Recipe

• 45ml rye whiskey

• 25ml orange juice

• 25ml lemon juice

• 5ml grenadine

Shake with ice, and strain into a cocktail glass.

I know, I know. It's another sour cocktail and it looks exactly like any other sour cocktail. But this one is a little different, in a good way.

My experience with a whiskey sour was unsuccessful, but this is a much smoother and more delicious way to bring out the whiskey, and I enjoyed it a lot more. Sharpness from the lemon, sweetness and complexity from the grenadine, and something like softness from the orange.

Very drinkable, especially with a Chinese takeaway on the side.

Recipe

• 2 parts brandy

• 1 part vodka

• 1 part mint syrup

Shake together with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Decorate with a mint leaf. To make the mint syrup, mix equal weights boiling water and sugar until dissolved, and add a whole load of mint, stalks and all, while it's still hot. Leave overnight and strain.

Too sweet! It's got a sort of nice flavour, but it's just too sugary. The mint taste isn't overpowering, but gives it all a sort of pleasant lift at least.

Maybe this would work better with a little lemon juice or something. I'll report back if I try it!

Recipe

• 50ml bourbon whiskey

• 25ml sugar syrup

• 1 handful of mint leaves

Shove the mint into a half-pint glass, add the syrup and give it all a good bash around with something like a wooden spoon. Fill the glass with crushed ice and pour in the whiskey. Stir a bit and add a straw and a mint leaf on top to look nice. To get the leaves off a stalk quickly, hold the top end and run your thumb and forefinger down from top to bottom. To crush the ice, put it in some kind of plastic bag (e.g. the bag the ice came in) and bash it with a rolling pin.

Rubbish! Too sickly and sweet, like many things with bourbon in. I'll try rye whiskey next.

Recipe

• 9 parts brandy

• 9 parts golden rum

• 1 part triple sec

• 1 part lemon juice

• 1 part grenadine

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

Fantastic. As you can see from the quantities, this is a seriously strong drink, but when completely chilled and strained, it's heaven. I wouldn't have thought I could even taste the last three ingredients, but they're all there, and I might even call the triple sec strong.

This could definitely be called a variant of last week's Embassy, and both drinks are convincing me that brandy and rum were made for each other.

Don't drink it if you've got anything else to do later. I used 5ml parts, and though it didn't even fill the glass, it weighed in at 3.6 units, equivalent to about 2 pints of ale.

Recipe

• 5 parts grapefruit juice

• 2 parts pineapple juice

• 2 parts lime juice

• 2 parts syrup from a jar of cherries

• Angostura bitters

Shake the first four ingredients with ice, and strain into a wine glass filled with ice. Add a few drops of bitters and a cherry.

I thought it might be time for another non-alcoholic drink, and I thought it'd be fun to invent one. This was inspired by the excellent Hemingway Special, though in the end it was more like Planter’s Punch. The rum is replaced with pineapple juice, for something sweet but with a kick; I went heavy on the grapefruit juice, trying to establish something like Lilt; and the maraschino was replaced by the only other cherry-tasting thing in the house: the syrup from my nearly-empty jar of cocktail cherries.

I really enjoyed it, and would think about doing it again! It has a good satisfying strong taste, which makes up for the absence of booze.

Technically bitters is an alcoholic drink – in fact I think it's about 40% – but I really am suggesting a drop or two, so it shouldn't be a concern.

Recipe

• 4 parts white tequila

• 2 parts triple sec

• 1 part lime juice

• ½ part agave nectar

Salt the rim of a cocktail glass by running a cut lime (as pictured) around the rim and running the rim through a small pile of salt on a plate. Allow to dry, preferably overnight. Shake the ingredients together with ice and strain into the glass.

I was sadly disappointed when I made this last time, but this time is a definite improvement. The main distinction is that this is sweeter, with half the amount of lime juice and a little agave nectar added to sweeten it even more. I also went a little easier on the salt, which was troublesome last time.

Eagle-eyed readers will notice that I actually stole this recipe from the Embassy I had last night. It's exactly the same, but replacing the spirits with tequila and the simple syrup with agave. It tasted just as pleasing and well-balanced as the Embassy, but it's definitely a Margarita through and through.

Incidentally, agave nectar can be replaced with sugar syrup or honey. I'm using it since I've got it and it suits the tequila, but it's a bit of an obscure ingredient and obviously not something anyone really needs.

Recipe

• 2 parts rye whiskey

• 1 part red vermouth

• Angostura bitters

Stir the whiskey and vermouth together thoroughly with ice, and pour into a cocktail glass.  Add a few drops of the bitters, a twist of orange zest, and a cherry.

This is a vast improvement on my first attempt! This time I did three main things differently:

1. a higher proportion of vermouth, resulting in a slightly smoother and fruitier drink;

2. a twist of orange zest, giving a slight zesty aroma; and

3. most importantly, rye whiskey instead of bourbon, eliminating the rich sickly vanilla sort of taste, and replacing it with a plain, grown-up spirit, much more like Scotch to my taste.

I'd definitely have this again, and was tempted to have it again immediately.

Recipe

• 2 parts brandy

• 2 parts golden rum

• 2 parts triple sec

• 1 part lime juice

• ½ part sugar syrup

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

I know, all these pictures look the same. But this was pretty nice! Claire said it's the best cocktail I've made so far, which I definitely don't agree with, but it was certainly one of the better ones. The rum and brandy sort of smoothed each other out, and the sweet orangeyness of the triple sec made the whole thing quite fruity and pleasing.

It definitely reminded me of a margarita, but somehow more classic and smooth. I'd certainly have it again! I promise the next couple of posts won't just be a cloudy golden liquid in a cocktail glass. Variety!

Recipe

• 60ml white rum

• 40ml grapefruit juice

• 15ml lime juice

• 15ml maraschino

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

Divine! What wonderful balance of flavours, what smoothness and drinkability! I could easily drink several of these in a row and not get bored.

Despite the fact that I keep a cocktail blog, I don't really have a good palate and I often can't taste hints of maraschino and so on in these drinks. But in this I can taste all the ingredients, and they all really add something special!

Some people don't like grapefruit juice. Those people won't enjoy this cocktail – it's an unmistakable flavour. That said, the bitterness is much more manageable when mixed with all the rest.

By the way, in many of these recipes I mention straining the drink into the glass. This is one where it's really important, especially if you've got juice with bits like I do. Bits are nice at breakfast time, but they really would spoil such a smooth, clean cocktail.

Recipe

• 4 parts golden rum

• 1 part lemon juice

• 1 part honey syrup (see below)

Shake together with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Make the honey syrup in advance using equal parts (by weight) honey and hot water.

I've been thinking more about different types of cocktail recently, and this definitely falls into the "sour cocktail" category. Like its friends the Whiskey Sour, Margarita, Daiquiri and Side-car, it contains a large dose of spirit, along with a smaller measure of lemon or lime juice, and a similar amount of some syrup or liqueur. I've had limited joy with these before, some of them tasting quite harsh or overly sour, and I worried this might be the same. It certainly has a burn to it, but after a few sips I settled into it and found it quite pleasant.

Aged rum is lovely, and the honey goes a long way here, complementing the sweet rum smell nicely. The lemon juice then cuts through all the sugar to make the thing more drinkable – though I might go for a little less next time, since this was a little sharp. I used Havana Club, so I guess this is more of a Cuba Honey Bee. Although the honey was from Buckinghamshire, so who knows what I should call it!