Ingredients

I got this in a pub in London, and I was disappointed.

I guess it's more of a long mixed drink like a rum and coke, with very little booze and loads of fizzy stuff. In this case the tequila gave a nice hint of flavour, but the "Scintilla passionfruit sparkle" just tasted like a standard cheap bottle of supermarket pop. That said, it was pretty cheap and in central London, so I can't complain too much.

I think I've got a conditioned response to tequila that makes it taste slightly salty, probably because I usually have it with salt in whatever form. The same thing happened with sparkling water and sugar. I wonder what else this could happen with, and whether I could somehow exploit it to make certain vegetables taste less horrible.

Recipe

• 4 parts half-and-half (see below)

• 3 parts brandy

• 2 parts sugar syrup

• Vanilla flavouring

• Nutmeg

Shake the first four ingredients together with ice, and pour into an old-fashioned glass filled with ice. Add a sprinkle of nutmeg.

A lovely comforting drink before bedtime, reminiscent of egg nog, Baileys and custard tarts. Half-and-half is meant to be an equal-parts mixture of single cream and whole milk. I used double cream and almond milk, so that should balance out roughly.

Recipe

• 1 part Scotch whisky

• 1 part amaretto

Pour into a small glass with lots of ice.

Quite well-balanced and drinkable. The edges of the whisky are softened, and the sickliness of the liqueur is toned down. The subtler tastes of the whisky are definitely killed, but the pleasant taste and strong alcohol of the whisky still come through, and the gorgeous marzipan taste of the amaretto is a wonderful twist.

Good booze makes good cocktails, but this recipe might disappoint anyone who wants to savour the ingredients. I used Famous Grouse and Disaronno, and I wouldn't suggest anything fancier than those.

Recipe

• 3 parts bourbon whiskey

• 2 parts lemon juice

• 1 part sugar syrup

Shake with ice, then pour into an ice-filled old-fashioned glass. Add a thick half-slice of orange and a cherry.

"Sour" is the operative word. It had some nice flavours and wasn't entirely unpleasant, but I think it was just a bit too sour. Perhaps another time I'll try it with more sugar or less lemon juice, and I might enjoy it. For now, it's no Old-fashioned.

Recipe

• 60ml white rum

• 15ml sugar syrup

• ¾ lime

Chop the lime into about ten pieces and throw them into a cocktail shaker. Get a rolling pin and bash them up. Fill an old-fashioned glass with ice and pour it into the shaker. If the ice is not already crushed, give it another few bashes with the rolling pin. Add the syrup and rum, shake thoroughly, and then empty it straight into the old-fashioned glass, ice and all. Serve with a short straw.

You definitely need a blender to make crushed ice; hitting it with a rolling pin is not very effective. Still, there's something pleasingly simple about the "throw it all in" approach, compared to the fiddly way of making and drinking a mojito, adding ingredients in the right order and so on. I might take this approach with mojito-esque drinks in the future.

As for the taste, it's fine. Refreshing and enjoyable, but without an interesting twist of any kind. It's a lot like a daiquiri, but very dilute. I probably wouldn't have it again, since other, similar, better drinks exist!

Recipe

• 1 part sloe gin

• 1 part dry vermouth

• 1 part sweet vermouth

Stir thoroughly with ice, and strain into a cocktail glass.  Add two twists of lemon zest and a dash of orange bitters.

We had some sloe gin to finish this evening, so I thought I'd look for a cocktail recipe that would make good use of it.  After a couple of uninteresting hits, I found the following article from a 1909 edition of the San Francisco Call:

SUFFRAGETTE COCKTAIL MAKES MAN DISH WASHER

Newest American Drink Invented in Minneapolis

The suffragette cocktail is the newest American drink.

Any other kind of a cocktail makes a man want to go home and beat his wife. The new drink has exactly the opposite tendency.  Two or three of the new drinks make a man go home and relinquish his position as head of the household to his wife, and accord her all the privileges he now enjoys as a citizen.

That's true, for it has already been tried.  A Minneapolis bar tender invented the new drink.  Here's his recipe:

Clio gin, French vermouth, and Italian vermouth, in equal parts to make a gill, mix in a cocktail glass, add a dash of orange bitters, twist in two strips of lemon peel and serve.

One makes a man willing to listen to the suffragettes' proposition.

Two convince him that it has some merit.

Three make him a missionary, willing to spread the gospel abroad, and four make him go home and wash the dishes.

—Pittsburg Press.

Well, I couldn't pass that up.  From other references to "the Suffragette", it seems Clio gin is sloe gin, and French and Italian vermouth are basically dry and sweet vermouth respectively, and I recently invested in some orange bitters, so I had everything I needed.  And given the risks that are apparently associated with any other kind of cocktail, I thought I'd better play it safe and have this one.

I mixed up a couple of these while my fiancée was making dinner, and we were both delighted to find that it's quite a nice drink.  Fruity and interesting, while also fairly dry and grown-up tasting, with a lingering festive taste reminiscent of sherry.  I finished mine in the lounge and watched a bit of TV while Claire finished up in the kitchen, and it thoroughly whetted my appetitep for the delicious meal that followed.

I only had one, so I didn't encounter the dramatic transformation of attitude that other men have experienced towards the issue of women's suffrage, but I definitely felt that I'd chosen well and done my bit for the evening.

Neither of us did the dishes.

Update: I did them before I went to bed.

Recipe

• 2 parts tequila

• 1 part lime juice

• 1 part triple sec

Salt the rim of a cocktail glass; you can do this by making a cut halfway through a lime, putting the rim into the cut, and running it all the way round the rim, then putting a pile of salt on a small plate, and running the wet rim through the salt.  Preferably leave it overnight to dry on.  Then shake the three ingredients together with ice and strain into the glass.

What went wrong here?  I've made margaritas many times before, and always enjoyed them.  But for some reason this one tasted dull, flat and uninteresting.  Was it something to do with the recipe?  I used the IBA recipe as usual, or something very close to it.  Was it the type of tequila?  In the past, if anything, I've used slightly cheaper stuff, but I think usually reposado (barrel-aged tequila) rather than today's bianco (unaged white tequila) – perhaps that accounts for the lack of flavour.  Did I oversalt it?  I used to love the salted glass, but you can have too much of a good thing.  Or was it just something to do with me? I've got a cold coming on, and my recent heavy workload isn't exactly putting me in the fiesta mood – but it hasn't stopped me enjoying other cocktails recently.

Without a doubt I'll be making this again, and searching for the margarita X factor that eludes me.  Watch this spot, dear readers.

Recipe

• 5 parts vodka

• 1 part dry vermouth

Shake with ice, and strain into a cocktail glass. Put three olives (from brine) onto a cocktail stick and add.

Obviously I had to have this shaken, not stirred.

I've had this lots of times with gin, and I love it, but I've heard people like the vodka version and I thought I'd better give it a try. I shouldn't have been surprised to discover it doesn't taste of anything. Obviously that's the whole point of vodka, but… it really didn't taste of anything. I originally made it at about 8:1 for Claire's taste, but I decided it really ought to taste of something, so I added some vermouth and now it tastes of vermouth. And later, olives. I quite like vermouth and olives, so that's a thumbs-up from me.

It's definitely not up there with its gin cousin though.

Recipe

• 50ml golden rum

• 35ml orange juice (~½ orange)

• 35ml pineapple juice

• 20ml lemon juice (~½ lemon)

• 10ml grenadine

• 10ml sugar syrup

• 3 dashes Angostura bitters

Put a pineapple chunk and a cherry on the rim of a large wine glass, and fill it with ice and a couple more pineapple chunks. Shake everything but the bitters with ice, and strain into the glass. Add the bitters on top, stir a little, and serve.

Very refreshing and satisfying. The juice really hides the alcohol, so that you really wouldn't know you were getting as much as two units. If there's a problem, it's that it's too acidic – maybe more rum and sugar would be good.

I'd love to make a big bowl of this for a party sometime. If I do, I'll use dark rum like I'm supposed to. First I need more friends.

Recipe

• 45ml white rum

• 25ml lime juice (~1 lime)

• 15ml sugar syrup

Shake with ice, and strain into a martini glass.

The simplicity is wonderful. The spirit–citrus–sugar combination is perfectly balanced here, and much cleaner and more pleasant than, for example, a gin fizz or a side-car. I'd have it again.

I think, like margaritas, this is often served with blended fruit. I'm guessing that would be a bad addition that would really kill the simplicity and pleasant booziness.