OK! So I admit it! I am a big kid when it comes to cocktails! I am well over the legal drinking age but the sight of the word “cocktail” or “happy hour” always sets my pulse racing a wee bit faster! I’m a cocktail junkie, I’m afraid! I love everything about them. The jewel-like colours. The shapes and names of the glasses. The shakers and the swizzle sticks (even the name has a frisson, is a minor aphrodisiac). The little paper umbrellas. But above all, the taste! I think I’ve yet to encounter one I didn’t like, though some are certainly more popular with me than others

So when Anita-Clare suggested I write a piece for her wonderful blog, www.loverofcreatingflavours.co.uk,  on  cocktails, I leapt at the chance….I hope you love making them as much as I do

Cosmopolitan

This is the choice of Anita-Clare’s mother, Joan Field. Widely accepted as being created in the 1970s. Some people claim that the original ‘Cosmo’ was created by Cheryl Cook in Florida, who wanted to create a drink that resembled a martini, and consisted of Absolut Citron vodka,  Triple Sec, lime juice and just enough cranberry juice to make the drink “oh, so pretty, in pink”!

Ingredients:

1 and a half parts vodka

1 part cranberry juice

1 part Cointreau/Triple Sec

up to 1 part lime juice

Lime rind to garnish

Shake all the ingredients with cracked ice. Pour into a cocktail glass. Enjoy!

Daiquiri

My favourite cocktail! This drink was invented by an American mining engineer, Jennings Cox, who was in Cuba at the time of the Spanish-American War, and named it after a local village and its mine. it was also one of Ernest Hemingway’s favoured tipples, though the version named for him adds grapefruit juice and maraschino. Usually made with white rum, which is the spirit direct from the still, I  prefer it made with brown or golden, which has been aged in casks. In my opinion this gives the drink a fuller, more mellow flavour.

Ingredients:

3 parts rum

2 parts lime

1 part sugar syrup

Ice, cracked/crushed

Crack the ice. Pour the juice of 2 limes, the sugar syrup and the rum over the ice. Shake thoroughly and strain into a chilled glass.

Mojito

The Mojito is Anita-Clare’s choice. Originating in Cuba, it has historic origins, in that it claims to be based on another drink, ‘El Draque’ that was named for Sir Francis Drake. This is another drink made popular by Ernest Hemingway. In his own handwriting, there is a message written on the wall of a bar called La Bodeguita del Medio that reads: ‘My mojito in La Bodeguita, my daiquiri in El Floridita.’

Ingredients:

2 parts rum – usually white

1 part lime juice

top up soda water

10 mint sprigs

1 part ice cube

1 lime slice

1 teaspoon sugar

Mash the mint and the sugar together to release the oils. Add the rum (dark or light) and lime juice and pour over the ice. Top up with soda water for a longer drink, in a highball glass.

Moscow Mule

This drink was chosen by Anita for her sister, Emma-Kate. The drink is the product of the vodka frenzy that hit the States in the 1950s and it gets its name from the fact that it is a ‘mule’ – that is a cocktail made with ginger beer/ginger ale and the fact that vodka was seen as a predominantly Russian product. It was a particular favourite of the Hollywood set.

Ingredients:

2 parts vodka

2 parts lime juice

top up ginger beer

1 lime slice

4 ice crushed

1 orange juice

Put the ice cubes into a cocktail shaker. Add the vodka and lime juice and shake well. Pour into a hurricane glass, top up with ginger beer and stir gently. Decorate with the slices.

Margarita

There is some debate as to who dunnit and where this delicious concoction was created. Some say Mexico, some say that it is a version of the earlier cocktail the Daisy, which was made with brandy rather than tequila. The third alternative appeals to me.  And that is that it was created in the Balinese room in Galveston, Texas by Santos Cruz for the singer Peggy Lee, using the Spanish version of her name.

Ingredients:

1 part tequila

1 part lime juice

1 part triple sec

salt

Frost the rim of a glass with salt. Shake all the ingredients together with cracked ice. Pour  into the glass.