Cocktail Club - Edition Three

With the festive season approaching, we enlisted the expertise of 69 Colebrooke Row to create five bespoke winter cocktails. Combining bar staples with seasonal cordials and herbal flavours, bar manager Uros Dežutelj talks us through each recipe to easily recreate these drinks at home.

Twinkle

“The Twinkle is a refreshing and effervescent cocktail made with vodka and elderflower cordial, topped with sparkling wine or champagne, It's known for its light and floral flavours, making it a delightful choice for a celebratory drink.”

Ingredients
25ml Wyborowa Vodka
15ml elderflower cordial
Topped up with champagne or sparkling wine
Lemon peel coin to garnish

Method
First, add your vodka and cordial into a shaker. Give the shaker a quick, hard shake and then double strain into your glass. Top up with champagne or fizz to the top of the glass, and garnish with a lemon coin.

Sazerac

“The Sazerac is a classic cocktail that originated in New Orleans. It’s typically made with rye whiskey or Cognac, sugar, Peychaud's Bitters, and absinthe. It's known for its complex and aromatic flavour, often served in a chilled glass rinsed with absinthe for a unique twist.”

Ingredients
25ml Merlet VSOP Cognac
25ml Rittenhouse Rye
10ml Gomme or a simple sugar syrup
6 dashes of Peychaud Bitters
15ml Pernod Absinthe
Lemon peel to garnish

Method
To begin, chill glass with ice. Once cool, rinse, spray or swill your glass with absinthe. Add the cognac, rye, sugar syrup and bitters into a shaker. Shake well and double strain into your glass. Serve without ice.

Dry Martini

“A dry gin martini, often referred to simply as a 'dry martini' is a classic cocktail made with gin and a small amount of dry vermouth. It's typically garnished with a twist of lemon or an olive, and it's known for its clean and crisp taste with a slight herbal and citrus undertone.”

Ingredients
25ml gin
20ml Dolin dry vermouth
Olive to garnish

Method
To begin, chill glass with ice. Add your gin and dry vermouth to a cocktail tin or shaker. Rather than placing on the lid, gently stir the liquid over plenty of ice. Finely strain into your chilled glass and drop in your olive to garnish.

Blush

“The Blush cocktail is a sophisticated and unique blend of flavours, combining rhubarb cordial, rose vodka, Peychaud's Bitters, and champagne. This cocktail offers a balance of sweet and floral notes from the rose and rhubarb, with a hint of bitterness from the bitters, all topped off with the effervescence of champagne for a delightful and elegant drinking experience.”

Ingredients
25ml Woltz Rose Vodka
20ml rhubarb cordial
2 dashes of Peychaud's bitters
Topped up with champagne or sparkling wine
Grapefruit coin to garnish

Method
As with the Dry Martini, chill glass with ice. In a cocktail tin stir your vodka, cordial and bitters together over plenty of ice. Here, Uros uses a rose petal vodka by Woltz, but any rose fragranced vodka would suit. Finely strain into your chilled glasses and top up with champagne or fizz, filling the glass. Give your grapefruit coin a squeeze and place into the glass to garnish.

Appleton Hi

“The Appleton Hi is a highball cocktail that features Appleton rum as its base spirit, along with flavours of candied ginger, bergamot, and verjus. It's then topped up with soda water, creating a refreshing and complex drink with a combination of fruity, spicy, and citrusy notes.”

Ingredients
70ml Appleton rum mix
100ml soda water

Method
Place a large or long ice cube into your glass. Pour in your rum, and top up with soda water. Carefully stir.