orang-a-tang

so, sober january is out of the way and its time to get back onto the cocktails. this has a passing nod to healthiness with all the orange and line juice it contains. the cointreau, vodka and dark rum are what liven it up!

shake with ice 1 ½ shots vodka, ¾ shot cointreau, 3 shots freshly squeezed orange juice, ¾ shot lime juice, ½ shot grenadine syrup. stain into a tall ice-filled glass and float* ½ a shot of dark rum.

* i’m not sure about the value of this and preferred the drink once i’d stirred it in.

damson martini

starting the week with a cocktail is perhaps not the best idea, but when it tastes as delicious as this it is a surefire way to banish any monday blues you might have!

this is inspired by a vesper martini, which is james bond’s drink of choice in casino royale and which he names after double agent vesper lynd. the twist here is that we used homemade damson vodka rather than plain vodka, which adds a lovely fruity flavour to balance with the gin’s more floral character.

shake, with ice, 2 shots of damson vodka, 1 shot of gin and 1/2 a shot of lillet blanc. strain and serve with a twist of lemon zest.

russian cocktail

this is believed to be the first vodka cocktail to appear in print. more importantly, it is delicious and a very good way to use any homemade kirsch you have knocking around…

to make, shake with ice, 1 ½ shots vodka, ¾ of a shot of cherry brandy, ¼ of a shot of kirsch. strain into a martini glass and serve with a maraschino cherry to garnish (or not).

christmas vodka

it’s less than four weeks until christmas and this fruity christmas vodka, full of festive plum pudding flavours, is worth making a batch of. it’s utterly delicious, quick and easy to make, only taking a week to mature (making it perfect for last minutes xmas gifts) and the fruit that is leftover is wonderfully adaptable – i’m planning to use mine to make a “mincemeat” streusel tart for an upcoming party (last year it was stirred into vanilla ice cream). give it a go - the full recipe is here!

sloe and damson drinks

having collected all those damsons, plus a smaller amount of sloes, i had a blitz in the kitchen to make sure it was all put to good use. the ice cream you already know about. i also made a batch of damson and bay jam (based on this plum version).

however, the bulk of the fruit has been smothered with booze and i’m now waiting for it to mature – there is sloe gin, damson and orange gin (pictured) and damson vodka.

at the moment david and i have a daily ritual of shaking the jars to encourage the final amounts of sugar to dissolve and the fruit to give up all its flavour. it’ll be a couple of months before we can start drinking any of it but given the fruit is available now, if you want to make your own batch you’d better get a move on.

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