Raise Your Glass: The Cocktail Recipes To Try At Home
Bringing a touch of escapism to the festive season, the right cocktail can bring the enigmatic magic of the finest bars and restaurants into your own home. Whether you’re entertaining guests or treating yourself to a special concoction, some of our favourite establishments have shared the secrets behind their most-loved cocktails so we can try our own hands at being master mixologists.
MiMi Mei Fair's Chestnut Sour
50 ml Briotett Châtaigne (or any chestnut liqueur)
10 ml Roots Mastiha (or any mastika tree liqueur)
40 ml lemon juice
15 ml honey
20ml egg white
1. Add all the ingredients to a shaker and dry shake them together
2. Strain the mixture into a glass – preferably a coupe glass
3. To decorate the drink in true Mimi Mei Fair style, sprinkle gold dust over a half-moon crescent stencil
Joe Allen's Jerry Thomas Manhattan
50ml rye whiskey (Wild Turkey, Canadian Club or Knob Creek)
15ml Grand Marnier
25ml Carpano Antica Formula vermouth
3 dashes bitters, such as Angostura
orange peel
1. Pour the rye, Grand Marnier, vermouth and bitters into a Boston glass or jug.
2. Add ice, stir and strain into a chilled Martini or Manhattan glass.
3. Hold orange peel, orange side down pith side up, over the cocktail about 2 inches above a lit match.
4. Squeeze the peel over the flame until the peel sparks. Drop the peel into the glass.
Smoking Goat's Agharta
25ml blanco tequila
25ml Clement Créole Shrubb Orange Liqueur/Triple sec
5ml sugar syrup or palm sugar syrup (to make, mix one part palm sugar and two parts water)
15ml mandarin juice
15ml lime juice
1 pinch sea salt
mint leaf
1. First, make a palm sugar syrup – this can be done in advance and stored in the fridge for up to a week. Place the palm sugar and water in a pot on the stove. Bring to a simmer and whisk for a moment, remove from heat and leave to cool.
2. Clap the mint in your hands to release the fragrance and add to a mixing glass or cocktail shaker with the rest of the ingredients and a big handful of ice.
3. Shake or stir well for ten seconds and remove the mint.
4. Strain into a chilled glass and serve with a couple of cubes of ice.
5. Garnish with a wedge of lime and mint if you like.
Gunpowder's Saffron Martini
50ml Saffron Gin
15ml Cointreau
15ml Martini Bianco
2.5ml Maraschino cherry juice
1 Maraschino cherry
1. Pour the Saffron Gin, Martini and Cointreau into a Japanese mixing glass and stir all the ingredients
2. Add the Maraschino juice and stir again
3. Drop a Maraschino cherry in a coupe glass and pour the cocktail on top
4. Garnish with a Maraschino cherry
Wun's Tea Room's Basil & Grape Cocktail
45ml Opihr Oriental Spiced Gin
20ml fresh lemon juice
10ml simple syrup
10 leaves fresh basil
5 green seedless grapes
1. Gently muddle the basil and grapes in a cocktail shaker
2. Add the gin and stir before letting it steep for a moment
3. Add lemon juice and simple syrup, then fill the shaker with crushed ice
4. Shake vigorously for 20 seconds
5. Strain into coupe or martini glass, garnish with fresh basil leaf, and, for a prolonged treat, frozen grapes.
