Cocktails

Bob

Bob

Well-Known Forumite
I fancy widening my drinks selection, we rarely go out, usually opting to open a bottle of wine and watch a good box set on a Friday evening but I feel like jazzing it up a little.

There was an evening in the Hand and Cleaver, I think it was my birthday, I can’t remember, to be fair I can’t remember much about that night beyond the landlord getting the cocktail book out, I’m told we emptied a catering sized bottle of vodka, amongst various other tipples.

Not that I’m looking to recreate that evening but I do want to try something new. I’ve cleared a shelf in the dining room for a bit of a drinks area.

What’s good and what do I need to get me started?
 
Tilly

Tilly

Well-Known Forumite
Paraffin
Calpol
Carpool
Hydrogen Isotope Deuterium
Reggae Reggae Sauce
Dandelion and Burdock
Kestrel lager
Dubbing
Tizer with a dash
 
Carole

Carole

Well-Known Forumite
Bob said:
Not that I’m looking to recreate that evening but I do want to try something new. I’ve cleared a shelf in the dining room for a bit of a drinks area.

What’s good and what do I need to get me started?
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Firstly, are the drinks evenings mainly for you or for several guests?
If it’s for you buy several different bottles of what you prefer.
If it’s for guests then widen the choice.

We’ve got a home bar, and have a selection of alcohol but we (and our friends) drink mostly gin based cocktails so we’ve got more gin than anything else. About 36 at the last count.
For Vodka, we like Ciroc, but others might be Grey Goose. There are loads out there.
For Gin, start with Sipsmith, Hendricks, or for spice try Ophir.
There are some gorgeous orange flavoured gins too like Tanquerey Seville.

So start with gin, vodka, scotch, rum, vermouth etc.

Then get on to the mixers.
Buy loads of different flavoured tonic waters.
Fever Tree do a great selection, as do Lamb and Watt. We’ve got six or seven different flavoured tonics which totally change the drink considerably depending on which one you use.

Then you’ll need orange juice, tomato juice, cranberry juice, lime juice, coke, lemonade, ginger ale.

For garnish you’ll need, lemon, limes, cucumber, cherries, olives, black pepper, Tabasco, Worcestershire sauce.

For bar tools you’ll need, jigger, cocktail shaker, swizzle sticks, long handled spoon.

You’ll also need all the various glasses. Balloon glasses for gin etc.

You might want to clear another shelf.

Basically start small with your own personal preferences and build up as you go along.
We’ve thoroughly enjoyed creating ours and have had some lovely tasting evenings with friends.

Hope this helps.
 
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Lucy

Lucy

Well-Known Forumite
What cocktails are you making with Ophir @Carole? Only thing I've found that works so far is a gin Boody Mary.
 
Carole

Carole

Well-Known Forumite
Lucy said:
What cocktails are you making with Ophir @Carole? Only thing I've found that works so far is a gin Boody Mary.
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Well we don’t really make fancy cocktails, we tend to keep it simple.

So with the Ophir I’d just mix it with tonic water. Adding a slice of fresh ginger gives it a bit of a kick.
It’s also nice with ginger ale and a slice of orange.
I’ve got some fever tree aromatic tonic water and I’m going to try it with that some time soon.
 
Carole

Carole

Well-Known Forumite
94E93E7B-048B-4987-B650-834A8136E9BE.jpeg
I popped in to Trentham Gardens Garden Centre today and picked up a few more interesting mixers.
 
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Tilly

Tilly

Well-Known Forumite
Is that the place near the furniture store?

I'm told they have some nice stool samples too
 
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