Tired of the same old drinks and want to spruce things up? Look no further; here are some easy cocktail recipes that anyone can master.
These cocktails can be made with ingredients most people are likely to have in the home, nothing too obscure and require no particular technique, just pour in a glass and stir!
SEX ON THE BEACH
2 parts vodka,
1 part peach schnapps
Grenadine
Orange juice
Served in a tall glass over ice
PIÑA COLADA
This is one of my favorite cocktails of all time. If you are making this at home, and can’t get this creamy coconut liqueur, you can improvise by mixing Malibu, or white coconut rum, with pineapple juice, and then add a few drops of fresh cream (not too much or it will curdle). Piña colada can be mixed in the glass, or pitcher, but benefits from a shaker or blender as it will appear frothy.
In bars they normally have a creamy coconut liqueur and the recipe is as follows;
2 parts white rum
1 part coconut cream liqueur
Pineapple juice
Served over plenty of ice
MANHATTAN
2 parts Bourbon
1 part red vermouth
Served in a martini glass, room temperature or mixed first over ice and then strained into a martini glass.
COSMOPOLITAN
2 parts vodka
1 part triple sec (or Cointreau)
Lime juice
Cranberry juice
Mix in a tall glass or a pitcher with ice, but strain and
Serve in a martini glass, just as it is, or with a slice of lime or a cherry
CHAMPAGNE COCKTAIL
2 parts brandy or cognac
1 part triple Cointreau
Champagne
When using a sugar cube, this goes in first and the other ingredients poured over the top.
LONG ISLAND ICED TEA
This is the most potent of all, so do be careful while enjoying it.
Equal parts of each spirit:
Tequila
Vodka
Gin
White rum
Triple sec
A little lime juice
Home-made lemonade, or old-fashioned lemonade, (or Lemon Fanta with added fresh lemon juice as it’s not very lemony)
Add just a small splash of Coke, to give it the colour of tea.
MOJITO
White or golden rum, i.e.Havana Club.
Fresh limes
Mint leaves
Sugar
Soda water
You need to pound the mint leaves, and the pieces of lime, to extract all the flavour, and line the glass with it. Place 4 or 5 minute leaves in your glass, and pound them to extract some juice, but leaving a few pieces of leaf.
Take half a medium-sized lime, cut this into about six wedges, add them to the glass and press and squeeze with your pestle, to extract juices, and until the peel starts to break up, as you need some of the zest from the peel too.
Add about 3 teaspoons of sugar next, but you add enough to suit your tastes. Mix the sugar in well.
Next pour over all this, a generous measure of rum.
Top up with a little soda water, stir well, drop a small sprig of mint on the surface, and a wedge of lime on the side of the glass.
