Cocktails are back in vogue in the bars, restaurants and suburban homes of the British Isles. Gin and tonic, rum and coke, whisky and water all may do the job, but in their dull predictability they're being pushed aside in favour of the effervescent colour of the cocktail, with its alluring mix of sophistication, exoticism, and sheer tastiness.
Glogg, gluhwein, mulled wine, hot punch – they all come down to the same thing: a richly aromatic warm drink best enjoyed on a cold winter’s night, in front of the fire, or well wrapped up, strolling through a Christmas street market, while carollers sing in the background. Most of …
When it comes to punches, five is the magic number. There are five basic ingredients for a traditional punch – alcohol, spice, sugar, water, fruit – and its name comes from the Hindi word for five, panch. One of the best-known punches, Sangria, has its origins way back in time …
In 1862 Jerry Thomas, in what is widely considered to be the world’s first cocktail guide, “How to Mix Drinks”, wrote, ‘Many persons, particularly of the softer sex, have been tempted to partake so plentifully of it as to render them somewhat unfit for waltzing or quadrilling after supper.’ And …
The Sour family is a mixed bunch, from the laird, whisky sour, to the city girl, Cosmopolitan, with all sorts in between. The Sour family was first described in the 1862 book, How to Mix Drinks, by Jerry Thomas. Since then it’s come a long way but the basic premise …
If there was ever an evocative name, then it must be Tequila Sunrise. Can’t you just imagine the reds and golds of the Mexican landscape as the sun creeps up over the horizon? The original drink that was created by a bartender at the luxurious Arizona Biltmore Resort, some time …
For Long Island Iced Tea you need: 1 part light rum 1 part vodka 1 part gin 1 part tequila 1 part Cointreau Coca Cola Fill a highball glass with ice and pour in the first 5 ingredients. Top up with coke and garnish with a slice of lemon or …
The custom of mixing lime with rum for a cooling drink on a hot Cuban day has been around a long time. It’s even been suggested that – like many drinks – its original purpose was medicinal. But the Cubans were enjoying it long before Jennings Cox, a mining engineer …
Cuba Libre! Free Cuba! Allegedly invented in Cuba in 1900, this cocktail of rum and coke was used to toast the newly independent island. The drink soon spread throughout the American South and further, although, according to H.L. Mencken, it sometimes appeared in a different guise: “… South Carolina coined …
‘I’d rather swallow a screwdriver!’ That’s – allegedly – how the classic cocktail of vodka and orange juice was greeted when a bartender asked a customer for his opinion of the latest drink that he had created. Another theory is that it got its name from the habit of oil-rig …
Banned! In 2004 a company in Derbyshire was banned from giving their drinks products suggestive names. Their argument that they were simply using the names of cocktails already in existence was thrown out. The report doesn’t say whether they invited the judge to enjoy sex on the beach or to …