Warming drinks made with dark spirits for when the days draw in.

We’re now entering a time of year when the crispness in the air and a certain back-to-school melancholy prompt a need for some of life’s richer things. Roast partridge and bacon. Mr Miles Davis. Scarves. Bourbon. Autumn may not be everyone’s favourite season, but it always has the best threads, the best palette and and, crucially, the best drinking. Summer drinks are fine for flings, but the dark spirits are so much more companionable as the evenings begin to lengthen. I’m thinking wood, smoke, maple, orchards, spice, high proof. As you ease into the season, therefore, why not take the edge off with the kind of cocktail that you can truly savour? The three below should do the trick nicely.

The martini is an all-season staple, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t refresh its accessories as the leaves turn. My inspiration here is the woodland martini, a modern classic by Mr Tony Conigliaro of 69 Colebrooke Row in north London. His version involves foraging your own botanicals from the forest floor. Mine just takes the general principle of combining gin with amontillado sherry – that’s the rich, nutty sort – and adds an extra bosky note by rinsing the glass with pine-scented liqueur. Zirbenz Stone Pine Liqueur from Austria is ideal, but I find yellow Chartreuse, Galliano or even the dreaded Jägermeister work just fine.

**Ingredients: **A dash of Alpine-style liqueur 50ml gin 25ml amontillado sherry A dash of Angostura bitters

Swirl a dash of the Alpine liqueur around a cocktail coupe so the surface is completely coated, then shake off (or sip) the excess and place the glass in the freezer. In a mixing jug, stir the gin, sherry and bitters (really just a shake) with copious amounts of ice until everything’s really cold. Garnish with an orange zest twist.

In the classic home-bartending menu The Fine Art Of Mixing Drinks, Mr David Embury lists the Jack Rose – applejack, lemon and grenadine – among his seven essential cocktails. It’s fair to say posterity has been kinder to the martini and manhattan, but come autumn, I’m always in the mood for a Jack Rose. A few minor alterations lift it to the heavens. The first is to make your own grenadine (combine one part fresh pomegranate juice with two parts golden caster sugar and warm/stir until completely dissolved). The second is to use English cider brandy instead of applejack. The Temperley family’s five-year-old Somerset is godly. The third is to use a teensy dash of a smoky Scotch – Laphroaig is perfect – to give it that bonfire note. You can keep it as a simple sour drink, but it also makes a fine long drink if you lengthen with ginger beer.

**Ingredients: ** A dash of Islay whisky (for example, Laphroaig) 50ml apple brandy 15ml lemon juice 10ml grenadine

Rinse a coupe with the Scotch so the whole surface is coated and place in the freezer while you make the cocktail. In a shaker, combine the apple brandy, lemon juice and grenadine with ice, agitate hard and fine-strain into the glass. Garnish with a lemon zest twist. If making long, pour into a tall glass filled with ice cubes, top up with ginger beer and garnish with a lemon wedge.

The late Mr Dick Bradsell, who single-handedly revived the London drinking scene in the cocktailing dark ages before expiring earlier this year, had two main claims to fame, namely his invention of undisputable modern classics the espresso martini and the bramble. His third drink, the treacle, deserves to be as widely known. It’s basically an old fashioned, made with rum and topped up with an apple juice float. Which sounds a little basic, but somehow the apple juice is the ideal means of refreshing the old fashioned, turning it into something toothsome and endlessly sippable. Use a good fresh one, such as Copella, and a rich, spicy Jamaican rum.

Ingredients: 50ml dark rum 5ml golden sugar syrup (2:1 sugar:water) A dash of Angostura bitters 25ml apple juice

Make a basic old fashioned by patiently stirring the rum, sugar syrup and plenty of bitters with large and rugged lumps of ice in a squat tumbler. Carefully float the apple juice on top by pressing a spoon to the side of the glass and trickling the liquid down. Garnish with an orange zest twist.