Orchard Blog - drinks Archives

Cocktail of the Week | Calum’s Eggnog

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There are always a few things that say Christmas to people. Some will have a particular tradition, no matter how random it is to others, or particular food, that makes their Christmas entirely! For Calum there are a few things that make it Christmas, the first is pork pie for breakfast on Christmas Day (Don’t ask)! and the second is our last cocktail of the week before Christmas, we give you Calum’s Eggnog!

Eggnog is likely to date back to medieval Europe and was developed from a posset drink made with hot milk that was curdled with wine or ale and mixed with spices. These possets were used a cold and flu remedies that made it a winter tradition. The drink appears to have been taken across the Atlantic where the term eggnog was first used in a poem. There are many different versions. In the UK, the drink was popular with the aristocracy who used sherry. Others use rum (Caribbean and Puerto Rico), beer (German) and bourbon (South America). More recently the mix has been used in coffee that has brought it to the masses.

For this week’s cocktail, you will need;

2 pints whole milk
500 ml Single Cream
1 Measure of rum
6 egg yolks
200g sugar
Orange zest
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
Vanilla seeds
Pinch of cinnamon
Pinch of ginger
Pinch of Nutmeg (plus some to garnish)

Take the orange zest, rum, cloves vanilla seed and the pinch of cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg into a jar and add the rum. Leave for 12 hours to infuse. Once ready, mix the egg yolks with the 200g sugar. Mix together the cream, the egg mix and infused rum and heat the mix through to make custard. Start to add the milk to thin the mix out to the consistency of a milkshake. Once completed, chill the drink until cold. When ready, pour the drink into a glass of choice and sprinkle with nutmeg, and there you have this week’s cocktail, Eggnog.

Calum’s recipe has been tried and tested over many years to try and recreate the store bought drink he used to get in Hong Kong. For Calum it is Christmas in a glass, for Richard…not so much. It is a superb drink to have for a party or to enjoy watching your favourite Christmas movie on Christmas Eve.

24th December 2016

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Cocktail of the Week | Gløgg

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With Christmas and winter comes the continued love of mulled drinks. There must be millions of litres drunk each year of mulled something. You could probably drink a different version of mulled wine each day in December. This week, we are taking inspiration from our recent trip to Copenhagen and this week’s cocktail of the week is Gløgg.

Gløgg in Denmark is a staple winter drink. As the borders through the Nordic countries moved regularly over the centuries, it is impossible to say whether it is a Danish started drink, a Swedish drink or German variation of Glühwein imported to Denmark. However it arrived, the Danes have made it theirs! There appear to be as many different versions of the drink as there are Danes! It is traditionally drunk with a Danish winter treat called Æbleskiver, a doughnut/pancake type dessert that is served many ways. We were told the traditional way is with strawberry jam and a sprinkling of icing sugar.

To make this week’s cocktail you will need;

Bottle red wine
Almonds slivered
1 cup raisins
Your own version of mulling spices

To start, heat the wine, but don’t let it boil. Add the spices and allow the flavours to infuse for a short while before serving. You can buy premade versions of the spices and as there are many versions, any type of mulled spices will recreate the drink. To serve, pour the wine into a suitable glass or mug using a sieve to remove the spices if using your own. Add the raisins and slivered almonds to the drink and stir. If you are so inclined, you can add a shot of rum, brandy or any other spirit of your choice.

Gløgg is a great way to keep warm whilst taking a short break from the sightseeing across Copenhagen. The only tip we can give is that it is best to serve Gløgg with a teaspoon to get to the good stuff of the warmed raisins and almonds.

13th December 2016

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Cocktail of the Week | Sage & Clementine Mule

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We have been enjoying the cocktail of the week for the last few months and the few times we have come across a savoury cocktail they have been a hit. Whilst looking for a good cocktail for Thanksgiving, we came across a savoury cocktail from Jamie Oliver’s Drink Tube that really interested us and thought it would be perfect to try as our cocktail of the week, Sage and Clementine Mule.

This cocktail is a twist on the classic mule cocktail the Moscow Mule. As with many cocktails from the 1940’s there seems to be a bit of mixed history as to who created the Moscow Mule and where it started. Some attribute it to John Martin, a Spirits and Food distributor in Hartford, CT and Jack Morgan, President of Cock ‘n’ Bull products (which produced ginger beer). This story line gives it a bit of a corporate myth style story, a ‘cock ‘n’ bull story’ if you will. The other is attributed to Wes Price, Jack Morgan’s head barman who wanted to clear out the cellar of dead stock. From what we have learnt, we are more inclined to believe the latter story. Needless to say the Cock ‘n’ Bull team had a hand in its development. As with all classic cocktails, a new twist on tradition is always a good thing and this one has some expectations to live up to.

For this week’s cocktail, you will need;

1 measure Lemon Vodka
1 Fresh Clementine
Ginger beer
5 Sage leaves
Ice

To make the drink, quarter a clementine and add it with the sage to a Collins and muddle the mix. Add some ice to the glass, followed by the vodka. Add the ginger beer to fill the glass, giving it one final stir and you have this week’s cocktail, a Sage and Clementine Mule.

The cocktail has a good mix of flavours, the clementine is not as sweet as expected and the ginger is not over powering. The sage is very subtle taste to the drink and works well with the hint of lemon from the vodka. It is a refreshing drink that is well worth making as a seasonal drink.

1st December 2016

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Cocktail of the Week | Mulled Cider

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This weekend is the first in Advent, which means only one thing, it is the start of the official countdown to Christmas! We both love Christmas and we usually mark this countdown by getting our advent calendars and making our own first mulled drink, which is our Cocktail of the Week, Mulled Cider.

Mulling drinks over winter is a European tradition. Nearly ever European country has their version of a mulled drink. In the UK it is mulled wine, Germany and Austria it is Glühwein and Nordic Countries it is Gløgg, all of which we have partaken in over the years. The concept of mulling wine and other drinks spread across Europe thanks to the Romans during the 2nd century as they conquered and traded with the countries they passed. The mulled spices we use today vary from country to country. The spices in the English version include cinnamon, ginger, cloves, cardamom and nutmeg. A Medieval version of a mulled wine also included pepper, rosemary and pepper. There is no one recipe for mulled wine and some of the more unique versions can include sausage and savoury herbs or be fortified with other spirits for good measure.

For this week’s cocktail, you will need;

• Cider
• Mulling syrup or spices.

To make this week’s drink, pour the cider into a saucepan and heat gently. Add the syrup or spices and bring to a boil. If you are using spices add a a little bit of sugar. Once boiled, allow the cider to cool slightly and ladle into a glass or mug. Add some apple, cinnamon or star anise and you have this week cocktail, Mulled Cider.

Any mulled drink is an enjoyable drink to have on a winter’s night with your feet up next to the fire and mulled cider is one of our favourites. That said, we are always happy to have a mulled drink when it is available.

25th November 2016

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Cocktail of the Week | Purple Monster

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With Halloween creeping ever closer, the ghoulish activities start to take over. We have pulled out the ‘BOO’ candleholder and our pumpkin is going to be carved this weekend. We have also started to stock up on the treats for any trick or treating monsters that might appear at our door! Any excuse for a party also means a need for a cocktail. With that in mind, we decided to try our hand at making our own Halloween themed cocktail. For our creation, this week’s cocktail is the ‘Purple Monster’.

We have been making cocktails each week for six months now and hopefully something has started to rub off on our own skills in cocktail making. Here’s hoping our researching, mixing and sampling will pay off! Additionally, looking in the drinks cabinet we found some of the lesser-used bottles and tried to find a cocktail to make use of them. I am not entirely sure what we will be making from the Amarula, but the rest are suitably coloured to make something interesting! We found a few cocktails that used the ingredients we have, but none that we wanted to try leading us to give our own mix a go. Based on our knowledge of colours we started out to make a purple drink.

For this week’s cocktail, you will need;

One measure of curacao
One measure of spiced rum
One measure of cranberry juice
½ measure of pineapple juice
Ice

Add the curacao, rum, cranberry and pineapple juice to a shaker filled with ice and shake well. Add some ice to a glass and pour the mix in. Nothing fancy to creating this week’s cocktail the Purple Monster.

The drink gives a suitable purple/black colour for a Halloween themed cocktail. The fruit flavours from the cranberry, pineapple and curacao do come through with the rum giving a pleasant kick. Sadly not a classic like the many we have tried, but with a bit of tweaking, we might have something!

27th October 2016

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Cocktail of the Week | Plum Sour

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As we are now in mid September, our thoughts have started to turn to autumn. Our first cocktail of autumn is making the best of the plums that are now in season. For our Cocktail of the Week we decided to go for a change from the sweet, summer inspired cocktails. We wanted to try something that could be enjoyed in the last of the sun or next to an outdoor fire. We found this one from Difford’s Guide that fitted the bill, the Plum Sour.

The Plum Sour is originally a Japanese cocktail made with sake that has evolved over many years. It falls into the sours family of cocktails. Sours were the original cocktail and classic sours, such as the margarita, kamikaze and the daiquiri can be dated back to the 1860s. The Plum Sour made its leap across from the East some time during the early 20th Century as more Japanese people moved across the world, taking the mix with them and finding an alternative to the sake to create the drink.

For this week’s cocktail, you will need:

1 fresh plum
1 plum piece for garnish
2 measures of vodka
1 measure of fresh lemon juice
½ measure of sugar syrup
½ a fresh egg white
ice

Take the plum and roughly chop it into small pieces. Use a muddler to crush the fruit into a mush. Add a good amount of ice to the shaker and add the remaining ingredients. Give the mix a good shake to cool it well. Take a glass and add some ice before pouring the cocktail in. Add the plum garnish and there you have our cocktail of the week, the Plum Sour.

If you like a sour drink, this is a good cocktail to enjoy. The egg white did make it a slightly unusual drink and something we would probably leave out if we made it again. We would also use sweeter plums to draw out a stronger plum taste.

15th September 2016

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Cocktail of the Week | Margarita

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We have been doing the cocktail of the week for a few months now and are just making a dent in the spirit collection! It seems Calum did spend much time buying spirits for no real reason! As it is now September and the last of the summer days are on us, we are squeezing the last out of them by wearing shorts and making typically summer cocktails. This week we went for a classic summer drink for Cocktail of the Week, the margarita!

The history of the margarita seems to hold many owners and no one theory or ownership sounds disputable. There are versions dating the cocktail back to 1938 and as recently as 1961 and appears to have been ‘inspired’ by many women, including Margarita Henkel, the daughter of a German Ambassador to Mexico or popularised by various people including the Hiltons (of the hotel fame). It is likely the drink comes from Mexico, although the Peggy Lee history myth has the drink coming from Texas. One thing for certain is that the drink under the name ‘margarita’ first appeared in Esquire magazine in December 1953. A cocktail called ‘Tequila Daisy’ appearing in 1930’s cocktail book, which could be an early contender for the drink as Daisy in Mexican is Margarita.

For this week’s cocktail, you will need;

2 measure tequila
1 measure triple sec
1 measure lime juice
salt

To make the cocktail, pour the ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice and shake. Once you have done that, take a plate and pour some salt on to it. Take the glass and place the rim in a few millimeters of water before placing the glass in the salt to rim the glass. Carefully place some ice in the glass without knocking off the salt and pour in the mixed drink. Garnish with a lime and you have the cocktail of the week, a Margarita.

In recent years there has been a desire for frozen margarita’s and we can safely say this is a better version of the cocktail. The lime cuts through the tequila giving you a refreshing drink perfect to soak up the last of the sun!

8th September 2016

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Cocktail of the Week | The Bee’s Knees

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On a recent trip to the Cinema, we stopped off at Bill’s beforehand to have some dinner. Whilst perusing their cocktail menu to gain a few ideas for the future cocktail of the week, we came across a cocktail called the Bee’s Knees. We were interested in this as every drink ordered; 25p is donated to the Royal Botanical Gardens campaign to highlight the importance of bees. Whilst we were not in a cocktail mood that night, we did want to try it and took a sneaky pic. To be fair to the Kew Gardens and Bill’s collaboration project, we will still be donating to the Kew Gardens Hive project.

The bees knees cocktail is a gin based cocktail that dates back to the prohibition era in the 1920’s and 30’s where a ban on alcohol was in place. The phrase ‘bee’s knees’ was a colloquial term at the time for ‘the best’. The poor quality bathtub gin was mixed with citrus, honey and other mixes to improve the taste and hide the smell of the gin. The cocktail comes in various measures and combinations depending on where you ordered the drink, for ours, we stuck with the cocktail that came from Bill’s.

For this week’s cocktail, you will need;

1 measure of gin (bath tub gin is still available if you wish to have the authentic mix!)
2 tablespoons honey syrup
Juice of one lemon
Pink lemonade
Sprig of thyme

Firstly, to make the honey syrup, use the sugar syrup I describe before on the Raspberry Collins. Replace the sugar with the same quantity of honey. In a tumbler glass, add the gin, honey syrup and lemon over ice and stir. Fill the remainder of the glass with the pink lemonade. Add the sprig of thyme and you have the bee’s knees of our cocktail of the week the Bee’s Knees!

You can have this as a virgin cocktail and tastes the same without the gin, which is useful as it was designed to hide the taste of the gin! It is a good, flavoured cocktail and definitely one to try if you don’t like gin.

1st September 2016

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Cocktail of the Week | Basil & Lime Cooler

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When we returned from France in June, we brought back a basil plant. There is something different about the way it is grown in France that gives it a stronger flavour. It has been sitting on the window sill since we returned getting used for the odd meal and we thought we should try to use it as the base flavour in our cocktails. We came across a Basil & Lime cooler on The Italian Dish blog whilst doing some research for an Italian themed meal and thought would be great to use the basil and the Cointreau we picked up on holiday.

Our basil usually ends up in the ratatouille rather than a cocktail, but being the adventurous type we are, we were up for the experience. As an ingredient, it has been around for 5,000 years and is known in some parts of the world as the ‘king of herbs’ or the ‘royal herb’. The world basil comes from the Greek word basileus. It has slightly odd cultural and fictional associations including being carried in passage to the after life or smelling too much can cause scorpions to breed in the brain and in some parts of Mexico, it is used to draw fortune. For the record, we now have two basil plants!

For this weeks cocktail, you will need;

10 small to medium basil leaves
1 Lime
2 measures of tequila
1 measure of Cointreau
1 tablespoon of simple syrup
4 measures of club soda
Ice

To make the cocktail, slice the lime in half and take one half and slice it into quarters. Add the lime and the basil to a cocktail shaker, use a muddle to extract the juices. Add some ice to the cocktail shaker, along with the remaining ingredients and give it a quick shake. Too much and you will loose the bubbles from the club soda. Stain the mix in to a glass filled with ice, garnish using the remaining lime and there you have this weeks cocktail, a Basil & Lime Cooler.

The cocktail is certainly one to keep in mind. The flavour of the basil comes through well and compliments the other ingredients perfectly. We are now thinking what other cocktails can we create or improve with basil!

4th August 2016

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How to Style an Al Fresco Bar

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During the summer we love nothing more than hosting garden parties, and what do parties need? A bar of course! Last year we created a bar from pallets for our Tiki Bar, read more about out Tiki Party here. This year we are using an old potting beach to create a rustic bar for a series of summer parties we are having. Here our our key tips for an al fresco bar:

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