a cup of tea and in fact, you may wish to scale up the quantities and make a pot for friends.

Rum Toddy

1 1/2 oz dark rum
3/4 oz apricot brandy
1/2 oz lemon juice
1 tsp light muscovado sugar
3 oz boiling water
Cinnamon stick to garnish

Add the rum, brandy and lemon juice to a cup and top up with boiling water.
Add the spoonful of dark muscovado sugar and stir with a cinnamon stick until the sugar dissolves.

Rum Toddy - cup by Toasted Glass

Christmas Spirit - a recipe for success

Christmas Spirit Shot Glass Set by Toasted Glass

Picture the scene.....kitchen piled high with crockery, table covered in bits of Christmas dinner, spilled wine, soggy paper hats and cracker toys. Yes, it's Christmas Day, the meal is finished and you think you might just spontaneously combust if you eat another thing. This is traditionally when you would serve a digestif; an alcoholic drink that will aid the digestion  and settle the stomach in order that you can then attempt the Christmas Pud, the mince pies, the cheese and biscuits and the Elizabeth Shaw chocolates which mysteriously materialise during the festive period. Whilst it would make far more sense not to stuff oneself like a goose bound for fois gras, we all know we're going to do it and if a digestif will help (and even if it doesn't), it's worth a try.

This recipe is for a Christmas Liqueur that you can make at home, really simply and store indefinitely. It improves with age, but can be drunk immediately and is still very pleasant. It uses lots of traditionally festive flavours and creates a drink with a lot of the same flavour notes as a Drambuie, but with vodka, rather than whisky at it's heart. Not only can you serve it up after the Christmas meal, but it will make fabulous gifts for friends and family if you decant it into pretty bottles. 

Christmas Liqueur

Ingredients

600ml vodka

200g light muscovado sugar

Zest of 2 large oranges, peeled off inn strips

1 large cinnamon stick

2 star anise

2 cardamom pods

4 cloves

4 juniper berries

1 vanilla pod

300ml water

When peeling the zest from the oranges, ensure that you do not leave the white pith on. If some remains, scrape it off carefully with your knife.

Add the zest, spices and water to a pan and bring to the boil.

Turn the heat right down and place the lid on tight.

Allow to simmer at the lowest heat for about 45mins - check periodically to make sure the water doesn't boil away.

When the liquid has reduced by 2/3, remove from heat and strain the remaining fluid into a jug, gently pressing the remaining spices etc with the back of a spoon to ensure you extract the maximum amount of flavour.

Discard the solids and pour the liquid back into the pan, bring back to the boil very briefly and add the sugar. 

Stir until dissolved, remove from heat and allow to cool.

When sufficiently cooled, pour on the vodka and stir briskly until fully combined, then bottle and cork it until you're ready to use it.

Ideally, you should wait a week or two to really let the flavours blend, but a sneaky taste won't hurt...

Miniature bottle from a selection by Toasted Glass