Al fresco drinking is a tough old thing, isn't it? Between transporting all your ingredients to the park/beach/festival ground/wherever, figuring out a way to mix and decant your ingredients into a drinking vessel and trying to keep the whole thing cool, it's a total flipping nightmare. Luckily, we've got a most excellent solution for you; cocktails that you MAKE FIRST AT HOME. Genius!
Here's how to do it...
Top Tip One – Wash up well
Obviously you should wash your bottle/container/mason jar/whatever vessel you’ve deemed worthy to carry your pre-made cocktail in. But! If you’re washing in hot water (the obvious choice) then make sure you’ve allowed said vessel to fully cool before pouring your ingredients in to make sure you get the best taste.
Top Tip Two – DON’T overfill
It’s basic science guys but just in case your Double B in GSCE science is a long forgotten memory, allow us to refresh it. When liquids freeze, they expand and, if you’ve made your batch in a bottle, overfilling might explode the bottle and/or pop the lid off which would be a total disaster. Also, steer clear of fizzy liquids for similar reasons.
Top Tip Three – Be CLEVER with your ingredients
Obviously, pre-making anything with eggs, cream or milk is a very bad, no good, terrible idea. Curdling is not your friend. Also, fresh green herbs are a bit silly. Leave them in anything for too long and they’ll over infuse making your cocktail bitter.
Top Tip Four – Keep it simple
Chucking a whole bunch of spirits in together and giving it a shake is a terrible idea. Keep your batch cocktail to one or two spirits for simplicity reasons but also to prove what a cocktail connoisseur you are. People don’t realise just how much effort goes into making spirits so do your best not to disguise the flavours that are already there.
Top Tip Five – If you’re going all out, get crafty
If you’ve got a coolbox to transport them in, pre-prepare a whole bunch of cocktails in zip-lock bags with a garnish and a straw already packed inside the bag. How’s that for efficiency? If you're very committed, check out these collapsible bottles which will also work a treat. A cocktail that’s good for this is a Bombay Sapphire Negroni. It’s one part Martini Bitters, one part Martini Rosso with an orange peel twist.
Top Tip Six – A Cosmo is always a good shout when it comes to pre-making
And here's how to make it...
450ml Grey Goose Citron
250ml Cointreau
300ml Cranberry Juice
Mix all the ingredients together and bottle into something cool. They don’t need to be kept in the fridge.
Add 100ml of mix and 20ml of freshly squeeze lime juice and shake.
Make sure you take plenty of ice to dilute before serving.
Garnish in the traditional cosmo manner with a flamed orange zest.
Top Tip Seven – As is a Negroni
250ml Bombay Sapphire Gin
250ml Martini Bitters
250mls Martini Rosso
100mls Water
3 Orange Zests
Mix all the ingredients together and bottle into something cool. They don’t need to be kept in the fridge.
Make sure you have/take plenty of ice to dilute.
Get more amazing cocktail recipes over on the Mixed Cocktails website.
Like this? Then you might also be interested in:
How To Have A Grown-Up Dinner Party To Pretend You’re Actually A Grown-Up
The Best Cities To Go On A Mini Break To If All You Want To Do Is Drink Excellent Cocktails
How To Make One Bottle Of Vermouth Into Five Very Excellent Different Cocktails
Follow Jess on Twitter @Jess_Commons
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.