THE JOURNAL

It happens to the best of us. We’ve all been culprits of those diplomatic white lies – the false promise of having all your loved ones over for dinner – and next thing we know, they actually expect an invite. You’ve now got to think about tablescaping, food, wine, dessert, crackers, the whole lot. But this year, we’ll go by the rule that if you put one good drink in your guests’ hands at the start of the function, the rest will (hopefully) handle itself.
With dinner-party season in full swing, we thought we’d give you a helping hand in the hosting department and present you with six cocktail recipes from our favourite bars around the world. Whether you’re going all out or just throwing an intimate do, all you need now, really, is just some fancy glasses.
SOMA
01. Santra Paloma


Ingredients
-
35ml mezcal
-
15ml dry vermouth
-
35ml clementine cordial (see batch recipe below)
-
2 slices of green chilli
Clementine cordial
-
1l clementine juice
-
500g caster sugar
-
250ml Supasawa
Mix together well and decant into a bottle, then keep refrigerated.
Method
Shake all the ingredients, strain into a highball glass and fill with ice. Top with light tonic and garnish with a clementine wedge.
Bar Leone
02. Caffè Paradiso


Ingredients
-
60ml cold brew coffee
-
20ml sweet vermouth
-
20ml Scotch whisky
-
7.5ml honey syrup (3 parts honey: 1 part water)
-
2.5ml Bénédictine
-
Float of salted cream (for 1000g of double cream, mix 1g of sea salt)
-
1 cardamom, grated
Method
Pour all the ingredients into an Irish coffee glass or your favourite cocktail glass, and add the cream on top, then garnish with the grated cardamom.
Three Sheets
03. Dirty Martini


Ingredients
-
50ml koseret vodka (see recipe below)
-
100ml olive oil vodka (see recipe below)
-
10ml Picpoul de pinet
-
1ml sugar syrup
-
1g fleur de sel
Koseret vodka
-
2.5g rare koseret tea
-
50ml vodka
Infuse at room temperature for 30 minutes.
Olive oil vodka
-
20ml olive oil
-
100ml vodka
Mix together, freeze and strain when the olive oil has solidified (around 2 hours).
Method
Add all ingredients to a cocktail glass with ice and stir thoroughly. Strain into a chilled coupe glass and garnish with three olives on a cocktail stick.
Osip
04. Fig Leaf Negroni


Ingredients
-
40ml gin (better a floral gin, light in juniper)
-
25ml Cocchi Storico vermouth
-
25ml fig-infused Campari
Method
Chill and dilute, then serve over an ice cube. Garnish with a coin cutout from a fig leaf. For the fig-leaf Campari, infuse a bottle of Campari for 2 days with 5-6 fig leaves.
Town
05. Dill Boy Martini


Ingredients
-
0.1g sea salt
-
25ml chilled mineral water
-
10ml Noilly Prat dry vermouth
-
20ml Aalborg dill akvavit
-
50ml Luksusowa vodka (or another potato vodka)
Method
Scale the recipe as required and bottle. Place the bottle in the freezer for 2-3 hours before serving. Serve in small martini glass (approx. 4-5.5oz). Garnish with a sprig of fresh dill or a few drops of dill oil.
The Palmerston
06. The Lord Burnsie


Ingredients
-
50ml Adelphi private stock
-
35ml Port of Leith oloroso sherry
-
4 dashes Angostura bitters
Method
Combine the ingredients in a shaker over ice and stir. Serve in a chilled Nick & Nora glass. Garnish with an orange twist.