by Claire Filer (@highginx)
As lockdown continues, some of us will be missing the fabulous range of cocktails available to us at our favourite bars, but making cocktails at home is simpler than you might think. Here are a few ideas for cocktails you can make using ingredients you may already have lying around, can find easily at your local supermarket, or order from your favourite online liquor retailer. For example, if you have a citrus tree out the back, sugar in the pantry, and a spirit of some description in your cabinet, you are already on the way. Simple syrup, or honey syrup, can be easily made by using equal parts sugar or honey and boiling water, ready for use as soon as the sugar or honey is dissolved. You can experiment with a pre-bought syrup – I have sometimes used Hakanoa Classic Chai Syrup for a sweet spice kick – or even get creative and make your own flavoured syrups.
To begin with, variations of the Sour cocktail can be made with any spirit on your shelf, simple syrup, and citrus. Add egg white or aquafaba (chickpea brine) for the distinctive foam, add soda for a highball, or sparkling wine for a French 75. My current favourite sour cocktail, and possibly the easiest, is the Gimlet:
2 shots of gin
¾ shot fresh lime juice
¾ shot sugar syrup
Shake with ice and strain into a coupe or martini glass.
A simple substitution in this cocktail is white rum for gin to make a Daiquiri; you can use tequila and add triple sec to make a Margarita, add mint to make a Southside, add cranberry juice and orange liqueur for a cosmopolitan. For a Bees Knees, use lemon juice and honey syrup.
For a foamy sour, use:
2 shots of gin, whisky, brandy or any other spirit
1 shot fresh lemon juice
½ shot sugar syrup
½ shot egg white or aquafaba
Shake without ice to create the foam, and then with, and strain.
For the fans of spirit-forward cocktails, the simplest are the Martini, the Negroni, and the Old Fashioned, using few ingredients and, as they are stirred instead of shaken, don’t even require fancy cocktail apparatus.
Martini:
6 parts gin or vodka to 1 part dry vermouth, stirred over ice, strained and garnished with lemon peel, olive, pickled onion, or whatever takes your fancy. This is a recipe for a dry martini, so experiment with the ratio of spirit to vermouth for a ‘wetter’ martini.
Negroni:
Equal parts gin, red/sweet vermouth, and Campari, stirred over ice and garnished with orange peel.
Again, this is a cocktail where you can easily create variations by swapping out or adding ingredients, eg swap out the gin for barrel aged gin, whisky, bourbon, or rum; use amaro instead of Campari, dry vermouth or sherry instead of sweet vermouth, and add coffee, other liqueurs, or bitters for extra flavour. You can also use your Campari to make a Garibaldi (Campari & fresh orange juice) or Bitter French (French 75 with Campari).
Old Fashioned (a simplified method):
2 shots of dark spirit – barrel aged gin, whisky/whiskey, rum, cognac
1/3 shot sugar syrup, or experiment with a flavoured syrup
Couple of dashes bitters – experiment with different flavoured bitters for a richer or sharper flavour profile, eg chocolate or orange.
Stir over ice and strain into a tumbler. Serve with ice.
You will find many variations of these recipes available online, and the fun part is making it your own – find the ratio that works best for you, swap out or add ingredients, get creative with your garnishes, and use what you have to create something suited to your taste.
Coffee NegroniGimlet
