Sipping Hour

Dead of the Dead cocktail: tequila meets chocolate in this tasty sour. For "Ashes to Ashes", shake together reposado tequila (45ml), Pedro Ximenez sherry (15ml), lemon juice (30ml), cocoa (1 tsp), agave (10ml)—and then a pinch of cinnamon to garnish. 💀🍸😋

Mixing up a little geography with my evening sippers recently with these New York-area-named cocktails: Bensonhurst (SW Brooklyn) and Greenpoint (N Brooklyn). Both are variations on the Brooklyn cocktail, itself a riff on the Manhattan. Do keep up. 🍷🍷🍷🍷

Well, it is Friday after all. Happy sipping! (Illustration from Cocktail Parade, 1933)

Cheers to William Faulkner, born this day 1897. A whiskey man, he counted amongst his favourite drinks a Mint Julep and his own recipe for a Hot Toddy that cold cure anything "from a broken leg to a broken heart".

Sutter's Mill, ie, a Gold Rush with grated cinnamon. (Recipe also calls for a pineapple wedge garnish, but hey, not something I had lying round the house.) Shake with ice: 22ml honey syrup; 22ml lemon juice; 60ml of bourbon. Grated cinnamon on top to finish.

Apple Old Fashioned—30ml rye whiskey, 30ml Calvados, orange bitters and a little sugar. I also did that thing when you burn a cinnamon stick under the glass and quickly add the drink. It's getting quite fancy these days 🥃🥃

It's about time I made a longer drink. Presenting the Bicycle Thief: imbibemagazine.com/the-bicycle-th… Normal service will resume tomorrow 🥃🍷🥃🍷

Two Yellow Chartreuse cocktails worthy of your time: Naked and Famous diffordsguide.com/cocktails/reci… Greenpoint diffordsguide.com/cocktails/reci…

Cherry Old Fashioned! Soak a brown sugar cube with 4 dashes of orange bitters and muddle it up. Stir in 30ml @CherryHeering and 30ml Rittenhouse Rye, finish with an orange twist garnish. Then you have yourself a delicious drink!

It's too hot to do anything other than nap and sip Mint Juleps - that's if you can muster the energy to muddle and swizzle! ☀️

Finishing off the bank holiday weekend in style with an enduring classic, the Old Fashioned... The hardest decision was rye or bourbon (bourbon won a rare victory this time).

In praise of Cynar, the often overlooked cousin of Aperol and Campari. It might lack the vibrant colour of its fellow Italian amaro, but I'm enjoying getting to know this dark-brown tipple. Try a "Too Soon?": instagram.com/p/B1Rizb4lQtl/ Or Cynar Manhattan, swapping in for vermouth.

Calling this one "Triple B"—a lovely blend of bourbon, banana liqueur and butterscotch: 3 dashes of @DashfireBitters mole bitters 60ml bourbon @MichtersWhiskey 15ml banana liqueur @briottetliqueur 15ml butterscotch syrup @Monin_UK Garnish with an orange twist 🥃🥃🥃🥃🥃

Now the proud owner of this @BDSpirits Silver Birch Vermouth. England's first white vermouth, it's made from the sap of the silver birch trees that surround the distillery. This will make for a fine bank holiday weekend sipper! 🍸🍸

Decided to pair up creme de menthe with apple in this sour. Pretty pleased with the result! Make it by shaking with ice: 15ml lemon juice, 15ml cloudy apple juice, 15ml creme de menthe and 25ml gin. Happy sipping!

When life gives you an underused bottle of vodka and a thriving mint plant... make creme de menthe. saveur.com/article/recipe… Any suggestions for something exciting I could make with this? 🥂

Here's a floral-flavoured mule for you—and the perfect reason to get your copper mugs out. Syrup made by adding 1 cup of sugar to 1 cup of @hampsteadtea's hibiscus and rose hip tea 😋

Quick-and-easy Paloma, build in salt-rimmed glass: 60ml reposado tequila @AltosTequila 30ml lime juice top up grapefruit soda @lovemyTing garnish with lime wedge 🍹🍹🍹🍹🍹

Sometimes things just fall into place... 🍻 diffordsguide.com/cocktails/reci…

Put my Cynar straight into action with this magnificent aperitif—bitter but light, with a splendid rounding off of orange. Cheers!