Picture it: the sun is shining, your friends are round and improvised appetisers are on the table. A flash of silver - what’s that? “Would anyone like a cocktail?” a cool voice calls out from the kitchen. The crowd pricks up their ears, who’s that sexy mixologist? It’s you, you’re the sexy mixologist. Shaker in hand, you begin to feel like a God… until you realise you don’t know any cocktail recipes.
Aha! Fear no more! There’s still hope for you to become the God of cocktail parties. Once you’ve got down the crowd pleasers, you need never worry again about accidentally getting Grandma plastered on your botched version of a ‘martini’. We’re here, armed with the nation's favourite cocktails to help you out.
10. Sangria
In at Number 10 is a tasty Spanish contribution - the Sangria! Essentially a red wine punch (though it can be especially tasty with white wine), the key to a great Sangria is the personal touch. Taste test with your favourite fruits and put together a family recipe to be passed down through the generations.
Ingredients
2 oranges, chopped
2 pears, chopped
2 lemons, 1 chopped, 1 juiced
200g red berries, chopped
3 tbsp caster sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
Ice
750ml bottle light red wine
100ml Spanish brandy
300ml sparkling water
Method
Sprinkle the sugar and cinnamon over the chopped fruit in a large bowl. Stir to mix. Cover the bowl and leave in the fridge for at least an hour, but ideally overnight.
Fill up a large jug with ice. Stir the fruit mixture to ensure the sugar is dissolved and tip into the jug. Add the wine and brandy. Stir, then top up with the sparkling water and serve.
9. Long Island Iced Tea
Fun fact: Long Island Iced Tea is claimed to have been invented by TGIFriday’s, but as all origin stories go, this is widely refuted. Oh well, let’s let them have it. Popular in the 1980s and still hugely successful now - the Long Island Iced Tea packs a PUNCH. If you’ve got a lot of leftover spirits around, why not put them to use and mix one up yourself?!
Ingredients
15ml vodka
15ml white rum
15ml silver tequila
15ml gin
15ml triple sec
15ml simple syrup
15ml lemon juice, freshly squeezed
Cola
Garnish: lemon wedge
Method
Add the vodka, rum, tequila, gin, triple sec, simple syrup and lemon juice to a tall glass filled with ice. Top with the cola and briefly stir. Garnish with a lemon wedge and straw. Simple!
8. Old Fashioned
Making it into this list is proof that the Old Fashioned isn’t as musty as the name might make it sound. We Brits still love the combination of whisk(e)y, simple syrup and angostura bitters - as we should! Why not have a Mad Men (without the dodgy workplace environment) themed party and serve these up to your guests!
Ingredients
50 ml of Whisk(e)y or Bourbon
1 tbsp sugar syrup
2-3 dashes of angostura bitters
1 twist of orange peel to garnish
Method
Place the sugar syrup and bitters in a rocks glass. Add some of the whiskey and a few ice cubes and stir for 15-20 seconds to cool the alcohol and start the ice melting. Keep adding a little more whiskey, then a little more ice, and continue to stir. Sip as you go and stop when the dilution is to your taste.
Garnish with a twist of orange peel.
7. Negroni
Bella Italia! Mamma Mia! Use your best Italian while creating this beautifully complex cocktail - it was invented by one after all (to be precise it was Count Camillio Negroni in 1919 who asked for gin to be added to his Americano cocktail in Florence - the more you know!).
Ingredients
25ml gin
25ml sweet vermouth
25ml Campari
orange slice, to garnish
Method
Pour all ingredients into a rocks glass with ice. Stir briefly. Garnish with a slice of orange.
6. Margarita
One of the most iconic (and delicious) cocktails to exist. Okay, maybe that was a bit biased - but the margarita is still a great cocktail to have under your belt! Close your eyes and transport yourself to Mexico/heaven. Also, if you’re using nice tequila for the love of the cocktail Gods DO NOT salt the rim - how are you going to taste that £50+ you just spent?
Ingredients
50m blanco tequila (or try a reposado if you’re feeling posh)
25ml lime juice
25ml Cointreau (or triple sec)
lime wedge for garnish
Method
Add tequila, lime juice and triple sec to a shaker with ice. Shake that baby until the sides feel icy. Strain into a rocks glass and garnish with a slice of lime.
5. Pornstar Martini
Who knew passionfruit was so naughty? The real question here is what to do with that dastardly prosecco shot. Do you drink it first? Drink it last? Add it to the cocktail? Drink it while drinking the cocktail? Chuck it at the next table? Leave it because the anxiety over how to drink it has got too much? ...yeah.
Ingredients
1 ripe passion fruit, halved
30ml vanilla vodka
30ml passion fruit liqueur
10ml lime juice
10ml sugar syrup
Prosecco, to serve
Method
Scoop the seeds from half of the passion fruit into the tin of a cocktail shaker, add the vodka, passion fruit liqueur, lime juice and sugar syrup. Add a handful of ice and shake well, strain into a martini glass and add half a passion fruit to each. Serve with a shot of prosecco and a pint glass of prosecco shot anxiety.
4. Sex on the Beach
Another naughty name! Goodness me… make sure when you’re asking someone if they’d like this cocktail that you remember to say ‘A’ Sex on the Beach rather than just ‘Sex on the Beach’. That could go very wrong ;).
Ingredients
45ml vodka
30ml peach schnapps
60ml orange juice
60ml cranberry juice
Orange wedge, for garnish
Method
Fill a tall glass with ice and add the vodka, peach schnapps and orange juice. Stir briefly. Pour over the cranberry juice for that all important ombre effect. Garnish with a juicy orange wedge.
3. Espresso Martini
This one’s dropped in the ranks this year, it used to be the UK’s favourite cocktail! It’s still getting the bronze medal, however, and this is definitely a cocktail to master - for how easy it is, it looks really impressive!
Ingredients
50ml vodka
25ml freshly brewed espresso coffee
25ml coffee liqueur
10ml sugar syrup
3 coffee beans for garnish
Method
Pop your martini glass in the fridge to cool (or in the freezer if you want that pretty iced effect on the glass). Pour the ingredients into a cocktail shaker along with a handful of ice and shake until the outside of the cocktail shaker feels icy cold. Strain into a martini glass and garnish with 3 perfectly placed coffee beans.
2. Piña Colada
Dreaming of beaches and pools, are we? Legend has it that if you take a sip of a Piña Colada, close your eyes and say coconut three times, you might hear the sea. Might is the key word there. If by some random occurrence you happen to have a spare hollowed out coconut, USE IT NOW! Oh and some of those cheesy tiny umbrellas.
Ingredients
120ml pineapple juice
60ml white rum
60ml cream of coconut
Wedge of pineapple to garnish
Method
Pulse all the ingredients along with a handful of ice in a blender until smooth. Pour into a tall glass and garnish with a wedge of pineapple.
1. Mojito
And the winner is….. A mojito! A mojito is a safe choice cocktail - you’re unlikely to mess it up (and if you do, just put on your sexy mixologist voice and drawl “that’s how it’s supposed to taste”). Not only that, but it’s delicious!
Ingredients
Juice of 1 lime
1 tsp granulated sugar
Small handful mint leaves, plus extra sprig to serve
60ml white rum
Soda water
Method
Muddle the lime juice, sugar and mint leaves in a small jug, crushing the mint as you go. Pour into a tall glass and add a handful of ice. Pour over the rum, stirring with a long-handled spoon. Top up with soda water, garnish with mint and serve.
Like what you see? Why not check out our other cocktail recipes to up your game!