Image credit: Blake Acaster
For the uninitiated, crafting a well balanced cocktail at home can be an overwhelming task! Why even bother when you can crack open a crisp wine for your next house party? There’s always a time for wine, but we’re also firm believers in the merits of making something for your guests, and it doesn’t have to be complicated! Using minimal ingredients, a small shopping list and the smallest stock of equipment, you too can be the life of your next house party! We’ve teamed up with Red Leg Spiced Rum and Franklin & Sons mixers to show you just how easy it can be to make some delicious beverages!
Franklin & Sons have a vast array of mixers to elevate your cocktail game without adding stress to the crafting of your drink or breaking the bank. Spiced rum provides a fantastic base for low-ingredient cocktails, as they’re full of spices and sugars that might otherwise be lost in a “simple three ingredient cocktail.” Red Leg blends their aged rum with sweet vanilla and ginger, and these deliciously layered flavours form the basis for today’s cocktails.
You can find Red Leg Spiced Rum Here: Master of Malt - £23
ABV: 37.5%
Size: 700ml
You can find Franklin & Sons here: Franklin & Sons Shop
Making Cocktails at Home
Making cocktails at home doesn’t have to be difficult, and you don’t have to spend crazy money to do it! Here’s some equipment that might be useful, and some cheap alternatives that will work perfectly fine on your kitchen counter:
A cocktail shaker is ideal, but in a pinch it can be replaced with a strong mason jar.
Strainers are essential behind a busy bar, but at home, you’ll do just as well with a mesh sieve.
Many cocktails need to be stirred with a bar-spoon, but using the long end of a normal spoon should do just fine. Pro Tip: Chopsticks do a wonderful job at stirring down a drink.
Crushed ice - cubed ice, a bag and a hammer will do wonders.
Lovely glassware is great, and use the recommended glasses in this article as a guide, but use whatever you have at home. It’s supposed to be fun.
Simple syrups. These can be store-bought but are cheaper to make at home. Simply combine equal parts sugar (white, brown or demerara) with hot water and dissolve. You’ve got a homemade syrup ready to impress! Fresh is always best.
Without any further ado, here’s…
8 Simple Cocktails you Can Make At home
Caribbean Mule
Image credit: Blake Acaster
This crisp, refreshing twist on the classic mule cocktail will keep your thirst quenched all summer long. Rum, lime and ginger beer is about as timeless a cocktail as you’re likely to get, and using a good spiced rum is a way to add complexity to the classic cocktail without overpowering it. For the best mule, always always use fresh lime, and muddle them into the glass to extract not only the juice from the lime, but the oils from the zest for added character.
Ingredients:
50ml Red Leg Spiced Rum
4 Lime Wedges
Franklin & Sons Ginger Beer
Method:
Muddle the limes in a copper mug (or a “mule mug”) and then add ice. Add the rum and fill with Franklin & Sons Ginger beer. Pull all the ingredients through with a spoon and serve.
Optional Garnish: Mint and lime.
Spiced Ginger Julep
Image credit: Blake Acaster
Keeping up the theme of frosty classics served in unique vessels, this Spiced Ginger Julep is sure to leave your guests wanting more! Franklin & Sons’ Mandarin and Ginger soda adds a delightful freshness to this drink that one might not find in a classic julep, without skipping out on any of the alcohol content. Vanilla, ginger, mandarin and mint is a match made in pirate heaven!
Ingredients:
50ml Red Leg Spiced Rum
Handful of Mint
Franklin & Sons Ginger and Mandarin
Method:
Add all ingredients to a tin mug (or Julep Mug) and fill with crushed ice. Mix well to incorporate the mint and serve once ice cold and frosty.
Optional Garnish: Mint Bouquet.
Beachcombers' Hi-Ball
Image credit: Blake Acaster
Did you know the classic Zombie cocktail was created by a legendary bartender (and avid rum-loving swashbuckler) who went by ‘Donn the Beachcomber’? The old recipe called for a secret blend of rum, spices and grapefruit. We’ve created this easy sipping ode to the Tiki giants of the past as a way to enjoy some of the exotic flavours of Polynesian paradise, without needing 14 ingredients and a flash blender. Enjoy!
Ingredients:
50ml Red Leg Spiced Rum
Franklin & Sons Grapefruit Soda
10ml Grenadine
Method:
Add rum and grapefruit soda into your funkiest tall glass, filled with crushed ice. Pop in a straw and top with more crushed ice to create an ice-layer, then drizzle the grenadine over the top.
Optional Garnish: Cinnamon, mint, grapefruit. Umbrella, cherry, pineapple. Get Tiki! Go crazy!
Sky High Mai Tai
Image credit: Blake Acaster
Even more Tiki! With this Sky High Mai Tai, you’ll be sure to host unforgettable evenings. The classic flavours of rum, lime and almond are balanced beautifully into this summery hi-ball cocktail consisting of Red Leg Spiced Rum, fresh lime (always fresh) and the decidedly Tiki Pineapple and Almond Soda from Franklin & Sons. If you’ve tried a Mai Tai before and found it to be a little on the strong side, we implore you to give it a second chance in the form of this cocktail.
Ingredients:
50ml Red Leg Spiced Rum
15ml Fresh lime Juice
Franklin & Sons Pineapple and Almond Soda
Method:
Add cubed ice to a classy hi-ball glass, then simply add all your ingredients and mix with a spoon.
Optional Garnish: Single, elegant pineapple leaf.
Light n’ Breezy
Image credit: Blake Acaster
It’s incredible how much variance you can get with ingredients as simple as rum and ginger. This time, we’re swapping out the muddled lime for the deeply herbaceous Angostura Bitters, and the much lighter Franklin & Sons’ Ginger Ale, creating an easy-going, ‘light n’ breezy’ cocktail that you’re bound to come back to again and again!
Ingredients:
50ml Red Leg Spiced Rum
Franklin & Sons Ginger Ale
Angostura Bitters
Method:
Another super simple hi-ball cocktail. Add cubed ice to a gorgeous hi-ball, the rum and fill with ginger ale, mix well. Dash 2-3 drops of angostura on top to create a stunning aromatic layer.
Lychee-Guava Spritz
Image credit: Blake Acaster
This surprising combination of vanilla, ginger, lychee, guava and lime has all the complexity of a high-end cocktail with almost none of the work involved. If you don’t believe us, you’ll just have to try it for yourself. Sometimes the most contrasting ingredients make the most fun cocktails, as is this case with this globe-trotting spritz that’ll equally delight and amaze your guests!
Ingredients:
50ml Red Leg Spiced Rum
50ml Lychee Juice
Franklin & Sons Guava and Lime Soda
Method:
Add all ingredients to a chilled, iced wine glass. The simplest cocktails are often the most delicious…
Optional Garnish: Powdered Sugar painted on the glass (as pictured)
Red Leg Daiquiri
Image credit: Blake Acaster
Classic cocktails are often much more simple than the average person expects. The Daiquri has a rich history, dating back hundreds of years and actually originating in the Royal Navy, rather than some sort of old-timey cocktail bar. The drink has stood the test of time, and Red Leg Spiced Rum adds an extra spiced kick to this simple classic. You can’t go wrong with rum, lime and sugar.
Ingredients:
50ml Red Leg Spiced Rum
25ml Lime Juice
20ml Demerara Syrup
Method:
Add all ingredients to a shaker, or a mason jar. Shake hard until chilled then strain into a coupe glass.
Red Leg Espresso Martini
Image credit: Blake Acaster
Espresso Martinis are unbeatable all year round cocktails! If you’ve reached this far into this article, you’re probably ready for a brew, and we have just the tipple for you! A potent blend of spiced rum, coffee liqueur and cold brew coffee makes for a well-balanced twist on the Espresso Martini. Remember to shake hard until it’s foamy and delightfully textured. Store-bought cold brew will do the trick, but nothing beats an Espresso Martini with top-notch homemade coffee.
Ingredients:
35ml Red Leg Spiced Rum
25ml Coffee Liqueur
75ml Cold Brew Coffee
Method:
As above… Add all ingredients to a shaker, or a mason jar. Shake hard until chilled then strain into a coupe glass.
Optional Garnish: Coffee Beans
You’re now armed to the teeth with eight delightful spiced rum cocktails. One bottle, infinite combinations. What are you waiting for? Call up your besties; happy mixing!
By Miley Kendrick
