You don’t have to go out to have a good time at NYE. (But if you do fancy it and haven’t made plans yet, here’s our guide to the best of what’s on.) But back to staying in. Sometimes it can be even more fun to just have some people round, get the board games out and the drinks in. With that in mind, we’ve put together some celebratory (and, crucially, simple) cocktail recipes to serve up whether you’re having friends round to see the New Year in or you just fancy a flashier bath-time treat.
We’re all about the gin here at BOTI and we’re particularly loving The Laverstoke cocktail created by Bombay Sapphire’s Sam Carter. We reckon it’s got just the right amount of kick to see the New Year in with a bang. Or leave out the alcohol (or switch for no-alcohol spirits and wine) for refreshing hangover-free versions. See what you think!
Here’s what you need for each glass:
50ml gin (any will do)
15ml Martini rosso (we’ve swapped bianco for rosso as it’s more wintry)
10ml elderflower cordial
1 lime
85ml ginger ale
fresh ginger
mint sprigs
lots of ice cubes
Method:
1. Squeeze two lime wedges into a balloon glass, drop them in then add the ginger slice, the Martini, the cordial and the gin.
2. Swirl well to mix and infuse then fill the glass with cubed ice.
3. Top with the ginger ale and gently stir/fold to combine.
4. Finally, take a sprig of mint and brush it over your hand to ‘wake’ it up, then pop into the glass as garnish.
Tom goes through the cocktail-making step by step in the video below.
Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need to be a pro or have expensive equipment to make an amazing cocktail. All you need really is a large chopping board, a serrated knife, something to measure liquid ingredients in parts (an egg cup works well!), a chopstick (or similar) to stir, and a jar (a Kilner jar is ideal) to shake it all together.
If you want to splash out on your own creations, then Sam’s top tip for a well-balanced cocktail is to follow this basic recipe to make sure you end up with something drinkable:
1 part sweet
2 parts sour
3 parts alcohol
4 parts weak
Lighten up
And if you massively indulged over Christmas (holla), then you might like these two easy-to-make but impressive-looking drinks, which offer lighter twists on cocktail classics. Weighing in at under 95 calories each, we don’t mind if we do.
First up is the Tangerine Mule, a low-cal festive version of the classic Moscow Mule:
25ml vodka
20ml tangerine juice (we’ve got heaps of these left over from Christmas)
5ml sugar syrup (it’s easy to make your own, or you can buy it here)
2 drops of chocolate bitters
ginger beer (the London Essence one is lovely)
tangerine slice and star anise to garnish
Pour all the ingredients into a highball glass, stir and pop a wedge of tangerine and a star anise on the side to serve.
Next in your cocktail arsenal is one of our favourite refreshers, the delicate Peach and Verbena Spritz.
60ml Sauvignon Blanc
2 dashes Peychaud’s Bitters (a bit sweeter than Angostura, but that would work too)
10ml peach syrup
London Essence grapefruit and lemon verbena soda
lemon for garnish
Pour all the ingredients into a highball glass, stirring as you go and garnish with some lemon zest.
Whether you’re going out or staying in this New Year’s Eve, we’d like to wish everybody a wonderful time this evening. We’ll see you on the other side! Chin-chin!
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