As many of us are favouring small gatherings this year you’ll have lots of opportunity to break out the shaker and show what a cocktail hero you became during lockdown. The selection below contains festive recipes – read: drinks with lots of Champagne in them – a tactical low-ABV option for hosts needing to stay sharp for the long haul, and the perfect pick-me-up for New Year’s Day. So make sure you have all your ingredients ready ahead of time, stock up on far more ice than you think you need, and get those cocktail glasses in the freezer.
Southside Royale
The classic Southside is basically a gin sour with a little mint added for luxury. It was served in Manhattan clubs and cocktail bars as far back as the late-19th century, with several venues proudly laying claim to its creation. The fresh citrus, mint and booze were taken as an eye-opener to kick the evening off or sweep away the effects of the night before. Part of this drink’s enduring appeal is that it doesn’t need a cabinet full of exotic ingredients to whip up, just a trip to the supermarket and a freezer full of ice. This version is finished with a little dry Champagne, because it is New Year’s after all.
Ingredients
25ml Bombay Sapphire Mercian Lemon Gin
15ml Lime juice
10ml 1:1 sugar syrup
Brut Champagne
6-or-so Mint leaves
Method
Squeeze your lime juice and pick your mint leaves, reserve a few of the best-looking leaves for garnish. Measure all ingredients except the Champagne into your shaker with plenty of ice and shake until the outside tin is frosty and the mint is pulverised. The volumes here are relatively small, so you can easily make 3-4 drinks in a large shaker. Fine strain, through a tea strainer or similar, into a tall glass filled to the brim with ice. Top with chilled Champagne, stir gently to combine without breaking your bubbles, and garnish with a single mint leaf.
It’s important to use a gin with pronounced citrus character for a drink like this. Bombay Sapphire Premier Cru Mercian Lemon (£34.95 – Master of Malt) is made with Spanish lemons, mandarins and navel oranges. Absolutely perfect for our purposes here as the bittersweet oils soften the intensity of the lime juice. The Champagne can be anything dry and reasonably priced – Aldi’s own Veuve Monsigny Champagne Brut(£13.99 – Direct) is particularly recommended.
Adonis
The Manhattan, the Martini, the Negroni – these are beautiful things and worthy of a celebration, but stay on them all night and your New Year’s will be over before the Hootenany kicks off. The Adonis is a great lower-ABV cocktail that’ll help keep you vertical until the wee-hours. It pits nutty Sherry against aromatic sweet vermouth and ties everything together with a couple of dashes of bitters. In the glass it looks every bit as dark and serious a Manhattan but without the accompanying headache.
Ingredients
50ml Amontillado Sherry
50ml Carpano Antica Formula
2 Dashes orange bitters
Method
Put a cocktail glass into the freezer until it’s nice and frozen and then cut a twist of orange peel for garnish. Combine the Amontillado, vermouth, and bitters in a mixing glass (or shaker tin, pint glass, mason jar, what-have-you) and stir with plenty of ice until well chilled and combined. Taste as you go to make sure you’ve got the desired dilution then strain into your icy cocktail glass, squeeze the orange peel over the surface of the drink to express the oils and drop it in.
The venerable bodega González Byass sells its fantastic Delicado Amontillado (£15.49 – Waitrose) here in the UK. Aged for 12 years in solera, it’s bone dry with walnuts, toasted almonds, and sourdough on the palate. Barolo-based Carpano Antica Formula (£14 – Ocado) is the gold-standard of sweet vermouth and performs perfectly when it’s centre-stage in an Adonis. In the glass it’ll balance the dryness of the Sherry with intense vanilla, dried fruit, and orange zest notes. No bar cart or cocktail cabinet is complete without a bottle of orange bitters – invest and you’ll soon be using them to add a little extra pep to G&Ts and Whisky Sours. The Bitter Truth (£12.95 – Amazon) is the absolute benchmark and well worth the asking price.
Champagne Daisy
The Daisy is a cousin of the Collins and the Sour, comprising lemon juice, spirit, and a little liqueur to fancy things up a bit. Early cocktail books feature variations made with brandy, whisky and genever. This festive recipe uses grassy white rum backed up by herbal, honeyed Yellow Chartreuse. In the time-honoured tradition of making a cocktail even more celebratory with a bit of fizz, it also comes topped with a big glug of Champagne. This is a nice balance of grown-up and crowd-pleasing that’s sure to impress any seasoned cocktail drinkers at your party.
Ingredients
25ml Havana Club 3yo White Rum
15ml Lemon
15ml Yellow Chartreuse
5ml (about a teaspoon) of 1:1 simple syrup
Brut Champagne
Method
Squeeze your lemon juice and pour into an ice-filled shaker with the rum, Chartreuse, and sugar syrup. Give it a quick whip around and then strain into a large cocktail glass or champagne saucer and top with Brut Champagne. Garnish isn’t really necessary, but a little twist of lemon zest can be nice for presentation.
Yellow Chartreuse liqueur (£36.45 – the Whisky Exchange), with its complex botanicals really makes this drink come together. It’s a great bottle to have in your cocktail cabinet and a fantastic digestif in its own right. If you can’t lay your hands on one, sub in Cointreau and a dash of bitters. It’ll be quite a different drink but it’ll work well in its own right. Havana Club 3yo White Rum (£18 – Waitrose) is a good choice here as its mellow cut grass and vanilla profile doesn’t fight the other ingredients. You can make the simple syrup easily enough – however, Monin Pure Cane Sugar Syrup (£5.95 – the Whisky Exchange) does the job for you and is a good way to cut out a bit of prep.
Bloody Maria
For at least a century, the Bloody Mary and its variations have been performing essential first aid on the bleary and hungover. Their restorative powers come in especially handy during the festive season. Abundant vitamin C, spice, salt, sugar, and hair-of-the-dog make them excellent drinks to accompany Lunch on New Year’s Eve or Brunch the following day. Though some express concerns that it’s a heavy drink (‘it’s like a meal!’ they cry, as if previously burned by a glass of vodka and Dolmio) but this version is guaranteed light, fruity, and easy to prepare.
Ingredients
25ml Vivr Blanco Tequila
15ml Bodegas Hidalgo La Gitana Manzanilla Sherry
100ml Gazpacho
Light soy
Hot sauce
Lemon
Celery
Method
Using pre-made Gazpacho in place of the traditional tomato juice takes a lot of hassle out of the process. Brindisa Gazpacho (£5.10 – Direct) is already nicely seasoned and has a refreshing dose of cucumber running through it. Get a few cartons of this in and you can serve a crowd without the need to whip up big batches of Bloody Mary mix and chill them down. All you have to do is combine the Tequila, Manzanilla, and gazpacho in a tall glass with ice and garnish with celery, a lemon wedge, and a twist of black pepper. How we like our Bloody Mary is as personal as how we like our steak, so you can pass around light soy and your preferred hot sauce so your guests can adjust the seasoning to suit them.
Using a good-quality Tequila like Vivr Blanco (£36 – Waitrose) instead of vodka makes this an altogether more interesting drink, as the fruity agave flavours play nicely with the tomato and the cooling cucumber. Salty La Gitana Manzanilla (£8 – Sainsbury’s) has natural umami that likewise speaks to the tomatoes and makes all the other big flavours pop – it also makes a great sub for the dry vermouth in a Martini if you have any leftover. Serve a shot of bitter Fernet Branca (£26.49 – Amazon) on the side – the traditional bartender’s breakfast –and you’ll be ready to face the New Year. Cheers.
Comments