My Highland Sparkle
Making stuff

Making Stuff 17: Cocktails 2021

Smelly Socks and Garden Peas

Last year’s cocktails post seems long enough ago to start a new separate one with this year’s recipes.

I love a cocktail, but I rarely follow recipes though and enjoy making things up a bit as I go with little or no planning. So here are a few of my recent inventions…

Rosalie

I tried some new and different, sometimes a little unusual, flavour combinations for my 2020 batch of fruity gins.

Amongst those was plum and peppercorn. Having come up with the combination and bottled the gin, I wasn’t really sure what to do with it. Above all, I didn’t want the gin flavours to be overwhelmed, so in the end I plumped for a very simple combination with Tesco’s Plum and Pear sparkling water.

Simple but still kind of sophisticated, certainly drinkable.

Shipwreck

Another new flavour combination for 2020 was spiced elderberry (the spices from just a few cloves). I love elderberry gin just on its own, so this might not really count as a cocktail. The most important thing is that its really tasty and really really simple.

Get some ice cubes, not too big, pour over a big measure of spiced elderberry gin and give it a swirl.

Enjoy.

Cheshire Iced Tea

I love a Long Island Iced Tea, so I decided to try a variation on that with my rosehip and lemon gin but as a smaller cocktail rather than as a long drink, and no coke in sight! Rose tea isn’t unusual and lots of people take lemon in their tea, so it seems quite reasonable.

  • 45ml Rosehip and Lemon Gin
  • 15ml Cointreau
  • 100ml cold Rooibos tea (I use TickTock Rooibos)
  • Curl of orange peel

This was so yummy, boozy but not blow your head off, flavoursome but nothing overwhelming. Two were plenty though.

Stream at Sunset

Yeah, we’ve still got a fair bit of Creme de Chataignes left so I’m still trying to find new ways to use it. I did a bit of reading to figure this one out. My eventual combination was very vaguely inspired by the Elixir de Longue Vie in Difford’s Guide, but strongly influenced by what I had in the house.

This was probably a bit too sweet for my taste, one was enough to satisfy me. The creme de chataignes is proving tricky to find way to use it.

  • Creme de chataignes 30ml
  • Rivesaltes ambre 50ml
  • Orange peel

Café Sarladais

The aforementioned Creme de Chataignes is a Dordogne speciality and we picked ours up in Sarlat – hence the name of this one. This was a totally inspired Christmas day invention of mine, and honestly I think all weekend coffees should be spiked this way. ‘Nuff said.

  • 300ml good strong filter coffee
  • 50ml full fat milk
  • 30ml creme de chataignes
Love from Smell xx

Published by Smelly Socks and Garden Peas

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

28 thoughts on “Making Stuff 17: Cocktails 2021”

  5. I haven’t had a lick of booze since giving birth but that’s about to change. Mama needs to unwind and these look awesome!

    Liked by 1 person

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  7. I prefer a bit of a mix and match approach with whatever’s left over to use up too rather than following exact recipes. Sounds like you’ve been able to use up a bit of that Creme de Chataignes, though that’s one I would have been a bit stuck on in terms of how to use it too.

    Yummy cocktails, your post has made me thirsty 🍷

    Liked by 1 person

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  11. I love a good cocktail night. We always start the night following the instructions properly; as the night progresses, the recipes are forgotten. It is nice creating some in-the-moment-cocktails; however, some, I admit, don’t taste good. 😂Still drink them, though.

    I like your collection of recent inventions. I like the simplicity of the Rosalie. I also love a Long Island Iced Tea, so the Cheshire Iced Tea sounds appealing. Thank you for sharing. 🍸

    Liked by 1 person

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  12. These all look amazing. I admire people who come up with creative and interesting cocktails. I have a co-worker who is always posting his cocktail creations on Instagram. I tend to stick to wine and cider. Maybe that’s a good thing or I could develop a probem trying all these new things.

    Liked by 1 person

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