Recipe

• 6 parts gin

• 2 parts lemon juice

• 3 parts orgeat syrup

• 1 part cold water

• A couple of drops of angostura bitters

Shake the first four ingredients together with ice, strain into a cocktail glass, then add the bitters on top. Add a twist of orange zest.

I got a bottle of orgeat syrup a while ago for tiki cocktails (see the Mai Tai) and I was impressed with its complexity and aromas. It’s not just almond syrup, it has orange flowers and other stuff too! So I thought I’d see what else I can make.

This is perhaps the most obvious choice: a classic sour cocktail based on gin and lemon, but with orgeat instead of plain old sugar syrup. I might have come up with this myself, but apparently it already has a name: an Army & Navy. It's described in David A. Embury’s influential The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks (1948) where he complains (as usual) about the ratios used, and demands something far sourer than I'd have liked. He also suggests the bitters and water, which are just what it needed. I've adjusted the ratios to my taste.

Overall, it's very nice! You really get the flavours of the orgeat, but it's not sickly. If I was going to adjust it, I'd raise the gin, since it's a little overpowered.

I can't figure out the origin of the name, but it might be that it originated in the "Army and Navy Club" in New York.

Recommended!

Recipe

• 4 parts Żubrówka bison grass vodka

• 1 part white vermouth

• Thin slice of lemon peel

Shake together with lots of ice, and strain into a cocktail glass. Cut a thin slice of lemon peel, and fold it once, zest outward, over the glass, then drop it in.

You might have seen, and ignored, bison grass vodka in supermarkets and pubs. Apparently Polish people love it, and some of them drink it with apple juice. I've had a bottle for a year or so and haven't done much with it – a shot once or twice. I figured it might go well in a cocktail, so I finally used it to make the classic Vodka Martini which I thought would bring out its best without disguising any of its flavours.

I absolutely love it! The aromas are so fresh and dry, and the lemon zest complements them perfectly. Every sip is so full of flavour, and that drop of vermouth seems to add the needed sweetness or something, making it so much richer than a simple shot. It's easily as interesting as any gin martini, and is a hundred times more interesting than plain vodka.

I thought it would just be something nice to try, but I think this is a contender for new favourite drink. I'll be having more in the future!

Recipe

• 3 parts bourbon whiskey (or rye)

• 1 part lemon juice

• 1 part red wine

• 1 part sugar syrup

Shake the whiskey, lemon juice and syrup together with ice and strain into a rocks glass filled with fresh ice. Pour the wine over a teaspoon on the top of the drink so that it floats on top. Add a twist of lemon zest.

Excellent fun to look at, and a more interesting drink to taste than the simpler whiskey sour, which had never done much for me.

The chilled red wine is very drinkable, and since you drink most of it first it acts as a nice build-up to the stronger, spirit-based main course below.

Could probably be improved by adding bitters at the whiskey stage. This might help add complexity, which is lacking.

Recipe

• 3 parts apple brandy (e.g. Calvados)

• 1 part lemon juice

• 1 part sugar syrup

• A few drops of Angostura bitters

Cut a thin slice out of the centre of a nice sweet apple, admire the 5-pointed rotational symmetry, and put it in a cocktail glass. Shake the brandy, lemon juice and syrup with ice and strain into the glass. Add a couple of drops of bitters.

I made this up the other night when I wanted to try something different. I stuck to the usual 3:1:1 sour cocktail formula I love, and added a little bitters ("the salt and pepper of cocktails") just to add depth.

The result was beautiful: intensely sharp but just sweet enough that it was a delight to drink. Apple works well as a garnish, and this was much less sickly than my various attempts at a mapletini.

I'd have this again!

Recipe

• 3 parts vodka

• 2 parts limoncello

• 1 part lemon juice

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Add a twist of lemon zest.

I was out in an Italian restaurant in St Andrews on Thursday, and I was delighted by the cocktails that were offered. After a strong recommendation, I tried the "limoncello martini" in lieu of pudding, and was impressed enough that I decided to make one myself.

The taste is all about the limoncello. On its own it's a lovely liqueur, but it's very strongly flavoured and in larger quantities it's quite overpowering. Here, it plays the role of "sweet" in a classic sour cocktail, and the other ingredients provide a stage for it to shine magnificently -- the vodka gives a strong boozy hit with utterly neutral flavour, and the lemon juice offsets the sweet and bitter zesty tastes of the limoncello in a very natural way. If you like limoncello, you'll like this.

I object to the slapping of the label "martini" on anything that comes in a cocktail glass -- see for example the espresso martini, the French martini and the pornstar martini, none of which have actual Italian vermouth anywhere near them. It seems to be a lazy naming scheme originating from patronising marketing people who think that the public won't buy anything they haven't heard of. Many of these names are now established, but since this one's new, I'm going to refer to this as what it really is: a limoncello sour.