When you go out it’s all too easy to slip into familiarity. You glance at the badges glowing in front of the taps on the bar, or at the rows of bottles in the fridge behind the bartender, who stands before you ready to take your order. What do you say? Pint of lager? Small house red? Vodka, lime and soda?
Whatever you’re used to, there are so many incredible concoctions waiting to make their impressions on you. And you won’t know that perfect cocktail till you try it. So the next time you approach the bar, or the waiter comes to your table for your drinks order, tell him something different.
Leeds and York both promise amazing nights out, and you won’t have any trouble finding somewhere that will cater for your newfound tastes. Maybe you’ll discover something completely new.
Bartenders need their brilliant knowledge for a reason. So ask them: What would you recommend? What’s your favourite cocktail? If you’re still not sure, order one of the following…
Old Fashioned
This classic bourbon cocktail originally called for sugar, bitters, whiskey and water. But this is the 21st century. Make it interesting, add something fruitier and make it your own. But make sure you start with the essentials.
DIY
- 2/3 dashes Angostura bitters
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- Club soda
- 60 ml bourbon
- Place sugar cube (or 1/2 teaspoon loose sugar) in a small glass or tumbler
- Wet it down with 2 or 3 dashes of Angostura bitters and a splash of club soda
- Crush the sugar with a wooden muddler, chopstick, strong spoon, lipstick, whatever
- Rotate the glass so that the sugar grains and bitters give it a lining
- Add one large ice cube
- Pour in the bourbon
- Serve with a stirrer, and garnish with an orange or lemon slice.
Mojito
This deliciously refreshing summer classic is an acquired taste but loved by many. The following recipe can be changed up a bit if you want to use golden rum and brown sugar instead and add some extra sweetness with syrup. But the lime, sugar, rum and mint combined should be a party on the tastebuds as it is.
DIY
-
4 lime wedges
-
1 tsp superfine sugar
-
Fresh mint leaves
-
60 ml white rum
-
Club soda
-
Tall/large glass
- Crushed/cracked ice
- Squeeze lime juice into glass, muddling with the sugar
- Add mint leaves, muddling further against side of glass
- Fill glass 2/3 full with crushed/cracked ice
- Pour in rum
- Pitch in squeezed limes
- Top up with club soda
- Top glass with crushed ice
- Garnish with fresh sprig of mint.
Americano
If you need to pace yourself over the course of the night the Americano doesn’t pack quite the same punch as some of the others listed. Created by Gaspare Campari back in Italy in the 1860s, this cocktail brings together just three simple ingredients for a taste to remember.
DIY
-
45 ml Campari
- 45 ml sweet vermouth
- Club soda
- Lemon slice
- Pour the Campari and vermouth into a tall glass filled with ice
- Add splash of club soda
- Add lemon slice
Negroni
The story goes that old Count Camillo Negroni back in the early 20th century in Florence, Italy, asked his bartender to strengthen his favourite cocktail, the Americano, by swapping the usual soda for gin. After additionally swapping the lemon slice for an orange slice (to signify that it was a different drink), Negroni was left with his very own 1:1:1-ratio cocktail, which today can still be adapted to suit the modern drinker.
DIY
-
25 ml gin
- 25 ml sweet vermouth
- 25 ml Campari
- Orange slice
- Fill a short glass with ice
- Add gin, Campari and vermouth, then stir
- Add orange slice
White Russian
Favourite drink of ‘The Dude’ in cult classic comedy The Big Lebowski, this unique cocktail is the dark side of a milky coffee. It’s an acquired taste but one you won’t want to pass up if you’re given the opportunity.
-
2 parts vodka
- 1 part coffee liqueur (Kahlúa or Tia Maria)
- 1 part cream
- Cubed ice
- Put ice and all ingredients into a shaker and shake hard for 20 seconds
- Strain the mix into a glass filled with ice