8 Cocktails That Scream ‘I Love You’ for Valentine’s Day

You might love it, you might hate it, but Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, so whether you’re on course for a Valentine’s, a Galentine’s or posting a card to yourself, you’ll want something to make it special. These 8 cocktails scream ‘I love you’ because let’s remember, Valentine’s Day isn’t a day for couples, it’s a day for love!

Pink Gimlet

This is a wonderfully harmonious cocktail, bringing fresh grapefruit tang and lime zing, but also delicious fruity sweetness using pink gin. It’s full of flavour, beautifully fresh and looks stunning too.

Ingredients
50ml pink gin
15ml syrup
50ml lime juice
75ml pink grapefruit juice
Rose petals (garnish)

Method
Fill a shaker with ice, add all the above and get shaking. Once nicely chilled, strain into a glass (you might want to double strain if you used fresh fruit for a super smooth cocktail). A few rose petals to finish and it’s perfect.

Bramble

Brambles bring such a delicious combo of rich berries, bright lemon, and tart blackberries, and all with crisp juniper at the heart of it. It’s also got a really cosy feel and looks seductive too.

Ingredients
50ml gin
25ml lemon juice
1 tbsp blackberry liqueur (Crème de Mûre or Crème de Cassis)
1 tbsp sugar syrup
Fresh blackberries (garnish)

Method
Shake everything with ice, and strain over more ice in a rocks glass. If you want some fresh blackberry taste, you can garnish with them, or even muddle them in the bottom of the glass before pouring. Enjoy!

Spicy Margarita

Bringing some spice to your Valentine’s – the Spicy Margarita. And be aware, you might never go back to the regular version. It doesn’t lose the classic essentials and retains the balance of sweet, sour, and earthy notes. There are all kinds of different variations, using different chillis in different amounts, but this is a good amount of heat to start with.

Ingredients
50ml reposado tequila
25ml fresh lime juice
15ml agave syrup
1 slice of chilli (muddled)
2/3 slices of jalapeno (garnish)

Method
Muddle the chillis (however many you enjoy really), in the shaker, and include tequila. Lime and agave syrup. Shake well with ice and strain. Scatter some jalapenos on top, kick back and feel the heat.

Elderflower Cosmopolitan

A standard Cosmo is near perfect for Valentine’s, but we think this floral twist is even better. It’s a delicious, wintery concoction with the cranberry tang out, and the elderflower liqueur in, for a mellow, fragrant florality that dresses the vodka steel nicely. This in one hand, a bunch of flowers in the other – you’re sorted.

Ingredients
45ml vodka
20ml elderflower liqueur
20ml pineapple juice
Dash of lemon
Dash of rose water (optional)
Basil (garnish)

Method
This is all about putting the work in with the shaking. Once it feels icy cold, strain over ice and serve to your Valentine!

Mudslide

A dessert style cocktail is always welcome on Valentine’s Day. We were going to go for chocolate, but how about a Mudslide instead? It’s a 70s adaptation of the White Russian that is now super popular in America, often mixed with ice cream. We think that the ingredients here are too delicious to be drowned in ice cream, but it’s up to you of course. Rich indulgence at its finest.

Ingredients
50ml vodka
50ml coffee liqueur (Kahlúa)
50ml Irish cream liqueur
Grated chocolate (garnish)

Method
Shake all three very well because the vodka needs to be well mixed within the thicker liqueurs. Include ice and stop when it feels cold to the touch, before straining into a Martini glass and going the extra mile with some grated chocolate on top. Mouthwatering

Kir Royale

Champagne is a go to when celebrating, and this French serve embraces all the magic of the city of love. It’s so simple but feels elegant and special. Dreamy blackcurrant liqueur Crème de Cassis brings the berries, and if you don’t want to splash out on a Champagne, a Crémant or Cava will do just fine. If you’re making a meringue dessert, then this is incredible alongside too.

Ingredients
1 tbsp crème de cassis
Champagne
Blackberry or raspberry (optional garnish)

Method
Liqueur first with this cocktail, before topping up your Champagne flute to the top with your fizz. A blackberry or raspberry garnish is a must, and that’s it – a simple but delicious serve.

Love and Murder

For a taste of Valentine’s gone wrong, how about this intriguing cocktail? It’s not for everyone, but you might just absolutely adore it. Bitter Campari and herbaceous green Chartreuse combine with the vibrant zip of fresh lime for a cocktail that forces you to pay attention. The harmony of balance is surprising, but with the subtle salt enhancing the sweetness and balancing out the bitterness slightly, it works a treat.

Ingredients
30ml Campari
30ml green Chartreuse
30ml lime juice
10ml syrup
4 drops of saline solution (kosher salt 1:5 water)

Method
The saline solution is a simple case of dissolving a little salt in water, and remember you only need tiny amounts here to make an almost imperceptible difference. Shake everything with ice and strain into a chilled coupe.

Strawberry Daiquiri

We couldn’t leave this one out. Fully embracing our favourite heart shaped fruits, strawberries are synonymous with love and romance. It’s a misconception that the Daiquiri has to be a sickly-sweet slush puppy. Instead, it can be classy with warming rum, fresh lime, cooling mint and succulent, sweet berries.

Ingredients (jug)
60ml rum (light ideally )
50g fresh strawberries
20ml lime juice
15ml syrup
Strawberry or lime (optional garnish)

Method
Blenders out for this one, but don’t start thinking this is a load of work because we’re just chucking everything in, before a double strain for silky smoothness. If you can use crushed ice to show some love to your blender too that will help. Go for a lime wedge or strawberry with a slice up the middle for garnish. Delicious.

Cocktail syrups are an essential mixology skill, and surprisingly easy to pull together so if you need any for the above recipes click here!

Celebrate The New Year in Style With These Champagne Cocktails

Yes, there are alternatives, and yes, it’s more expensive than other sparklers, but Champagne will always be the ultimate glass of elegance and celebration. It’s a classic way to ring in the new year, and such a big day requires the special feeling that cocktails bring to an occasion, so why not combine the two?

Champagne is perfect for keeping cocktails light and refreshing, as well as bringing a bit of fruity crispness to robust mixes. Start the year as you mean to go on with these memorable Champagne cocktails.

Kir Royale

This wonderful cocktail goes back to 19th century France and makes full use of the gorgeous blackcurrant liqueur Crème de Cassis. Elegant bubbly bite with silky, juicy sweetness – simple but delicious. Also, it pairs perfectly with berry and meringue desserts like Eton mess and pavlova if you’re having a New Year feast.

Ingredients
1 tbsp crème de cassis
Champagne
Blackberry or raspberry (optional garnish)

 Method
Crème de cassis first, poured into a Champagne flute before topping up with Champagne. A blackberry or raspberry tops it up nicely, and if it’s frozen you can use it to chill the cocktail too.

Black Velvet

These two might seem like a slightly odd match at first, but it’s actually a cocktail steeped in history. As the legend has it, a London steward was inspired to come up with it following the nation’s mourning of Prince Albert in 1861. The crisp Champagne takes the robust heaviness away from the Guiness, and you get a fruit dipped in dark chocolate kind of profile. Rich, lively and interesting to try if you never have before.

Ingredients
100ml Guinness
100ml Champagne

Method
Two ingredients with equal measures, how’s that for simple? Go for Champagne first, and then pour the Guinness in over the back of a spoon for some lovely layering.

Champagne Bowler

This wine heavy classic dates back to the 30s and brings a splash of summer to the New Year celebrations. The foundation of three grapes compliments the fresh, natural flavour of those sweet strawberries, and the result feels clean and crisp, with a hint of richness.

Ingredients
3 chopped strawberries
20ml brandy (preferably Cognac)
30ml dry white wine (like Chardonnay)
60ml champagne
Dash of syrup (optional)

Method
Muddle your chopped strawberries in a shaker, and add the brandy, white wine, a little ice and shake well. Unusually, we don’t recommend straining here because we want all that strawberry goodness and flavour, so just top up with Champagne and toast to the warmer weather ahead.

Poinsettia

This is essentially a cranberry mimosa, and it’s delicious. The ruby red hue and rosemary garnish keep the festive theme, and the flavours are citrusy, tart and refreshing. The orange liqueur gives a little weight and sweetness, the cranberry juice gives that bittersweet fruit, and of course, the fizz is there with its fine bubbles to lighten the mood. It just works so well.

Ingredients
25ml orange liqueur
50ml cranberry juice
75ml champagne
1 rosemary sprig to garnish

Method
Chill everything beforehand for this one, it makes all the difference. Pour the orange liqueur and cranberry juice into a chilled glass, and very gently top up with champagne before finishing with a rosemary sprig for aesthetics and faint whiff of herby goodness.

Classic Champagne Cocktail

This old-school classic is what started it all, and though it’s as simple as a cocktail can get, it is definitely worth including if you’re looking to retain all the star power and complexity of your champagne. The Angostura-soaked sugar cube gives a little sweet spice to liven up a straight serving of fizz.

 Ingredients
1 sugar cube
4 dashes of Angostura bitters
200ml champagne
Lemon or orange slice to garnish

Method
Drop the sugar into the bottom of the flute and soak for a few minutes with Angostura. Then top up with Champagne and finally, garnish with a little citrus. Simple excellence.

Champagne Punch

Something slightly different here, because if you’re seeing in the New Year with a big group, then a punch is always handy. It’s quite an extravagant way to use champagne, but if you can’t do that at New Years then when can you? Like any punch, there aren’t many hard and fast rules, but we think this run down works a treat. The fresh lemon, lime, and citrus cut through nicely, there’s plenty of crisp wine, fruity sweetness and gentle warmth from Cognac and ginger.

 Ingredients (for 8)
1 bottle of champagne
250ml grapefruit juice
200ml ginger ale
200ml dry white wine
100ml orange liqueur
100ml pineapple juice
1 sliced lemon
1 sliced lime
1 sliced orange
40ml Cognac/brandy
70ml simple syrup
Handful of mint leaves
Handful of cranberries
Ice

Method
The only important thing here is to leave the Champagne till last. We want to retain all those bubbles, so combine everything else and chill for an hour (at least). When guests arrive, pour in the bubbly, and make sure it’s drunk first so the effervescence hasn’t faded.

If these have caught your eye, then you just need one thing... that all important Champagne. Let’s be honest, if you’re mixing it then there’s no need to splash out on a super expensive bottle, and there are plenty of fantastic Champagnes at in the mid-range area that are perfect for cocktails. Take a look here!