Category: Cocktails

Our third and final cocktail is the St-Germain Spritz. This should be made with champagne, but any sparkling wine will work.

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Our second cocktail is the refreshing Cassis Spritz which combines creme de cassis with prosecco (or other sparkling wine).

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Our first cocktail is the Pimm’s No.1 Spritz, a recipe from the maker of Pimm’s themselves.

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Our second cocktail is the The 95th. This is our very own cocktail created and named in honour of the 95th Regiment of Foot, which saw honourable service in the Peninsular War and elsewhere, becoming the forerunner of the modern British soldier; prior to the advent of the Rifle regiments (60th and 95th), British soldiers had stood in line and fired their volleys. Riflemen were trained to think and shoot independently, serving as skirmishers between the lines.

Our first cocktail was created by and named for an English sailor, we’d been looking for a cocktail named for the British soldier for our second one, but couldn’t find a suitable one. We decided to create our own and, having recently been reading about the 95th Rifles, we decided this was the regiment to pay tribute with a cocktail.

We’re not aware of a cocktail using these ingredients or even similar to what we’ve used, but each ingredient was selected for a reason:

• Dark rum – soldiers at the time of the Peninsular War were entitled to ⅓ of a pint of rum per day. Rum at that time would not have been deliberately aged, but would have been transported in oak casks, which would have had the effect of aging the rum and giving some colour.
• Assam black tea – British soldiers have long drunk a lot of tea; we’ve included some brewed and cooled Assam black tea, which will add a robust and malty flavour, in honour of this tradition. At the time of the Peninsular War, Britain had a large interest in India so the tea they drank will have been an Indian tea (Kenya didn’t start growing tea until almost 100 years later), hence Assam.
• Ruby port – the Peninsular War under the Duke of Wellington, started in Portuga;, so we have included some Ruby Port, which adds rich and fruity notes.
• Licor 43 – after starting in Portugal, Wellington and his army progressed into Spain, which is where we get Licor 43, which will add a blend of citrus and vanilla flavours.
• Honey syrup – adding a little sweetness with some honey syrup; soldiers in the Peninsular War became adept at “liberating” supplies, so it seems reasonable to include a honey syrup for a little dash of sweetness.

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Our first cocktail is the El Draque, and is the first cocktail ever mixed. It was created by Sir Francis Drake in 1586, somewhere near Havana, Cuba, and is the precursor to the modern mojito.

According to legend, Francis Drake and his fleet were somewhere near Havana, in the Caribbean, plundering Spanish ships and towns, when his crews were taken ill and were too sick to sail.

Drake, using local medicines from the local Taino and Ciboney Indians as ingredients, created an-all new elixir; lime to treat scurvy, mint to calm the stomach, chuchuasi tree-bark, which has numerous healing benefits, soaked in rum and a little cane sugar to enhance the taste. This remedy is today known as the El Draque after Francis Drake himself, using his Spanish nickname.

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Our third and final cocktail is the Orchard Breeze; this is an adaption by Simon Difford of a cocktail created by Wayne Collins in 2002.

There is a few ingredients here we’ve either not previously used together, but it is very much worth trying; a mix of vodka, elderflower liqueur, dry white wine with apple and lime juices.

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Our second cocktail is the Hard Cherry Coke. Unlike the

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Our first cocktail is the Sunset Safari, a refreshing brown cocktail made from Amarula, amaretto, citrus liqueur and cinnamon..

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Today is Amaretto Day and we have a cocktail to share; todays cocktail is the Black Almond from Kita at Pass the Sushi. She says that the cocktail was created by her father; the only change to the recipe we’ve made, is that we are using Kraken Black Spiced Rum instead of Captain Morgan’s Black Spiced Rum, as we have the former but not the latter (which doesn’t seem to be available in the UK).

I’m a big fan of almond, or things which taste like almond such as Disaronno, so when I was looking for a cocktail to use and found this I was intrigued.

Unless Captain Morgan’s Black Spiced Rum has some extra dark quality to it, I think there has been some trickery with the photos on the Pass the Sushi site to show pictures of the drink looking so dark, as it came out a medium brown (which I would expect with brown amaretto and pale brown ginger ale. However, it is very good and one I’ll return to again in future.

A last note; often the reason for the date of a particular day is not known, but 19th April was selected as it is the birthday of Domenico Reina, who first started producing Disaronno in Saronno, Italy, in the 20th century..

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Our third and final cocktail is the bourbon Passion Fruit Cocktail. This is a very refreshing, fruit, bourbon-based cocktail, perfect for summer days in the garden.

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