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 24 Island Highball

Simple to make. Pleasing on the eye. Some bubbles and a complex but balanced taste - what's not to like about this one. As with all Highball's the base alcohols are diluted with non-alcoholic mixer making them less concentrated than most of the posts to date.

Wikipedia entry on Highball Cocktails

I can't precisely taste the Gin, but there is a sharpness to the Rosso Vermouth, which I think comes from the combination of the Gin and the Carbon Dioxide in the Soda water. I can't taste the Brandy at all - as I said bell blended together.

A consistent, light drink that is probably better on a warm summers night instead of a cold rainy evening in Lancashire.

Recipe

Put2-3 ice cubes into a tumbler with equal measures of Brandy, Gin, Rosso Vermouth and a splash of Orange Bitters. Stir and top up with Soda Water to taste.

Cocktail No 21 Mississippi

The Old-Fasioned went down very quickly and the Mississippi was on the same page and looked very good, so that's the only excuse I will offer for indulging!

I didn't have Rye whisky in so I made this with Scotch. Can' say its made much of a difference. This is from the same family as Daiquiri's - in fact you could describe it as a Daiquiri using 50:50 whisky and rum. It has much less sugar so the tartness of the lemon juice really cuts through. Its cold and raining here, but you can imagine how refreshing this would be on a balmy summer night in the Southern states.

The whisky and rum blend well together. If you know there are there, you can identify their individual tastes, but I think it would take a very refined palate to identify them in a blind tasting.

Recipe

Add 1 measure each of Rye Whisky, White Rum and lemon juice to a shaker with 2 dashes of sugar syrup. Shake on ice and strain into a tumbler. Decorate with a spiral of lemon peel.

Cocktail No 20 Old-Fashioned

Another of the classics and well deserved it is.

A sweet blast of ice cold bourbon hits the taste buds, with the unmistakable aftertaste of the bitters resonating across the tongue until the next sip. There is a very slight hint of Southern Comfort in this one, although I have also made it without the sugar and its just as good.

I think I am becoming hooked on these cocktail cherries!

The mixing is simplicity itself:

Recipe:

Add 1 teaspoon caster sugar to a tumbler with 1 teaspoon of water and 2 dashes of Angostura Bitters (I started with 1 dash, but the bourbon overpowers it and it really needs the 2nd one). Stir well until the sugar has dissolved. Add 2 measures of Bourbon and 2-3 ice cubes. Stir until chilled. Garnish with cocktail cherry and orange slice.