Whether you’re mixing the dregs of what you’ve got left to make quarantinis or you’re using this time to polish your cocktail making skills, we’ve got some great ideas for easy cocktails with gin or vodka, cocktails with rum or impressive cocktails to make at home.
Our cocktails round up has something for everyone and every drinks shelf/cabinet/trolley/cupboard.
How To Make Cocktails
There are a few basics you’ll need to make most cocktail recipes, that includes a range of mixers, ice and a few handy tools.
Once you’ve invested, you’re set for at home cocktail making.
- Good quality ice makes all the difference.
- Stock up on mixers including tonic water, soda water, fruit juices and sugar syrup.
- Citrus fruit for adding lime and lemon juice (especially if you like sour cocktails) and for garnishes.
- A jigger (spirit measurer)
- A cocktail shaker
- A citrus juicer is handy (if you’re planning making lots of cocktails)
- A muddler
- A strainer
- A range of cocktail glasses including Martini glasses, coupes, highballs and rocks tumblers.
11 Easy Cocktail Recipes To Make At Home
The Full Bloomer
Inspired by the ‘Great British Outdoors’, The Full Bloomer, comes from London’s Bloomsbury Hotel’s The Coral Room bar. An elegant take on a long drink using the best of seasonal summer ingredients, it’s usually made with Kentish strawberries. Don’t worry you don’t need to give it a fancy foam top, it tastes just as good without.
- 100ml Rinomato Aperitivo
- 15ml Two Citrus Shrub
- 3 drops of Violet Bitters
- 150ml SASSY Le Cidre Rosé
- 2 drops of rose extract
- 3 strawberries
Method
1. Build the drink in a mixing glass with ice
2. Serve in a long Champagne flute.
3. Add the strawberries for garnish.
Don Julio Paloma
This easy cocktail recipe needs top grade tequila so we’ve featured Don Julio Reposado, made from 100% pure Blue Weber agave that’s handpicked. Mix it well and you’ll conjure up a taste of long lunches under a warm sun and lazy weekend afternoons on the beach. We can dream right?
- 50ml Don Julio Reposado
- 60ml Grapefruit juice
- Soda water
Method
1. Shake the Don Julio Reposado and the grapefruit juice over ice.
2. Strain into an ice-filled glass.
3. Top with soda water.
4. Garnish with a pink grapefruit wedge.
Two Birds Watermelon & Strawberry Crush
This cocktail with gin recipe features Two Birds who handcraft their British gin using homemade copper stills but turn out a range of flavoured gins that are perfect for summer in the garden.
- 50ml Two Birds Watermelon Gin
- 25ml Two Birds Strawberry & Vanilla Gin
- 25ml Fresh lime juice
- Dash sugar syrup
Method
1. Mix all of the ingredients together in a cocktail shaker with ice.
2. Top up with soda water in a long glass over ice.
Cotswolds Whisky Sour
Cotswolds Distillery use local Cotswold barley to make their whiskey, and the spent grain is used by a local farmer to feed his cattle. The spirit of the Cotswolds imbibes everything they do.
- 60ml Cotswolds Single Malt Whisky
- 25ml fresh lemon juice
- 20ml sugar syrup
- 2 dashes of Angostura Bitters
- ½ egg white
- Lemon wheel and cherry for garnish
Method
1. Dry shake all ingredients.
2. Add ice to shaker and shake again.
3. Fine-strain and serve into a chilled Old Fashioned glass.
4. Garnish with a fresh lemon wheel and a cherry.
Pinkster Gin & Jam
This pink gin cocktail idea comes from Pinkster, who have started making gin jam from their leftover inebriated fruit. Plus you can now buy a Pinkster on Tap 3 litre gin box, which saves on glass transporation and all the packaging is 100% recyclable.
- 50ml Pinkster Gin
- 15ml lemon juice
- 15ml sugar syrup
- 1tsp raspberry jam
- A handful of blackberries for garnish
Method
1. Shake all the ingredients in a cocktail shaker filled with ice.
2. Shake and strain into a tumbler glass filled with crushed ice.
3. Garnish with fresh blackberries.
Fatty’s Negroni
Another simple cocktail recipe for gin is the famous Negroni. We’ve chosen to include this three ingredient cocktail recipe from Fatty’s Organic Gin, because it’s not only delicious but is the only Soil Association approved all organic gin – even the ink on the bottles is organic.
- 25ml Fatty’s Organic Gin
- 25ml Campari
- 25ml Sweet Vermouth
- Orange slice for garnish.
Method
1. Pop all the ingredients into a rocks glass or tumbler with ice.
2. Give it a quick stir (we don’t want a watery drink!)
3. Garnish with an orange slice.
Honey I’m Home (Twisted Bee’s Knees)
We’re loving this twist on a bee’s knees cocktail,that’s perfect for staying in and curling up on the sofa. This is another Prohibition era cocktail, which make great lockdown cocktail ideas because they rely on simple, everyday ingredients. This one comes from Caorunn Gin, a small batch artisan gin distillery in the Scottish highlands.
- 50ml Caorunn Raspberry
- 25ml lime juice
- 1.5 teaspoons honey
- Lime zest for garnish
Method
1. Shake all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice.
2. Double strain into a cocktail glass.
3. Add lime zest as a garnish.
King Of The Hill
Inspired by lush green mountains and hillsides, the combination of tropical fruits and elderflower helps to support the fruity notes of a Gooseberry Gin from Slingsby, in this easy cocktail recipe for gin. Slingsby is made in Harrogate with a mix of Yorkshire botanicals and Harrogate spring water.
- 50ml Slingsby Gooseberry Gin
- 50ml Cloudy apple juice
- 20ml Elderflower cordial
- 15ml Lemon juice
- Half a muddled Kiwi
Method
1. Muddle the kiwi in the base of a cocktail shaker.
2. Add all other ingredients and shake with ice.
3. Strain into a highball glass with crushed ice.
4. Garnish with a kiwi slice.
Cougar Paw
If you’ve mastered a few basic cocktail recipes, it’s time for a more impressive cocktail recipe. This gin based cocktail comes from the luxurious eco hotel, Six Senses Maxwell, in Singapore. Their bar, The Cook & Tras Social Library, has a delicious signature cocktail and this is it.
- 30ml Bombay Dry Gin
- 25ml freshly squeezed lime juice
- 15ml egg whites
- 8 fresh mint leaves
- 30ml Cava
- Angostura Bitters and mint leaf for garnish
Method
1. Mix all the ingredients, apart from the Cava, in a cocktail shaker and dry shake.
2. Add ice to the shaker and shake once more.
3. Double strain in to a coupe glass and top with Cava.
4. Garnish with a mint leaf and three drops of Bitters.
Port And Tonic
Sometimes a two ingredient cocktail is not a bad thing! Super simple and super summery, this simple cocktail recipe from one of port’s oldest families, Symington’s, features white port. It’s what everyone in Portugal drinks, darling.
- 50ml Graham’s Blend No 5 White Port
- Fresh lemon
- Tonic water
Method
1. Fill a highball glass full of ice.
2. Add 50ml of Graham’s Blend No.5.
3. Top up with tonic water.
4. Stir well.
5. Garnish with the a sprig of mint and a slice of lemon.
Save Me! Save Me!
A cocktail that’s all about helping to save the bees. That’s the kind of multi-tasking we like to see. This sherry and vermouth cocktail recipe comes from the São Paulo Palácio Tangará’s Burle Bar and its award-winning bartender, Ana Paula Ulrich.
- 40ml Tío Pepe Fino Sherry
- 40ml Noilly Prat Vermouth
- 10ml St-Germain elderflower liqueur
- 10ml honey
- 2 dashes of Angostura Orange Bitters
Method
1. Muddle all ingredients together without ice.
2. Add the honey and ice but don’t shake it.
3. Strain and serve in a long Martini-style glass.
Buzzin’: 10 ways to create a bee-friendly garden
