If you follow me on Twitter or Instagram you may remember that at the end of May I went to a cocktail event. Joe Blogs very kindly invited me to the Copthorne Hotel at Salford Quays, it was a cocktail making event which I couldn’t possibly turn down.
I love a good cocktail and being taught how to make some just sounded like the perfect evening. I apologize if I get the instructions for cocktail making a little mixed up, though i’ll try my best to get them right.
Kentucky Storm
Ingredients:
Lime
Kentucky Bourbon
Ice
Ginger Beer
Top and tail your lime before cutting it into wedges, add 2 or 3 wedges to an empty glass and give a little squeeze of the lime juice into the glass before popping them in. Add a measure of Kentucky Bourbon, as much or as little as you like, at home I like to put in a glug which I’m sure counts as a unit of measurement! You then need to fill your glass with ice and give it a stir, you’ll find that as you move the ice it ends up looking as though you didn’t put much in so top it up! You then need to fill the glass with ginger beer, a straw, and for decoration a wedge of lime!
It’s easy and tastes delicious, easily my favorite of the evening!
Bramble
Ingredients:
Lemon
Gin
Crushed Ice
Creme de Mure
Juice a lemon into your glass, add a measure of gin, top with crushed ice, and then drizzle some creme de mure over the top and watch it make its way through all the gaps in the ice, add a straw and a couple of blackberries for garnish.
Another simple cocktail which tasted amazing!
Moijto
Ingredients:
Lime
Rum
Mint
Ice
Soda Water
Again you will need to top and tail your lime before cutting it into wedges, squeeze some of the juice into the bottom of the glass and then add in the wedges you’ve squeezed. Add a measure of rum, you can use white rum or dark rum, it’s completely up to you!. You then need to add some mint leaves, for one glass you might want to put in 3 or 4, before you add them to your glass give them a clap between your hands, this helps to release the flavor. You then need to add in your ice, and give it a stir careful not to bruise the mint, and then add extra ice if required before topping off with soda water. Add a straw, and a lime wedge for garnish, and that’s another cocktail under your belt!
Cosmopolitan
Ingredients:
Lime
Vodka
Triple Sec
Ice
Cranberry Juice
Orange
It’s time to get the cocktail shaker out, add some lime juice, a measure of vodka, a smaller measure of triple sec, and your ice into a cocktail shaker. You want to add a little cranberry juice, just so that it looks like a pastel pink, you can then go to town shaking up your cocktail. Once you’ve given it a good shake strain it into a glass. Now comes the tricky bit, slice a big piece of rind off your orange and squeeze it between your thumb and index finger, you then want to hold it close to the edge of the glass, and run a lighter over the rind, this will cause it to release oils which will go over the top of your cocktail. You can garnish with a wedge of orange or a twist of orange rind. I would advise you leave the straw behind this time, otherwise you won’t get the true taste of your cosmopolitan.
I might have made the odd mistake with my instructions, but I am relying on my memory for these, though if you want proper instructions then just head to Google where you will find many cocktail recipes.
There was also a competition to make our own cocktails, which was great fun!
I had a fab time at the event and got to meet Donna, Katie, Rach, Sarah (Rach’s friend who isn’t a blogger), Bea, Kat, and Megan.