Paper Plane

The Paper Plane, created in Chicago in 2008, has been described as a modern classic, and I won't argue. It's like a whiskey sour with more going on. The proper recipe asks for equal parts of four ingredients: bourbon (I recommend choosing something 100 proof or higher), Amaro Nonino* (an Italian bittersweet liqueur), Aperol, and lemon juice. I prefer it a touch less bitter and citrussy so my amended version dials down the Aperol and lemon.

Paper Plane

0.75 oz bourbon

0.75 oz Amaro Nonino

0.5 oz Aperol

0.5 oz lemon juice

Shake ingredients furiously with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

*Amaro Nonino is made from herbs, spices, fruit, berries and roots enriched with a grape distillate, and aged more than 12 months in casks.

Fino Martini

 

A new twist on the gin martini involves ditching the dry vermouth and replacing it with fino sherry, giving the drink a savory, almondy, almost saline character. I found the following recipe in an issue of Bon Appétit.

Fino Martini

2 oz gin (Plymouth works great)

0.75 oz fino sherry

Dash of orange bitters

Stir ingredients with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with olives.

Summer Nights

Following my recent adventures with Jack Daniels, I tried out their recipe for what is effectively a whiskey sour and decided it was worth sharing. I didn't have any of their Tennessee Honey flavored whiskey to hand (and never will) so upped the amount of Old No. 7, which worked just fine.

Summer Nights

1.5 oz Jack Daniels Old No. 7
0.5 oz orange liqueur
1 oz lemon juice
1 oz simple syrup

Shake ingredients with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

I took the further liberty of adding a few dashes of Fee Brothers Fee Foam for texture and aesthetics.

Paloma

Given a bottle of tequila and a few minutes, I would normally gravitate towards making a Margarita or a Mexican Martini. Palomas, in my admittedly curbed experience, have always tasted to me like a classic spirit + mixer combo, a thin, weak long drink. Then I found a recipe that switches out the more commonly used grapefruit soda with fresh grapefruit juice. In Texas, the grapefruits are massive, abundant, and sweet, at least compared with the eye-wateringly astringent varieties you find in the UK. The resulting drink provides a fuller flavor and a thicker mouthfeel. It's a great balance between a short, boozy punch, and a longer, spritzier refresher. Consider it the utimate medium drink.

Paloma

2 oz blanco tequila
2 oz fresh grapefruit juice plus wedge for garnish
2 oz sparkling water
0.5 oz lime juice
0.25 oz agave nectar
Pinch of coarse sea salt*

Add the tequila, (strained) grapefruit juice, lime juice, agave nectar and salt to a shaker. Shake with ice. Add sparkling water. Strain into a tumber with fresh ice. Add grapefruit wedge for garnish.

*The recipe calls for a salted rim, but I prefer to throw a pinch of salt into the shaker to mainline the salinity.

See also: the Frozen Paloma, for those with access to a frozen margarita machine.

Strawberry Margarita

 

I had some fresh strawberries that needed drinking and found this recipe on Reddit. I reduced the sweetness a little and added a couple of basil leaves, since everyone knows the combination of strawberry and basil is the quickest shortcut to instant sophistication.

Strawberry Margarita

2 oz blanco tequila
0.5 oz Aperol
1 oz lime juice
0.25 oz agave nectar
Pinch of kosher salt
3 dashes of Fee Brothers Fee Foam (optional)
3 strawberries - one for garnish
2 basil leaves

Muddle two of the strawberries (thoroughly) and basil in a shaker. Add the rest of the ingredients, and ice. Shake hard and strain into a rocks glass over a large ice cube (or serve up in a martini or Nick and Nora glass). Garnish with a strawberry.

The additions of Aperol, salt and basil make this drink more interesting than a mere fruity marg.

Christmas Margarita

 

Tequila + coconut = Good Christmas. We couldn't find any white cranberry juice so went with Ocean Spray's "White Cran-Strawberry", which works great and gives the drink an ever-so-slightly pink tinge, which makes the whole thing even more Christmassy. Thanks to my friend Jen for the recipe, which apparently came from TikTok.

Christmas Margarita

1.5 oz blanco tequila
1 oz triple sec

1.5 oz white cranberry juice

0.5 oz lime juice

1 tablespoon cream of coconut

Place all the ingredients into a shaker with ice and shake well. Strain into a tumbler with fresh ice. Garnish with an actual cranberry and a sprig of something green and aromatic.

Lemon Drop

At some point during the earlier stages of the pandemic I stumbled across a recipe for the Lemon Drop, a 1970s-era sweet vodka concoction. Lacking vodka, but stocked full of gin, I swapped the main ingredient and made a few other alterations to produce what I insist is a more grownup and fragrant interpretation, whose name I liked and kept.

Lemon Drop

(Serves 2)

3 oz gin
1.5 oz triple sec
1.5 oz lemon juice
0.75 oz simple syrup
1 oz egg white

Dry shake all the ingredients (without ice) until the egg white is pillowy. Add ice and shake again until the ingredients are chilled. Strain into a chilled coupe.

Although not pictured above, I have been known to dash a couple of drops of Angostura bitters on the surface of the drink before serving, Pisco Sour-style.

Mexican Martini

 

When you want an intenser Margarita, try a Mexican Martini. To the base ingredients of a trad Marg (tequila, triple sec, lime, sugar), we add some fresh orange and a little olive juice, and serve it up like a Martini, garnished with olives. They're big in Austin, where they're often served alongside a baby cocktail shaker containing a bonus second pour. But of course.

Mexican Martini

(Serves 2)

2 oz tequila
1 oz triple sec
1 oz lime juice
1 oz orange juice
0.5 oz simple syrup
0.5 oz olive juice
Olives and salt to garnish

Shake ingredients with ice. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass or coupe, rimmed with salt if you like. Throw in a couple of olives. Baby shaker optional.

Oaxacan Wipeout

 

Our top cocktail at neighborhood Austin mezcal bar La Holly, the Oaxacan Wipeout marries mezcal, pineapple and habanero for a smoky, fruity kick in the agaves. It took me a few attempts to recreate this deliciousness, but I did it for the people.

Oaxacan Wipeout

(Serves 2)

2 oz mezcal
1.5 oz pineapple juice
0.75 oz lime juice
0.5 oz habanero syrup*
0.5 oz egg white
Ground cinnamon to garnish

Shake all ingredients except the egg white with ice. Strain to remove ice. Add egg white and shake again (dry shake). Strain into a chilled coupe glass. Dust the top of the drink with a coupe of dashes of ground cinnamon.

*Habanero Syrup

1 cup water
1 cup sugar
1 habanero pepper, halved and seeded
0.5 tsp ground cinnamon

Bring the water and sugar to the boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Reduce heat and add habanero and cinnamon. Gently simmer for 15 minutes and let cool for another 15 minutes before removing habanero. Should keep in the fridge for a few weeks. 

While I generally find assembling special syrups a chore, this one is worth the trouble.

Mezcal Margarita

Ever tried making a margarita with Mezcal instead of tequila? The gentle smoke and vegetal crispness of Ilegal's Joven (silver) made for an unbeatable afternoon refresher on a hot afternoon. Urgently recommended.

Mezcal Margarita

50ml Mezcal
25ml lime juice
25ml agave syrup

Shake well with ice and strain into cocktail glass over a couple of fresh ice cubes.

Callooh Callay

65 Rivington Street

London
EC2A 3AY

It was the start of London Cocktail Week (I know, I'm a bit behind with my posts), so I met up with the London Cocktail Society in a London cocktail bar to drink London cocktails.

The Society - a recently established circle of imbibers, who meet at a different bar each month - had secured the use of Callooh Callay's secluded and sumptuous Jubjub Bar. There, top mixologist Sean Ware offered up an array of delightful drinks on a London theme, including the following:

The Ale of Two Cities (pictured above)

42 Below Feijoa, Punt E Mes, nettle cordial, malt syrup, Granny Smith apple juice and bitters.

- A brilliantly cheeky cocktailian representation of a classic British drink. I had to stop myself gulping it down like a pint of Pride. Feijoa, btw, was described to us as tasting of agave, pineapple and a subtle TCP essence. So now you know.

Hot Gin Punch
A twist on a Victorian winter warmer, party starter punch, combining the curious flavours of Hendrick's Gin, Madeira Wine, winter spices, pineapple, citrus and honey.

- It used to be safer to drink punch than water, we were told. Safety first.

The Avenue (left)
Four Roses small batch bourbon, Laird's Apple Jack, passionfruit nectar, orange flower water and syrup.

- Popular around the Art Nouveau era. Tasted great.

Clayton's Special Cocktail

Clayton's Kola Tonic, Bacardi Superior rum, citrus syrup.

- First seen in print in the Savoy Cocktail Book in the 1930s. Clayton's Kola Tonic, described as Coke for grown-ups, used to be made in Battersea, apparently. These days they make it in Barbados.

I may have to go back to this Shoreditch bar to check out its standard drinks menu. Cheers.

Tequila Sunrise

Despite my best efforts, tequila is still lacking when it comes to cocktails. The Margarita is king (queen?) and always will be, but the Sunrise is probably the best known alternative.

It's served with an attractive rainbowish (or perhaps sunrisey) thing going on, with the heavier grenadine sunk at the bottom (pictured top), bleeding into the orange.

It's also pretty much the only alcoholic drink with orange juice I like (fine, apart from this one), since juice should properly be a thing of goodness for breakfast rather than a vehicle for revelry, IMO.

If you can get hold of some fresh oranges to squeeze, so much the better. And if you like your drinks sweeter, up the grenadine. It's probably a good idea to serve with a straw to imbibers can mix the orange and grenadine to even out the sweetness as they go.

As for the tequila, you might as well go for a blanco. This one does the job just fine.

Tequila Sunrise

60ml (2oz) Tequila

120ml (4oz) Orange juice

7.5ml (0.25oz) Grenadine

Slice of orange or wedge of lime to garnish (if you like)

Fill a highball glass with ice, add tequila and orange juice and stir until mixed. Carefully pour the grenadine down one side of the glass so it sinks to the bottom.

Blood & Sand

I don't generally go for sweet cocktails, but just occasionally they're so well constructed that the sweetness seems appropriate. Even more occasionally, they involve Scotch whisky too - fetch me my cocktail shaker!

The Blood & Sand, which I tasted for the first time at The Player a few months back, was created for the premiere of the 1922 movie of the same name - a bullfighter-romance starring Rudolf Valentino. That's the story, now the recipe.

Blood & Sand

22.5ml (0.75oz) Scotch whisky
22.5ml (0.75oz) orange juice
22.5ml (0.75oz) sweet vermouth
22.5ml (0.75oz) cherry brandy liqueur

 Pour ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice and shake well. Double strain into a chilled martini glass.

For the Scotch, I picked Bailie Nicol Jarvie, a fine blend and perfect for cocktails, while for the cherry brandy-based liqueur I used De Kuyper (24% abv), although I keep reading that the slightly dearer Cherry Heering is best. I've also heard it suggested, repeatedly, that modern tastes might prefer less of the sweet stuff, with an ounce each of the whisky and orange and 3/4 ounces each of vermouth and cherry. I tried this and, sure, it's slightly Scotchier, and maybe more refined. But I still like the original - sublimely sweet and quite moreish.

Buy Bailie Nicol Jarvie from The Drink Shop here. Don't forget the sweet vermouth and the cherry brandy. I'll leave you to figure out the oranges.

Saketini

I like sake, but some recipes for sake-based martinis appear to be designed for those who are indifferent to the life-enriching rice drink. It's delicate, you see, and you can't tell me that drowning a teaspoon of the stuff in a giant slug of gin, as proposed here, is going to do it justice. Forget about using sake as you would dry vermouth in a trad martini - give it the starring role.

Saketini

60ml (2oz) sake
30ml (1oz) gin

Pour ingredients into a mixing glass with ice and stir well. Strain into a martini glass and garnish with a cucumber slice.

I used Hendrick's for my gin and Sawanotsuru (from Waitrose) for my sake. Some have suggested using vodka instead of gin. Don't.

Clover Club

The Clover Club is a pink drink of distinction hailing from pre-prohibition times. There is something delightful about its gin/citrus/foam combination - don't ask me what. This recipe is borrowed from Dale DeGroff's beautiful booze bible The Essential Cocktail.

Clover Club

45ml (1.5oz) gin
22.5ml (0.75oz) lemon juice
22.5ml (0.75oz) simple syrup
1/2 teaspoon Grenadine
White of 1/2 small egg

Add ingredients to a cocktail shaker - without ice - and shake well to lightly whip the egg white. Add ice and shake some more, before straining into a martini or champagne coupe glass.

It's not even that hard to make, once you've dealt with the egg white (which, by the way, definitely benefits from a bit of dry shaking before the addition of ice). Careful you don't overdo the Grenadine, that pink pomegranate syrup, which is better in touches.

MORE: For a Clover Leaf, simply garnish the thing with a sprig of fresh mint.

Cubre

It's been a good few months since I last joined in the online cocktail soirée that is Mixology Monday. This month's brief - set by Doug at the The Pegu Blog - was to design a drink with lime.

Fortunately, I'd just restocked my citrus supply, and an entire bowl of the luscious green things were staring up at me, begging to be squeezed. I love a well-limed Cuba Libre (rum, cola, lime juice) and settled on reinterpreting this classic long drink.

Having recently visited the almighty Purl cocktail bar in west London, and marvelled at its use of "cola reduction" in one of its beverages, I decided to get all chemistryish myself and boil down a small can of Pepsi to extract its essence. Shaken with lime juice and a good slug of rum, the resulting cocktail tasted like a Cuba Libre, only stronger and (crucially) more limed.

Cubre

60ml (2oz) light rum
30ml (1oz) cola reduction*
15ml (0.5oz) fresh lime juice
Lime peel

Pour ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake with determination. Strain into a martini glass and add a lengthy twist of lime peel.

*To make cola reduction pour a can of cola into a pot and heat on the stove. Boil until about two-thirds of its volume has evaporated, leaving a cola syrup.

This is a seriously fun drink: a refined, more sophisticated version of the original, which tastes quite lovely, and limey. If you like Cuba Libres give it a try.

UPDATE: Check out Doug's full MxMo round-up, featuring a lifetime's supply of lime-based cocktail recipes from across the blogosphere, right here.

Peaches and Cream

It's not often I feel the urge to drink peaches and cream. But when I do, I can follow the following recipe (and so can you):

Peaches and Cream

50ml (1.6oz) Archers peach schnapps

20ml (0.6oz) double cream

80ml (2.6oz) soda water

Shake schnapps and cream in a cocktail shaker with ice. Strain into a high-ball glass with fresh ice, top with soda water and stir some more.

Move over, Girly Drink, you've been out-girled.

Trailer Happiness

177 Portobello Road

London
W11 2DY

I'd been curious to visit this Notting Hill establishment ever since the Rum Dood named it "best tiki bar" - in the world, supposedly. We entered, as is our wont, just as it was opening on a Saturday night, and ordered drinks. The Colada Nueva (pictured top) was a "house secret blend of fine rums & other delicious elixirs blended with pineapple, passion fruit, mango and coconut". It was served ice cold, but not so cold as to cause brain freeze, and the rums were clearly present without overpowering things. I went for a Blood & Sand (below right), which I know was cheating, since it's not a tiki drink, but I wasn't in the mood for fruit and rum, and I'd tried and enjoyed it once before at Trailer's slightly upscale relation The Player. This one (Compass Box Asyla whisky, sweet vermouth, Cherry Heering and orange juice) tasted a tad under-whiskied, or over-cherried, but it was fine.

Arriving as we did when it was still very light outside, and the barstaff were getting things ready for the evening ahead, it was probably our fault that the place lacked a certain atmosphere. I can't really fault the drinks list, either, when we barely scratched its surface. So I'd come back - at a more appropriate time - if I found myself in Notting Hill with a group of friends on a mission to carouse. And given that one of the finest cocktail bars in London is just down the road, this might happen sooner than strictly necessary.

Bramble

Created by Dick Bradsell in London's Soho, in the nineteen-eighties, the Bramble marries gin, lemon and sweetness in a fruitier reinvention of the 19th century Gin Fix, or sour.

Bramble

60ml (2oz) gin
30ml (1oz) fresh lemon juice
15ml (0.5oz) simple syrup
15ml (0.5oz) Creme de Mure (blackberry liqueur)
Blackberries to garnish

Fill a tumbler with crushed ice, add gin, lemon and simply syrup and stir. Add more ice if required. Drizzle Creme de Mure on top and garnish with blackberries.

If you can be bothered with crushing ice (required for extra dilution) the Bramble is well worth a try. It's been described elsewhere as England's answer to the Cosmopolitan - but don't let that put you off.

Random Drink

Just as a monkey at a typewriter will eventually produce a readable sonnet, so my attempts to throw random leftover ingredients together will occasionally generate a drinkable cocktail. This was one of those occasions.

Random Drink

60ml (2oz) peach schnapps
15ml (0.5oz) triple sec
60ml (2oz) Appletiser
7.5ml (0.25oz) lime juice
2 dashes orange bitters
180ml (6oz) soda water

Stir ingredients with ice in a tall glass.

Fruity and refreshing.