Cocktail Hour: Hammer and Sickle

As Alex mentioned earlier, discovering Vana Tallinn was one of the highlights of our trip. It's a sweet liqueur (and not nearly as traditional as those Estonians would have you believe), but it's very tasty. Rather like a sweeter version of brandy. It's strong, spicy and it'll get you quite happily merry after a couple. Or five.

Alex and I have now come back with rather a lot of the stuff (for erm... cooking) and after doing a hunt for a cocktail recipe, we found this simple one with a sinister name. Apparently, according to the ever-accurate source Wikipedia it's called that because "according to local legend, it hits the drinker on the head and cuts off his legs." I'm not sure about local legend, but the rest might actually be true.

You'll need:

• Champagne
• 50ml Vana Tallinn (which you can buy in larger booze stores, and might even find in a Waitrose).

Shake it! Pour the Vana Tallinn into a champagne flute, top up with bubbly and drink. Enjoy the nice warm feeling in your tummy, and far too much giggling.

Flickr image from Camera on Autopilot's photostream.