Bronx

glass: Old Fashioned
garnish: orange slice

45ml Bombay Sapphire Gin
15ml Cinzano Rosso
15mls Cinzano Extra Dry
15mls Orange Juice

Pour all ingredients in order over ice.

If it is a bit tough-guy for your tastes, throw in an extra 15ml orange juice into it to cool it out a bit.

An Old Fashioned

glass: old fashioned
garnish: orange or lemon peel twist

60mls Jim Beam Bourbon
a sugar cube
2 dashes angostura bitters
lemon peel
a dash of soda water
lots of ice

Drop the sugar cube in the bottom of the glass and dash 2 bitters on top of it. Muddle the sugar cube until it is really well crushed up and pour 2 shots of bourbon on top. Scoop loads of ice onto the drink and splash the soda water on to wet the ice. Twist the lemon peel over the drink to release the oil and drop it in the drink.

I went to a party in Sydney last weekend where the bartender was serving cocktails and he seemed to know what he was doing so I asked him to make me a drink of his choice. He was quite happy to have someone defer to his skills and the drink he chose to make was a classic Old Fashioned. I'd never tried the drink before, but after I had one I made a couple more at home in an attempt to reproduce the drink, albeit with less fancy bourbon.

It is such a simple drink, but the bartender at the party I was at took such meticulous care that I was utterly  impressed by the attention to detail. He chose precisely the right amount of lemon peel to make the twist perfect. He chose exactly how much ice he wanted in the drink and, (I shit you not) selected the shape of the ice cubes he wanted- imagine a Japanese ikebana flower-arranger, and you are getting the idea about the care this guy put into making sure the drink looked perfect.

Pretentious? Maybe. Delicious? Absolutely.

A Smooth Daiquiri

45mls bacardi White rum
30mls fresh lime juice
15mls simple syrup
a teaspoon of egg white

Shake all ingredients vigorously over ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

A Daiquiri, but with egg-white in it. I guess you could call it a rum sour.

This version is deliciously smooth, without adding in some other fruit that takes the rum/lime original flavour away from the drink.

I have made many a flavoured daiquiri, but never had too much time for the original. Although I am a big Hemingway fan, and that makes me want to like the original, just-as-Hemingway-would-have-it version, it is just a bit too strong than my appetite for white rum allows.

I am terrifically lazy, so instead of fresh lime juice, I am using lime juice ice that I squeezed fresh and froze into approx 30mls cubes. This means that there is no lime peel oil which probably takes a little zest away from the drink, but the convenience might be worth it, especially if you want lime juice in the months when limes are freakishly expensive.

Classic Manhattan

glass: martini
garnish: a cherry. I use glace cherries on toothpicks that I buy from coles supermarket. They are dark, almost brownish in colour and very 'natural' tasting. The garnish is surprisingly important in this drink.

60mls Bourbon or Rye
30mls Red Vermouth
A dash of orange bitters

Stir over ice for 30 seconds and strain into the glass.

My Grandma's Sidecar

glass: old fashioned
garnish: garnish? Does grandma look soft to you?


60ml Brandy
30ml Cointreau
30ml lime juice

Shake over ice and strain into a glass.

Istanbul Iced Tea

Glass: Collins

Garnish: 2 lemon wedges

45ml Citrus vodka
45ml Scotch
60ml Lipton Lemon Iced Tea
60 ml Karişik Nektar
a splash of Coca Cola

Shake all ingredients except the coca-cola over ice and pour into a cold glass. Add the Coca-Cola and garnish with the lemon wedge.

In Istanbul in summer it is hot and sticky and busy. So is this drink. 'Karisik' is Turkish for mixed, I don't know if you can get this kind of juice anywhere else in the world, but substitute apricot nectar (or failing that, brekky juice) and you are getting the idea.I