Thirsty work (From Halesowen News)

Thirsty work

7:00am Saturday 27th June 2009

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Fancy a drink? Lucy Corry raises her glass to the week's best buys.

If the weather geeks can be believed, it's going to be a long, hot summer. Their predictions may turn out to be complete rubbish, but at least it's giving us all hope.

Long, hot summer days call for long, cold drinks - beads of condensation, chunks of frosty ice and just the right amount of alcohol. Too much and you'll wake up the next morning wishing for foggy greyness rather than bright sunshine - too little and you'll wonder why you bothered.

One of the best ideas I've come across so far this cocktail season comes via the fantastically-named London bartender Nick Strangeway. I'm always a bit dubious about bartenders' recipes - I couldn't recreate one of Heston Blumenthals's dishes at home, nor could I replicate a fantastic cocktail - but this couldn't be easier.

Strangeway has devised a foolproof way to make your own fruit-infused gin, which then becomes the base for some stylish drinks.

All you need to do is put 250g of fresh fruit (cherries, rhubarb, raspberries, black or red currants) and two tablespoons of sugar into a bottle of Beefeater gin, then leave to infuse for a month.

Can't wait that long? Strangeway says you can shortcut the process by putting the bottle's contents into a large Kilner jar and then placing it in the dishwasher a couple of times and leaving it to steep for a week. Strain the resulting liquid through a sieve lined with muslin and it's ready to use in the cocktail of your choice.

I think it would be equally good sipped neat from a very cold shot glass - but here's one of Nick's recommended recipes to get you started:

Rhubarb ginger apple

50ml rhubarb-infused Beefeater gin

75ml apple and rhubarb juice (or good-quality cloudy apple juice and a dash of lemon juice)

50ml ginger beer

Pour the gin and juice into a highball glass filled with ice. Stir to mix, then top with ginger beer. Garnish with a thin stick of rhubarb.

:: The great thing about a drink like this next one is that it's easy to replicate on a larger scale. If the spirit moved you, you could always use raspberry-infused gin to give a kick to this cheerful non-alcoholic cocktail, which gets its tangy flavour and pretty pink colour from Copella Apple & Raspberry Juice (widely available, RRP around £1.70 a litre bottle):

Copella raspberry fizz

For a touch of elegance, serve in sugar-crusted glasses with crystallised swizzle sticks and garnish of fresh raspberries.

1 litre Copella pure pressed Apple & Raspberry juice

Fresh raspberries

50g/2oz caster sugar

Crushed ice

4 tbsp lemon juice

6 sugar swizzle sticks

300ml (1/2 pint) soda water

Place half the caster sugar on a flat saucer or small plate and put half the lemon juice in a small bowl. Dip the rims of six glasses into the lemon juice and then into the caster sugar. Remove and allow the sugar-crusted rim to dry.

Stir the remaining caster sugar and lemon juice together until the sugar has dissolved. Pour into a large jug, stir in the Copella Apple & Raspberry juice, then add the soda water. Place some crushed ice into the six sugar-crusted glasses, pour over the Copella Raspberry Fizz, float a few raspberries on top and serve immediately with a swizzle stick for stirring. For an alcoholic alternative, pour 25ml/1 fl oz of gin per glass over the crushed ice, and top up with Copella Raspberry Fizz, stir and serve.

Drink this: Of course, if you eschew big gatherings for more intimate affairs, you could always treat a select handful of friends to some high-end tequila cocktails. In fact, if you use new Cuervo Platino, a silver tequila that has just launched in the UK, you can just serve it straight over ice.

If that seems a bit lazy, try the margarita recipe below. Be warned though, they don't talk about 'one tequila, two tequila, three tequila, floor' for nothing - one of these silky smooth cocktails counts as two units of alcohol. Indulge at your peril!

Cuervo Platino is available from Harvey Nichols (London, Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester, Edinburgh, Dublin and Leeds) and Selfridges (London, Birmingham and Manchester), RRP £55 for a 700ml bottle.

Cuervo platino margarita

50ml Jose Cuervo Platino

30ml fresh lime juice

25ml agave nectar (available from most supermarkets, look in the honey aisle)

Lime wedge

Mix ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Serve in a chilled margarita glass straight up and garnish with a lime wedge. Salt is optional.

Liquid news

:: When I was a student, most people's flats were well-stocked with shot-glasses pinched from bars, but little in the way of other useful bar kit. Drinking someone's homebrew from a jam jar at a party was a particular low point - but seemed excusable at the time.

You don't necessarily have to break out the crystal decanter, but being a grown-up party host means having a reasonable selection of drinking vessels that are fit for purpose.

Online retailer Drinkstuff (www.drinkstuff.com) is a great one-stop shop for cocktail party paraphernalia. If you have even the slightest suspicion that things may get out of hand, invest in some of their reasonably priced and relatively sturdy kit. Plastic glasses start from £1.74 each (the Midnight Martini Glasses are great fun), while a pack of four handmade LSA Jazz Cocktail Glasses is £38.91.

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