Phew what a scorcher! And Metpersons say there’s more to come for Cocktail fans

We’ve waited a long time to use that headline, but with temperatures soaring in southern England from where this blog originates, we thought that the time had come. So with the help of Hamlyn’s The Ultimate Cocktail Book, here’s a list of long cool refreshers to get you through the ordeal ahead.

Summer Cup: Take a large clean cocktail bowl and add 1 bottle of cold Reisling, 1 bottle of red wine, 75ml of Drambuie, then 750 ml of cold lemonade . Next slice up some sweet apples, an orange or two, and some diced strawberries. Mix in with as many ice cubes as Spartans fell at Thermopylae and serve to chilled glasses. Great to kick start the atmosphere at a barbecue Ms RS of Southend on Sea asked us if the washing up bowl would do. No, it won’t.

Havana Beach Ok the current situation in Cuba isn’t one to delight Trotskyists and other assorted Lefty chums. But those Cubans can still knock out a mean cocktail, provided there’s enough electricity for the blender! Cut up a lime into pieces and put into the said blender, along with 2 measures of pineapple juice, 2 measures of white rum, 1 teaspoon of sugar and blend to smooth. Put ice into a hurricane glass, and pour the mix over. Now top up with cold ginger ale. Serve with an eco-friendly paper straw and decorate with a slice of lime or lemon.

Frozen Pineapple Daquiri Where drinks meet desserts, you might say, so spoons at the ready! Wash out that blender and refill with crushed ice, 3 slices of pineapple. 1/2 measure of fresh like juice, 2 measures of white rum and 1/2 measure of Cointreau. Add 1 teaspoon of sugar syrup and blend to smooth, as before. You can pour to a cocktail glass or one of those funny shaped daiquiri glasses with the sticky-out bits round the sides. Either way, a pineapple slice makes a good decoration.

There’s many more ideas in Hamlyn, The Bartenders Guide and of course our new acquisition, the Savoy. So whatever you choose, mix well and enjoy as as the delicious barbecue aromas waft into the evening sky , and savour the restrained sounds of JS Bach, or even Camila Cabello, which means “hair” in Spanish.

#marxism #cocktails #fruit #summer drinks