Drinks

Let’s face it – drinks help us relax during the festive period! Whether it’s a glass of mimosa or a Bloody Mary with brunch, martini with canapés or a big flavoursome red with a stew, I personally look forward to the glass and enjoy every mouthful.

Champagne cocktails

My go to for larger gatherings are champagne cocktails. The beauty is that since we are flavouring the bubbly, you can use any sparkling wine: Prosseco (Italian), Cremant (French), Cava (Spanish) or Sekt (German). There are the classics – a mimosa with orange juice (or substitute pineapple juice for a tropical flavour) or a Bellini with peach puree. Bellini was created in the early 20th Century by Giuseppe Cipriani, founder of Harry’s Bar in Venice, Italy – traditionally made using Prosseco. It is a summery drink, but I find that it is still popular as a refreshing start to the proceedings. Then there are the the really easy cocktails – just use a variety liquors, such as Kwai Fe (lychee), Passoa (passionfruit) or Saint Germain (elderflower) to flavour your glass of fizz. One of our favourites is a Kir Royale. Make this drink by adding a dash (or more) of cassis. Try getting hold of a British-made cassis made of blackcurrants – this is a not-too-sweet variety, which makes for a refreshing drink!

For a really chilled evening for you and you guests – just leave various flavourings out and let everyone choose their own.

Rum cocktail

Makes 2 BIG glasses or 4 normal sized

You will need:
100ml Ableforth’s Rumbullion Spiced Rum
Juice from 1/2 red grapefruit (plus wedges for decoration)
Juice from 1 yuzu – get yours from the Wasabi company (or 1/2 lime), we also added the zest to enhance the flavour
200ml ginger ale (we like Fever tree)
Ice

Add 3-4 ice cubes per glass, follwed by the rum, juice, ginger ale and the zest
We then added the zest and a wedge of grapefruit
Enjoy!

Non-alcoholic cocktail

Indulgent Mango and Rose (for 1 cocktail)

You will need:
100ml thick mango juice
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp rose extract

Pour into a glass and fill up with either sparkling mineral water or ginger beer, stir and enjoy chilled


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