Cocktail No 95 Rose

I was a little unsure when I saw this contained Apricot Brandy as that can often be too sweet for me, but I was light on my measures for both the Apricot Brandy and the Vermouth and it has turned out really well. It has the base of a dry martini, with a hint of sweetness and flavours from the apricots and sour from them lemon juice - classic sweet & sour mix. The herbs in the vermouth are also very pleasantly evident.

The grenadine provides the lovely Rose colour, somewhere between a light red and pink.

Really nice on the sunny Bank Holiday Sunday Evening.

Recipe

15 ml Lemon Juice
1 Tablespoon caster sugar
3 Ice cubes
25 ml Birkdale gin
15 ml Apricot Brandy
15 ml Dry Vermouth or Noilly Prat
1 dash Grenadine
1 Cocktail cherry

Dip the rim of a cocktail glass in the lemon juice  and then in the sugar. Allow the frosting to dry. Since we are in lockdown and everyone is baking I can't get hold of caster sugar, so I skipped this step.

Add ice and liquids into mixing glass and stir until icy cold. Strain into the cocktail glass and garnish with the cherry.

Cocktail No 94 Ramona Cocktail

This one is a keeper - for me at least. A wonderful sour, the lemon juice bites at the back of the throat, contrasting with the gin, whilst a hint of sweetness from the grenadine redeems it. Its suprisingly minty, but delicately, not like the overpowering you get with Creme de menthe if your hand is too heavy.

A lovely start to a sunny bank holiday Sunday evening.

I recommend you try this one folks.

Recipe

1 sprig of mint
2-3 ice cubes
25 ml Birkdale gin
25 ml Lemon juice
2 dashes Grenadine

Chop the mint coursely and add to a shaker along with the other ingredients. Shake vigoursly and strain into a cocktail glass. You don't want to chop the mint too fine as it should mostly remain in the shaker when you strain it.

Cocktail No 91 Pink Lady Fizz

A fizz is then you add and egg white to a cocktail and shake it to create a froth. This version is a sour, with a hint of sweet from the genadine, but its really there for the colour. It is sharp from the lemon juice. Not too aggressive due to the dilution with the soda water and the Crema leaves you with a white tache. The egg white is otherwise tasteless.

Remember to chill your soda water before hand, otherwise you will have to add extra ice.

A pleasant refreshing cocktail.

Recipe

2-3 ice cubes
1 egg white
1 teaspoon grenadine
25 ml lemon juice
50 ml Birkdale gin
Soda water

Crack ice and put in shaker. Add egg white, grenadine, lemon juice and gin. Shake very vigourously and strain into a tumbler. Top up with soda water.

Cocktail No 87 Martini Sweet

I was dreaing this one, but is far better than I was expecting. Yes it is sweet, which I normally dislike, but rich herbal complexity of the rosso vermouth compensates and give a real deepness to the flavour. I also was quite light in the amount, so pehaps less sweet than the recipe calls for. I went for grenadine instead of sugar syrup which also added to the flavour.

Lovely colour

A dry Martini will win out every time, but I am glad I tried this.

Recipe

2-3 ice cubes
40 ml Birkdale gin
15 ml Rosso Vermouth
1 teaspoon sugar syrup or genadine.
1 Cocktail cherry

Put ice in a mixing glass with gin, vermouth and sugar syrup or grenadine. Stir until icy cold and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with the cherry.

Cocktail No 82 Moulin Rouge

This one is really interesting. Very complex.

Quite sweet which we would expect from the inclusion of apricot brandy. The lemon juice completes the classic sweet & sour for this style of cocktail. The gin is noticeable but not overwhelming. The grenadine privides more colour than flavour. The sparkling wine works very well, in contrast to my previous comments on not enjoying sparkling wine with gin.

Its the apricot brandy that makes this one work so well.

Recipe

Ice cubes
25 ml Birkdale Gin
20 ml Apricot Brandy
20 ml Lemon juice
1 teaspoon grenadine
Sparkling wine

Add gin, apricot brandy, lemon juice and grenadine to shaker. Add ice and shake vigorously. Strain into shallow glass and top up with sparkling wine.

Cocktail No 67 - French Cocktail

With the French in a historic vote today for they next President it is apt that this is the next cocktail in the sequence.

Two fo my favourite drinks - Pastis & Gin - and they go wonderfully well together. There is fire from both the gin and the pastis. The aniseed in the pastis lifts the licorice in the gin. The grenadine is markedly sweet, for such a small amount added and the colour intensity is quite dizzying in its strawberry red intensity as well as clarity.

Take a large swallow - the fire starts in the top of the throat at the back of the mouth and then travels forward across the roof, with the flavours developing and the gin-aniseed combo growing in intensity. Its a drink to "fight" with as the flavours are uncompromising, which is my kind of drink.

If you don't like pastis, you definitely will not like this one, but if you do, its a winner.

Recipe

1 part Birkdale Gin
3/4 part Pastis (or Pernod, Ricard)
1 teaspoon Grenadine

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

Cocktail No 64 - Clover Club

Bright strawberry coloured from the grenadine, with a creamy head from the shaken egg white, it tastes as sweet as it looks. The grenadine dominates and if you like pomagranates, that's great. The gin is there, but I initially mistook it for the chill of the drink.

Don't be put off by the egg white - you can't taste it and its there to thicken up the drink and give it some texture.

Very pleasant for a hot summer's day. If you are new to gin and unsure, this is a very good starting point as the gin is there, but not over present.

Personally I think a little more lemon juice, but that's just personal taste.

Edit

Wow - wait for the end and the crema - its like drinking liquid meringue - wonderful

Recipe

2-3 ice cubes
1 egg white
15 ml lemon juice
40 ml Birkdale Gin
20 ml grenadine

Crack ice and put in shaker with other ingredients. Shake very well (more so than usual to incorporate and "whip" the egg white). Strain into a small goblet.

Cocktail No 47 Magnolia Blossom

This didn't really work for me - a bit too much lemon juice, which is intended to offset the cream. Perhaps its better with fresh lemon (I used Jif as it only needed a small amount). The grenadine is pleasant and gives a nice rose colouring. Just doesn't seem a good way to use Gin for me.

Recipe

Add 1 measure Gin to 1/2 measure cream to a cocktail shaker. Add 2 teaspoons Lemon Juice and 2 dashes Grenadine. Shake on ice and strain into a Cocktail glass.

Cocktail No 41 New Yorker

In need of a hair of the dog following the 30 years school reunion which kicked off about this time yesterday evening in London, I went for short, sharp and very strong - and a good choice it was.

There is only one teaspoon of grenadine, but its gives a remarkable intense colour and just the hint of sweetness to balance the lemon juice.

Its essentially a Bourbon Sour with a bit of colouring and Orange oil. Regardless it has gone down very well and was just the lift needed for this tired old soak.

Recipe

Add 1.5 measures of Bourbon to a shaker with 1/2 measure of Lemon Juice and 1 teaspoon of Grenadine. Shake on ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Squeeze a piece of Orange Peel over the top and drop in (I also added Orange Bitters).

Cocktail No 39 Basil's Cooler (Non-alcoholic).

A request from one of the old school for a new cocktail which is non-alcoholic.

Its a variation on the Orange Cooler, substituting grenadine in place of sugar for sweetness and giving it that sunrise look. The combination of Orange Juice with Ginger Ale is not an obvious one, but it works really well. It does need the extra sweetness otherwise it could be a bit tart.

Recipe

Add Orange Juice to taste in a tall glass, with half as much Grenadine syrup. A dash of Peychaud's Bitters to give the merest hint of aniseed. Stir, then add ice to taste.

Cocktail No 36 Red Tonic

Wow this was a complete surprise. A sweet-sour experience with that wonderful bitterness from the tonic. Genadine is incredibly sweet and it needs the lemon juice to balance it and cut through. With tonic alone it would be too cloying, certainly for my palate.

Its basically a Vodka and Tonic sweetened with Grenadine and cut with lemon juice.

Recipe

Put 1 measure of Vodka with one measure of Grenadine and 2 teaspoons of lemon juice into a tumbler. Stir well and top-up with tonic water. Add ice to taste and garnish with a lemon slice.

Cocktail No 26 Rabbit's Revenge

Surprisingly quiet on the trick or treat front, so time to indulge in another. The pineapple is the dominant note, but the Bourbon also cuts through. It is quite sweet, but nothing like a Pina Colada. It feels viscous, although it isn't. The soda water really lifts it (oops just realised it should have been Tonic Water - perhaps I will have to remix).

All in all, very pleasant.Not sure what it has to do with Rabbits!

Recipe

Add 1.5 measures Bourbon to a shaker with 1 measure Pineapple Juice and 2-3 dashes Grenadine. Shake on ice and strain into a Tumbler. Top up with Tonic Water (or Soda Water).

Cocktail No 15 Fireman's Sour

A sweet and sour delight for rum lovers. Other recipes call for more lemon, but I think this one is better balanced and not too sharp but with a definite sting. Its getting the weekend of to a wonderful start.

The rum is the predominant flavour, very caramelly and rich, but cut by the lemonjuice. The grenadine mainly adds colour, but the combination with the soda water really distinguishes it from a daquiri, which has similar proportions.

Recipe

Add 3 measures of Bacardi rum to a cocktail shaker with 1/2 measure of lemon juice and one teaspoon of grenadine. Shake with ice and strain into a tumbler. Decorate with 3 cocktail cherries and 6 small triangles of lemon.

Top Up with a little soda water.

Cocktail No 11 French Cocktail

OK, for a starter you have to really like Pernod for this one. It helps if you like Gin as well. Luckily for me they are my 2 favourites. If you don't like aniseed - skip this one.

Initial taste reminds me of Pernod & Black - come on we all did that as teenagers and it either wedded you to Pernod for life or made you vow never to touch the stuff again. The "black" aspect comes from the grenadine which is a surprise as such a small amount is used - powerful flavours from those pomegranates! Its also what gives the drink the lovely rose pink colour.

The Pernod gives the drink a transluscent colour and I would bet it will fluoresce if you put it under a black light. Add a teaspoon of water to make the Pernod go colloidal and give that milky effect which you get with Pernod and water.

The Gin is almost completely masked, but its sitting there in the background adding evilness to the lethality of this drink

I will definitely be adding this to my repeat list: Come on and try it and relive your early days of drinking!

Recipe

1 Measure Gin, 0.75 measure of Pernod, 1 teaspoon of Grenadine.

Shake on Ice and strain into cocktail class - what could be simpler?