bringing drinks to life

I’ve expressed my opinion here before about making cocktails at home; in times gone by the home ‘cocktail party’ was a regular occurrence, and any home worth it’s salt had a well stocked drinks cabinet, if not a full bar. I’m an advocate of making drinks at home and believe that it’s well past time for this tradition to be revived, so when Bombay Sapphire sent me an invitation to a ‘cocktail master class’ I thought there might be a chance to try something a little different. The guest list for this event was made up of food and drinks writers and bloggers, but maybe just maybe Bombay would let me send in a consumer to infiltrate the evening.

 

 

Of course they kindly agreed to let me send along a complete novice, so here was my chance to find out if a regular consumer could learn the art of the cocktail in just one night and be inspired to try making drinks at home. The only question was which ‘old dog’ to try to teach ‘new tricks’? I needed someone who likes a drink or two but has no clue about making them himself… enter my friend Alex!

 

‘I’m never going to drink again’ these words may never have been uttered by so many as they will have been this morning! After a week long celebration of London’s amazing cocktail heritage, last night saw London Cocktail Week draw to a close at the CLASS awards held in Shoreditch Town Hall. The great and the good of the drinks industry gathered to drink a few last cocktails (some of which were highly suspect and tasted a bit too much like thinly disguised sambucca!) and hear who was to be crowned the best in the ten categories being contested.

We’ve been treated to an early burst of sunny weather over the last week or so and it has got me thinking about summer drinking. Obviously there are plenty of bars and pubs with terraces or beer gardens, but sometimes there is nothing better than inviting friends over, firing up the bbq and having a few drinks in the garden!

 

 

The problem I always have is that I tend to over complicate things when it comes to the drinks side of entertaining, but not this year! I have vowed to keep it simple this summer, so despite having an outside bar that I could stock up with every cocktail ingredient imaginable, I intend to limit myself to a few simple ingredients that I can make pitchers of drinks with.

 

 

I’ve always liked the idea of keeping it simple, even if I have usually failed to do so myself. So on my mission to simplify my entertaining I am going to keep a stock of a few mixers, use whatever fruit I find on offer at my local supermarket and maybe keep a couple of bottles of liqueurs on hand just for variety. Beyond that it comes down to choosing a couple of spirits that offer me the most versatility and sticking with them instead of raiding the bitters&twisted drinks cabinets!