No dinner party is complete without something delicious to drink. Whether you’re going full out and aiming to win Come Dine With Me, or just having a few friends over, you’ll want something eye catching, tasty and easy to make. With all that food to make and the house to tidy, the last thing you need is to spend hours on drinks as well.
So, get your best glasses, pitchers, and punchbowls out because here are our 10 easy drinks to impress your dinner party guests with!
Elderflower Cooler
This is truly one of the most refreshing cocktails you could conjure up for your party. Elderflower is as popular as it’s ever been, and the simplicity of it with the gin and sparkling water makes it oh so easy to prepare.
Top Tip: If you’re lucky enough to have elderflower gin at hand, then you won’t need the cordial too. We love elderflower but having all of that could be overboard!
Ingredients (for 4)
2 thyme sprigs
2 rosemary sprigs
50m elderflower cordial
150ml elderflower liqueur
150ml gin
330ml sparkling water
Edible flowers (garnish)
Method
Fill a jug with the cordial, liqueur, gin, a handful of ice cubes and stir until thoroughly chilled. Pour into champagne flutes, top up with the soda and decorate with the herb sprigs and edible flowers. Enjoy!
Top Tip: If you have time, it looks super cool if you freeze the Thyme and Rosemary in the ice cubes beforehand.
SANGRIA
A fruity jug of sangria on a hot day is hard to beat, but we think it’s just too nice to be ignored unless the sun is shining. We say throw the calendar out and bring the sunshine indoors because if you’re partying with fans of red wine, there really isn’t anything better to be in the middle of the table.
Ingredients (for 4)
750ml good red wine
100ml brandy
200g berries
2 oranges
2 pears
2 lemons
Method
Chop two oranges, two pears, two lemons, 200g of your favourite red berries and dust them with sugar and cinnamon. Fill a jug with ice, your fruits, 100ml of brandy and 750ml of red wine. Stir, taste, and add in a little triple sec if you want it stronger, or some sparkling water for the opposite.
Top Tip: Try to leave your fruit mix for at least an hour in the fridge so it really takes on the sugar and cinnamon flavouring. If you forget, then it really doesn’t matter. It’s Sangria. It’s still amazing.
RHUBARB & CUSTARD COCKTAIL
Okay, stick with us here because this one is slightly more technical but still really simple for you to make at home. With a backbone of vodka, syrupy rhubarb and yep, you probably guessed it, advocaat, your guests will definitely love this if they’re fans of the dessert.
Ingredients
100ml vodka
100ml rhubarb syrup
(85g caster sugar + 300g rhubarb)
1 length rhubarb (garnish)
30ml advocaat
75ml lemonade
Method
First, the rhubarb syrup. Heat the sugar gently in a pan with 75ml of water. Before it begins to bubble, add your chopped rhubarb. Simmer for 5 minutes and sieve over a bowl. Boil this again for 2 minutes until syrupy and you’re done. Now, shake the vodka and rhubarb syrup with ice and pour into glasses. Finally, you need to mix or whisk advocaat and lemonade. Slowly drizzle this into the glasses over an upturned spoon and you’ll see a stunning division of the two mixtures.
Top Tip: For a fancy garnish, make small shreds of rhubarb using a peeler and dunk them into icy water– they’ll curl up like magic - Rhubarbus Garnishio! (I haven’t seen Harry Potter in a while, sorry.)
MEXICAN MULE
Tequila and lime are a match made in heaven, but it turns out that ginger beer is a welcome addition to their relationship. Staggeringly simple this one, it’s a tequila-based version of a Moscow Mule. Easy to make and once you taste, you’ll realise it’s even easier to drink!
Ingredients (for 4)
240ml tequila
50ml lime juice
40ml agave syrup/sugar syrup
90ml good quality ginger beer
Lime (garnish)
Method
Add the tequila, lime juice and syrup to an ice filled cocktail shaker and shake, shake, shake until you can feel the chill. Strain into an ice filled glass and top up with ginger beer. Garnish with a wedge of lime and enjoy! Sombrero optional.
WHISKEY HOT CHOCOLATE
Perfect for staying cosy outside or as a nightcap, the boozy hot choc is too good to be just a novelty. You can make this with milk or dark chocolate, or simply hot chocolate powder, but we’re going for white chocolate for added beauty and indulgence.
Ingredients (for 4)
400ml milk
180ml whiskey
400g white chocolate
2tbsp vanilla essence
Method
Slowly heat the milk and essence in a pan and add the chocolate until it’s completely melted. At that point, stir in the whiskey and pour into mugs. Star anise sat on top completes the warming image and provides a very subtle liquorice-y flavour. It divides opinion though, so check with your guests first! They might prefer marshmallows or grated chocolate which also accompany the drink brilliantly.
WHITE WINTER COSMOPOLITAN
This wintery spin on the classic Cosmo is just what guests will want to see as they come in from the cold. White cranberries are just harvested a little earlier than red cranberries, but still the same fruit with the same tartness. The familiar Cosmo we love, but in its winter outfit!
Ingredients (for 4)
180ml vodka (preferably citrus)
60ml triple sec
120ml white cranberry juice
A dash of lime
Berries (garnish)
Method
Cocktail shakers at the ready. Thrown in your vodka, triple sec, cranberry juice, ice, and a dash of lime juice for added freshness. Shake well and pour into martini glasses. Finish with berries on the rim for the quintessential winter Cosmo experience.
Top Tip: A light dusting of icing sugar on the berries around the rim really does wonders for the wintery look.
MAN O’WAR
Named after one of the great American racehorses, this cocktail is also a winner. If your party is demanding something a little (or a lot) stronger, then the Man O’War is ideal.
Ingredients (for 4)
180ml Bourbon
60ml triple sec (preferably Cointreau)
60ml sweet vermouth
Juice of 1 lemon
Tablespoon of sugar syrup (optional)
Cherry (garnish)
Method
Shake plenty of ice, bourbon, triple sec, sweet vermouth, and the juice of a whole lemon. Shake until you feel the chill, and taste. The ratios can be tough to get right for this one, so add in syrup if you want more sweetness. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and voila, a real showstopper!
Top Tip: If it packs too much of a punch then serve over crushed ice instead so it’s a little less potent.
FRENCH 75
Named after a French World War One gun, this is another hard hitter. However, with gin, bubbly, fresh lemon, and sugar, this drink is a lot more welcoming than the name implies. For us, dinner party drinks are all about trying something a bit different, and the partnership of gin and Champagne is a surprising hit.
Ingredients (for 4)
100ml gin
50ml fresh lemon juice
50ml syrup
300ml Champagne (to taste)
Lemon twist (garnish)
Method
Combine all the ingredients except the champagne into a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a champagne flute, then top up with the bubbles. Add a twist of orange for garnish. Just like that, you’re in Paris!
SUPERMAN SHOT
We don’t usually include shots in these kinds of lists, but who knows what direction a dinner party might head in and if nothing else, the Superman shot is a stunning eyecatcher. Also, you can pick whatever colours you want to suit your occasion!
Ingredients
10ml cherry liqueur
10ml banana liqueur
10ml blue vodka
Method
Completely straightforward except a little bit of technique to avoid mixing. Pour the cherry first, and then the banana over the back of a spoon. The banana will sink to the bottom. Finish with the vodka over the spoon to top it off. Simple and adaptable but the kind of little touch that makes a dinner party feel special.
COQUITO
No Christmas in Puerto Rico would be complete without a cold coquito, and after trying this sweet and creamy concoction, you may be saying the same about your future dinner parties.
Ingredients (for 4)
250ml spiced rum
300ml coconut milk
200ml coconut cream
300g condensed milk
250g evaporated milk
0.5tsp vanilla extract
1 medium cinnamon stick
Pinch of ground cinnamon and nutmeg (garnish)
Method
Don’t be offput by the relatively lengthy ingredients because it’s just a case of lumping them all in a blitzer, except the cinnamon stick which you add before refrigerating for at least 2 hours. Give it a good stir before serving and pour small amounts over ice. Sprinkle nutmeg and cinnamon over the top and it looks sublime. Feliz Navidad!
Plenty there to tickle your fancy and get you thinking about what you might serve at your next dinner party, or even bring to someone else’s- don’t outdo them too much though ;).
If you want to serve some stone cold classics then go here for a reminder of how to assemble the 10 most popular cocktails in the world.
Or, perhaps you’re having a Halloween themed dinner party in October, in witch case (pun very much intended), check out these 5 easy to make spooky cocktails!
Oh, and make sure to let us know if you try any of these at your next party, or if you have any go-to’s of your own that always go down a smash.