My Highland Sparkle
Food, Making stuff

Making Stuff 14: Cocktails 2020

Smelly Socks and Garden Peas

I love a cocktail and I recently bought myself a proper shaker and some martini glasses. I rarely follow recipes though and enjoy making things up a bit as I go.

Poor Man’s Kir Royale

Yeah, so who can afford champagne and creme de cassis is so 90s!

In this house we drink prosecco with elderberry gin. Delicious but deadly.

My Breakfast Martini

I recently discovered these after browsing BBC Good Food: Breakfast Martini.

My personal twist uses homemade fruit gin:

  • 1 tsp homemade three fruit marmalade
  • 50 ml rhubarb and ginger gin
  • 15 ml lemon juice
  • 15 ml cointreau
  • 100 ml San Pellegrino Limonata
  • A curl of orange peel
My Breakfast Martini

My Highland Sparkle

My mother in law makes this amazing aperitif called Highland Sparkle. She uses white wine, drambuie, lemon juice, champagne and lemonade.

My take on it is:

  • 15ml homemade rosehip gin
  • 15ml cointreau
  • a squeeze of lemon juice
  • Prosecco to fill the glass
My Highland Sparkle

The Pomport

Simple but delicious; gin, pink wine and lemonade. Best drunk on holiday from whatever cup you can find, in the sun while someone else barbeques dinner.

The Pomport

Nameless

I’ve never thought of a name for this one. It’s just a bit of a random mixture that I love. Sloe or elderberry gin with Old Mout kiwi and lime cider.

Nameless

Damson pommé

Quick and simple; homemade damson gin, a big squeeze of lemon juice and a big top up of Bottle Green apple pressé. Really yummy and refreshing with a tang from the citrus.

Damson pommé

Warm and Nutty

  • 50ml whiskey (Laphroaig was what I had in the cupboard for when my dad visits)
  • 30ml creme de chataigne (my insistence to not write about weird ingredients is failing, this was a holiday purchase that’s probably hard to find here)
  • 200ml apple juice
  • Big squeeze of a lemon

Mix it all together with ice and drink. Its warming and comforting and yummy.

Warm and Nutty

Rose Fumé

50ml rosehip gin, 7ml pastis, mint leaves. Mix it all up and pour into a glass, then top it up with limonata.

This is based on the French Pearl I found courtesy of Steve the Bartender. I customized it a bit with my homemade rosehip gin and limonata rather than lemon juice. Its really refreshing and the lemon and rosehip balance out the fennel of the pastis so it doesn’t dominate.

Rose Fumé

Sloe Blue Cooler

50ml sloe gin, juice of half a lime, some squished up mint leaves, 6 blueberries all mashed up and some sparkling water with citrus.

I shook up all the ingredients except the sparkling water, then strained into a tall glass and added the mixer, garnishing with a couple more blueberries and a sprig of mint.

Really refreshing and light, could add more gin but I suspect it just doesn’t taste as boozy as it is. Perfect for a summer evening. Especially at the end of a term of home schooling.

Sloe Blue Cooler

Cold Ankle

I named this one about the circumstances under which I mixed it. I wanted ginger as treatment for my cold and gin as anaesthetic for a twisted ankle.

So a good slug of Limehouse rhubarb and ginger gin and a whole bottle of Firefly Lemon, Lime and Ginger drink satisfied all my requirements. Job done.

Français 75 à la Rose

Himself made lemon meringue muffins and then chicken schnitzel with a squeeze of lemon over them. There was a quarter of a lemon left over, so I pulled out the 2020 rosehip and lemon gin for a slight twist on the classier French 75.

  • 30 ml rosehip and lemon gin
  • Juice of 1/4 lemon
  • Made up with prosecco

It’s totally yummy and refreshing, a real treat after a long week at work.

Fruit Fizz (non-alcoholic)

This was large boy’s invention for school.

Blend about 5 big strawberries until completely liquid, add the juice of a lime and top up to 250ml with apple juice. Total hit with the boys.

Fruit Fizz and Citrus Squeeze, four glasses of non-alcoholic cocktails

Citrus Squeeze (non-alcoholic)

I love citrus so I just squeezed a whole pink grapefruit, a lemon, and a lime, topped up to 500ml with orange juice and added a tablespoon on caster sugar. A really good stir and it was totally delicious.

Even better, everyone else in the house pulled faces and hated it so all the more for me!

Other summer recipes

For a round up of some other great summer recipes, head over to Abundance of Flavor where Kalin has an enticing selection of ideas.

Published by Smelly Socks and Garden Peas

Rants, rambles, loss, gin, guests, recipes, funny kids, occasional poems, and a bit of running.

56 thoughts on “Making Stuff 14: Cocktails 2020”

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  7. Single malt whisky in a cocktail?! Sorry, I just couldn’t bring myself to do that 🙂

    Do you need the proper cocktail shaker or do you think it’s possible to improvise? Or even just stir instead of shake? (Am I just showing my cocktail-making ignorance with these questions?)

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    1. I have a shaker but improvising (tupperware?) or stirring is fine I’m sure.
      We don’t drink whiskey but people keep buying it for us because himself is Scottish so stereotypes and assumptions abound. There was an open bottle from my dad visiting so it was really the only option 🤣

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  9. I absolutely love Cocktails but we hardly ever make them at home, just save it for a rare night out but these sound great. I love rhubarb gin so I will have to try the breakfast one for sure.

    Thanks for sharing x

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  10. Wow some delicious and posh sounding beverages smell. The one with the whisky sounds a great one. Will have to check if you have a how to make gin post, the other half loves her gin 😁

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  17. I need to get better at drinks! I usually just buy a bottle of wine, but I loved ordering cocktails on date nights. This was good timing! I’m going to start buying a bottle or two at a time so I can make something yummy!

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  18. They all look amazing. I would much rather have one good cocktail than a bunch of cheap whatever. The nameless looks right up my alley.

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  21. I remember the 1st time I drank a cocktail, a woman who has business in China shows how to make it and it turns out so pretty and I love it! Thanks for sharing this

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      1. When I was 18, I went to France to study. I developed a liking for Kir but I think the stuff we made was made with cheap plonk. LOL I will definitely try your recipe.

        Liked by 1 person

  30. Oh my goodness, these look so yummy! The Poor Man’s Kir Royale sounds amazing. I sometimes have Prosecco with a splash of raspberry Gin. It’s a good thing I’ve got a bottle of Prosecco chilling in the fridge for later!! xx

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