The boy and his poison: The Domestic Spritz

Domestic Sluttery might be drawing to a close this afternoon but the show isn’t over ‘til the sardonic cocktail correspondent sings. Firstly let's celebrate Team DS's occasionally questionable drink tastes. Laura B went for the whisky sour, Caleigh is into a cheeky Godfather and I swooned at Laura H and Frances's gin focused French 75/Bramble conundrum. Gemma made a heartfelt plea for the promise of a decently made Cosmo and Sara championed the Pornstar Martini (it makes one HELL of a shooter).

What about your editor in chief, the original Domestic Slut? It turns out that Sian has a thing for the retro erm... 'classic' – the Piña Colada. She'll help save your Dad’s Christmas present, pick that perfect first date restaurant, find the perfect interior design goodies and make you an incredible sandwich but she still can't choose a classy cocktail. No matter, I’m issuing a ‘pass go and collect £200 worth of pina coladas’ card especially for her; Let's rustle up the coconut cream and get that rum going.

I can’t say goodbye to this amazing blog without a bespoke drink to unite this stylish but disparate crowd. Tonight we shall be drinking more than one Domestic Spritz.

There had to be bubbles. This is something of a bittersweet goodbye so there’s some Aperol and sugar syrup in there too. And what would a summer drink be without some strawberries? I hope I did everyone justice in this final drink and if anyone needs a suave dipsomaniac, I'm @nicksmith on Twitter. Raise a glass and keep it tipsy, everyone.

The Domestic Spritz (makes one, but surely you know how this goes)

You’ll need:

• 5 medium strawberries
• 25ml Aperol
• 25ml Sugar syrup
• Prosecco to top up
• Strawberry to garnish

Make it:

1. Add the strawberries and aperol to a cocktail shaker or something you can bash them to death in
2. Pulp the strawberries. You can do this either in a blender or by pummelling them with a rolling pin in a cocktail shaker
3. Strain the pulp in a sieve
4. Add 25ml of the strained pulp to a champagne glass
5. Add 25ml of sugar syrup to the glass
6. Top up with champagne
7. Garnish with a strawberry
8. Shed a tear in memory of an awesome blog and smile.

The Definitive Domestic Sluttery Cocktail Roundup

Over the years, the Domestic Sluttery writers have collected enough bottles of booze to open a medium-sized bar. We've also had the very best cocktail barman to mix our drinks for us. Cocktail Nick has been mixing, infusing, muddling and shaking for The Boy and His Poison for three years. He's created a cut out and keep cocktail guide and he's written the only guide to glassware you'll ever need. He's the only chap in a team of very noisy women and for that he deserves a martini medal. Here's our definitive Domestic Sluttery cocktail guide.

Of course, our favourite of Nick's concoctions is the brilliant Hendrick's gin sorbet. No need to go searching for our top gin recipes, we've compiled them all for you (honestly, he's all about the gin martini). And we've rounded up our top summer cocktails.

Sloe gin jelly with a scoop of lemon sorbet on the top is your new favourite 'friends coming over for tea' pudding. We've even got a sloe gin recipe for you. If you got any left after all of your jelly making, pop it in a Wibble.

We're going a bit crazy for Negronis at the moment (Frances is celebrating her birthday in Franks tonight). Join us for a negroni gin float. Or a Ms Negroni. Or even a slice of negroni pie (yep, still baking with our booze). Try The Professional if you fancy a twist on the classic.

Damn we love a peach cocktail. This peach and mint julep is one of our favourites. Or you could make a peach and bourbon smash. And do pop some gin and processo in our peach and mint iced tea.

The Greyhound is a truly excellent cocktail but we mainly love it because the piece of lime looks like a dolphin.

It's very, very likely that team DS is going to be drinking applejacks at some point this week. Make sure you also try our apple pie flip.

Remember when we made gin glow in the dark to celebrate Doctor Who? The Sonic Screwdriver is a wonderful thing. So's our Batman-inspired Dark Knight cocktail. Don't get Nick talking about Anne Hathaway.

Damn the Scofflaw is a gorgeous colour, isn't it? To make the most of those martini glasses, an archangel, a London sour, martinez or a Nicola 6 will keep you tipsy until Thursday. And the Eastside? That's the perfect summer drink.

Let's just take a second to admire the Three Kings Cobbler. And then let's make some.

We like infusing things. A lot. Give Nick a jar and some booze and a couple of weeks of impatient 'is it ready yet?' whining and he'll whip you up a great cocktail. You must try his bacon bourbon immediately (and then put it in an old fashioned with a slice of candied bacon on the side). Veggie? Try our apply pie bourbon. If vodka is more your thing, infuse some with strawberries and basil. While you're spending weeks making booze, check out our collection of booze gifts. There's limoncello and rhubarb and custard vodka.

You don't just have to put whisky in your old fashioned. This tequila old fashioned is a thing of beauty. If you've still got a tequila craving, try our chilli and lemongrass margarita or watermelon cooler.

We aren't really shot drinkers (seriously, sambucca really needs to crawl in a hole and die), but there's one exception: the crack baby. We aren't responsible for your falling over. This week we'll also be making one too many Sluttery pitchers, which we thought was a brilliant drink to serve at our book launch. Someone had to go out and get more vodka, someone's mother spent a large part of the evening loudly insisting it was just fruit juice.

We are a huge fan of the hangover-busting breakfast cocktail. If you need to clear away the cobwebs, try a Corpse Reviver #2 or a breakfast martini (comes with toast!) A bloody mary martini will have you back to your old self in no time. The mid-morning reviver was written in celebration of our first appearance on BBC Woman's Hour. We did not partake before we went on air.

And of course, someone has to have The Last Word.

The Boy and his Poison: The Black Rat

This is a deceptively simple yet incredible long-cocktail. However, it's actually my brother's recipe. Last weekend, for his wedding, he not only sourced the drink, he also selected special glassware and left specific instructions for the bar staff to make it... and all this effort just for the head table where I was sat as the best man. It was in part a thank-you for the purgatory of the lead-up to the day, but his main motivation was a concession to what he called my 'recreational cocktail snobbery'.

It turned out to be the saviour of my role, providing much needed fuel for my speech. The hit of rum with the tang of orange and sweet fizz of the cola makes for a fantastic summer drink. So, welcome to a sophisticatedly tasty twist on a rum and coke - the Black Rat.

You’ll Need

• 75ml Rum
• 100ml Orange Juice
• Dash of Cola
• Dash of White Rum
• Squeeze of lime (optional)
• Dash of Angostura Butters (optional)
• Crushed ice

Make it

1. Pour the rum and orange juice in a shaker with a squeeze of lime and stir.
2. Fill a small glass or preferably a drink jar with crushed ice (if you don’t have any crushed ice just batter some ice cubes in a resealable bag with a rolling pin).
3. Strain the orange and rum over the ice. 
4. Pour over a dash of cola, a dash of white rum and a drop of angostura bitters.
5. Garnish with a slice of lime and serve with a straw.

The Boy and his Poison: The Pickleback

When life hands you crackling, you make picklebacks.

The pickleback is an American BBQ staple which started popping up in London a few years ago as the BBQ meat scene established itself. It's a simple serve of a shot of irish whisky followed by a shot of the pickling juice from the pickles you'd be served along with your slow braised cuts of meat. It sounds wrong, but it's a delicious combination.

You can use a shot of pickle juice from a shop-bought jar of pickle or you can go all out and make your own. Either way, the Pickleback is going to unexpectedly going to become your new favourite drink. The pork scratching really isn't optional, but you knew that already.

The Pickleback
You will need:

• A nice bottle of Irish whisky (personally I prefer bourbon/rye)
• 250ml cider vinegar
• 25g salt
• 200g sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon mustard seed
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 2 Sprigs of dill
• 1 Cucumber
• 2 Shallots
• Roasted pork scratching (you've probably already bookmarked our pork scratching recipe)

To make the pickle:

1. Add the water, cider vinegar, salt, sugar, ginger, turmeric and mustard seeds to a medium sized saucepan
2. Bring to a boil and continue to boil for 5 more minutes.
3. Slice cucumbers (I decided to go for a mix of quartered and sliced), finely slice the shallots and rip the dill into four pieces.
4. Drop your ingredients into a clean jar and pour over the pickling juice
5. Leave to cool for an hour then refrigerate for at least a day.

Now Serve:

1. Pour a 50ml shot of your whisky 
2. Strain a 50ml shot of your cold pickle juice
3. Knock them back in that order and be prepared for your love affair with the Pickleback to begin.

The Boy and his Poison: The Ball Girl

A Brazilian-themed cocktail didn't seem fitting now we're out of the World Cup so we instead get to go the route of Wimbledon, Englishness and a drink that captures the essence of Summer.

With an unashamedly heavy gin base, this drink cuts the sunshine sourness of lemon with a little slug of elderflower cordial. It then gets a foamy lift from shaken egg white, which gives it that perfect lip teasing finish. Light on the booze but heavy on flavour, it's a great gin sour variant to sit back with and enjoy the court-side action. If you have enough of them, it might even help to relax those crossed fingers.

You'll need:

• 50ml gin (the stronger the better)
• 25ml lemon juice
• 25ml elderflower cordial
• 1 egg white

Make it!

1. As this cocktail uses egg white, start by adding all your ingredients to a cocktail shaker.
2. Shake thoroughly for 10 seconds to get the air into the egg white.
3. Add a handful of ice.
4. Shake again for a further 10 to 15 seconds to chill the drink down to a summer-beating temperature.
5. Strain into a coupe or martini glass. You may need to coax the last bit of foam into the drink without straining, but make sure not to waste any. It's far too tasty for that. 

The Boy and His Poison: The Spitfire

Ok, first off, it's National Gin Day on Saturday so if you haven't made your kebabs with a sorbet desert, or perused my favourite gin cocktails, then shame on you. However this week will belong to the Spitfire.

Picture the scene… a long overdue parental visit, a well scoped-booze cupboard and a crowd of relatives who know what they hate but want to try something they'll love. The best thing about this drink is that almost everyone will have the ingredients knocking about. Essentially a brandy sour with a slug of white wine, this beautiful recipe is within reach of even the most thrifty cocktail enthusiast. The sour base is delicious but just like the addition of red wine in the New York Sour, the white wine nudges it to the next level.

You will need:

• 50ml brandy
• 25ml lemon juice
• 20ml sugar syrup (or substitute for agave/runny honey. I won't tell anyone) 
• 20ml white wine (preferably dry)
• 1 egg white

Make it!

1. Add the ingredients to a cocktail shaker. 
2. Dry shake for 10 seconds.
3. Add ice.
4. Shake for a further 10 seconds until chilled. 
5. Strain into a coupe or cocktail glass.

The Boy and His Poison: The Watermelon Baja

Hangovers, together we can all beat them. That was the mantra I repeated to myself as I crawled out of bed following a stag-do chiefly populated with Scotsmen determined to drink the entire of East London dry. Bloody Marys were out (too dense and savoury) my blood was 30% gin (so no Corpse Revivers) and by that point I was beyond even the help of champagne. What I needed was a boozy, sugary fix with a hint of bitterness to wake up my beer-deadened tastebuds. When I read the ingredients of a Watermelon Baja I knew I'd found my saviour.

The first thing that hits you is the amazing freshness from the watermelon but what really makes this drink moreish is the way the ingredients complement each other. The honey balances the sourness of the grapefruit, which in turn accentuates the bitterness of the Aperol and that cuts into the sweetness of the watermelon. It's a damn fine drink and a hangover crushing machine, with all its parts working in perfect harmony. Now, ideally, you should use Cachaca for this but seriously, you try finding Cachaca in a Sainsburys Local. White rum works just fine.

You will need:

• 50ml white rum
• 25ml Aperol
• 75ml grapefruit juice
• 200ml chilled blended watermelon
• A squeeze of honey
• Mint (optional, it really depends how crap your Sainsbury's local is)

Make it:

1. Pulp your watermelon using a hand blender, reserving a wedge for a swanky tiki style garnish. If, like me, you don't have the sort of fridge real estate for a whole watermelon, you're going to want to chill the pulp for at least half an hour before you use it. 
2. Next add the rum, Aperol, grapefruit juice and honey to a cocktail shaker.
3. Dry shake until the honey has mixed in.
4. Add ice to the shaker.
5. Shake until chilled.
6. Now to assemble the drink. Pour 200ml of your watermelon pulp into a tall glass.
7. Strain the rum and Aperol mix over the watermelon.
8. Stir for a few seconds with a bar spoon.
9. Slice a wedge of the reserved watermelon and rest on the side of the glass and finish with a smacked sprig of mint. It's best enjoyed through a wide straw.

The Boy and his Poison: The Bourbon and Peach Smash

I've been toying with the idea of starting up a lucrative sideline in cocktail making as therapy. There's no shortage of anxiety quashing adjectives at play in most of my recipes. I've had you pulverising fruit, burning brandy, smacking herbs, beating eggs - in fact, I'm starting to think I'm more cocktail sadist than cocktail curator.

After a particularly stressful start to the week, I decided that the only thing for it was to make the most violent sounding drink I could. Introducing the Bourbon and Peach Smash, with a garnish of smacked thyme. Syrupy, fruity and fragrant, this is definitely one of my sweeter drinks, but the tiny hit of lemon and aroma from the thyme balance it perfectly. I'll take that over a session of yoga any time.

You will need:

• 50ml of bourbon (a nice and strong one like Wild Turkey but rye also works really well)
• 25ml Grand Marnier/curacao
• 17ml Honey or agave (the runnier the better)
• 17ml Lemon juice
• 1 Peach
• 1 Sprig of thyme

Make it!

1. Add the bourbon, Grand Marnier, honey and lemon juice to a shaker.
2. Dice the peach and add to the shaker.
3. Muddle (i.e. pulvarise) the peach with the a rolling pin. PEACHSMASH!
4. Shake without ice for 5-10 seconds.
5. Add ice and shake again for 5-10 seconds (really exorcise the horror of your day).
6. Strain into a cocktail glass.
7. Take your thyme and smack it against a work top to release the oils, and rest it on the glass.
8. And relax...

The Boy and His Poison: The New York Sour

I really like this drink. Really really like it. I may have liked this drink so much that over the course of the last weekend, I exhausted my entire bourbon reserves. I may also have severely dented a bottle of red-wine as a result of its deliciously irresistible final flourish.

For the uninitiated, this drink is to all intents and purposes like a conventional sour but with the addition of a delicious red wine float. Try it and you'll never look back.

You'll need:

• 50ml of bourbon or rye
• 25ml lemon juice
• 25ml sugar syrup (or agave if you want to be lazy, you probably want to be lazy)
• 25ml of red wine

Then shake it!

1. Add the whisky, lemon juice and sugar syrup to a cocktail shaker.
2. Add ice.
3. Shake for 10 seconds.
4. Strain into a tumbler.
5. Slowly pour the red wine over a bar spoon into the glass, creating a layer of red wine that sits on top of the sour.

The Boy and his Poison: Basil and Strawberry Infused Vodka

My life has taken on a nocturnal twist since I found I was living opposite a cruelly sadistic nest of birds. They decided to start their campaign of harassment in March and have shown no interest in giving up their incessant morning chorus for two months now. On the plus side it's led to some productive internet foraging… what else is there to do at 3am? One early morning, a tweet led to a blog, a blog led to an instagram picture, and suddenly I'd stumbled on an article about how well basil and strawberry work as complimentary flavours. Cue me drifting off to sleep dreaming of basil and strawberry-infused vodka.

With an incredible taste and colour imparted by the strawberries and a complex savoury note from the basil, it's a deceptively simple flavoured vodka to make which is delicious served ice cold or as a base for any number of drinks. In particular it makes a fantastic Collins or, if you like your drinks shorter, a moreish Sour.

You'll need

• A sterilised container (if you're going to gift this Parfait make the best ones)
• 500ml vodka
• 6 strawberries
• 10 basil leaves

Make it! 

1. Slice the strawberries and layer them around the bottom of your jar. 
2. Strip the leaves from the basil stems and prod them between the strawberries. 
3. Pour over the vodka until all the fruit and leaves are covered.
4. Seal and leave in a dark place for a week to let the flavours infuse. Your strawberries will release their colour as well as their flavour, so don't be worried if they start looking like zombie strawberries a few days in.
5. After a week, strain the vodka using a coffee filter or muslin into a bottle of your choice

For a Strawberry Basil Collins:

1. Add 50ml of your vodka with a dessert spoon of sugar and 25ml of lemon juice to a highball glass and stir until mixed. 
2. Fill the glass with ice, top up with sparkling water and stir.

For a Strawberry Basil Sour:

1. Add 50ml of your vodka with a dessert spoon of sugar and 25ml of lemon juice to an ice-filled cocktail shaker and shake for 5-10 seconds.
2. Strain into a martini glass and garnish with a basil leaf and a sliced strawberry on the side of the glass.

The Boy and His Poison: The Applejack

Sometimes it pays to be an opportunist when seeking out new cocktail recipes. Never was this more true than last week - whilst ostensibly I was visiting my family for Mother's Day, what I was secretly excited about was the unopened bottle of calvados somewhere in their garage meaning I'd finally be able to test whether this cocktail (with its apple, citrus and smokey maple flavours) was as delicious as it sounded.

The good news, as a very merry set of mothers and grandmothers can attest, is it is. In some respects this drink shares a number of flavour similarities with the apple-pie old fashioned, but here the tastes are far more pronounced and immediately apparent. Similar in construction to a Sidecar, the maple syrup does incredible things to the mixture of orange and lemon juice which in turn balances perfectly with the calvados. By far the best part of the recipe is the cinnamon sugar rim: it's ridiculously easy to make but the sand-like colours and the extra flavours it gives the cocktail are amazing.

You'll need:

• 50ml calvados, but you can substitute with brandy, or even bourbon and rye.
• 25ml lemon juice
• 25ml orange juice
• 25ml maple syrup
• 3tbsp fine caster sugar
• 1tbsp cinnamon

Make it! 

1. Add your calvados, lemon juice, orange juice and maple syrup to a shaker.
2. Dry shake for a few seconds to blend the syrup with the rest of the ingredients.
3. Meanwhile in a shallow bowl wide enough to accommodate a martini glass, mix your sugar and cinnamon together.
4. Wet the rim of your martini glass and dip it into the cinnamon sugar mix.
5. Add the ice to the shaker.
6. Shake for 5-10 seconds.
7. Strain into your sugar-rimmed martini glass.

The Boy and His Poison: Apple Pie Old Fashioned

This particular drink will require a little preparation and a lot of love. The idea of an Apple Pie Old Fashioned owes a massive debt of thanks to a recent visit to Spuntino's where I spied a bottle of apple pie bourbon. Fast-forward several hours and I awake, dry-mouthed with the words 'make apple-pie bourbon' scrawled on my wrist in ballpoint pen.

There's nothing like a Memento-esque instruction to make me want to figure out how to concoct a drink. Having shaken the hangover (courtesy of a lot of bacon), I proceeded to grab a bottle of bourbon, some vanilla pods, cinnamon sticks and a tart granny smith apple. I'll warn you in advance, nurturing your fledgling infusion is a responsibility (a little like a 'fun-time' sour dough starter base): you’ll shake it, sniff it, and generally get to know it like a flatmate for a few days. But, with just a little investment of time, the drink is incredible. A warm rounded flavour, inviting colour and slow reveal on the tongue makes all the effort worth it. Plus, if you don't drink it all, it can also be used to spike all your apple deserts.

For the Apple Pie Bourbon 

You’ll need

• A bottle of your favourite bourbon (rye works equally well, just avoid whisky) 
• A clean jar
• 1 cinnamon stick broken into three
• 1 vanilla pod
• 1 Granny Smith apple sliced finely

Make it! 

1. Pour the bourbon/rye into a jar.
2. Add the sliced apple and make sure it's completely covered with the liquid. 
3. Add the dried ingredients and shake. 
4. Leave in a cool dark place to infuse.
5. Give it a little agitation once a day, and a sniff to remind yourself what you have to look forward to. Three days and it should be perfect, but if you think it needs longer trust your tastebuds.

For the Apple Pie Old Fashioned 

You’ll need:

• 50ml of your lovingly prepared apple pie bourbon/rye
• 2 dashes of angostura bitters 
• A sugar cube

Shake it:

1. Add a sugar cube to a large tumbler. 
2. Soak in angostura bitters before crushing with the back of a bar spoon. 
3. Once dissolved, add 50ml of the apple pie bourbon. 
4. Stir gradually until dissolved. 
5. Garnish with a fine apple slice.

The Boy and His Poison: The Tocca Rossa

I've decided to launch a pre-emptive strike against March. It's an unreliable month at best and we all deserve a tipple that can bring a bit of sunshine into our lives regardless of the season, so let me introduce to you the Tocca Rossa.

I would love this drink to be this year's Aperol Spritz, so much so that I will be actively foisting it on my brother as his wedding aperitif later this year. With the elderflower and Campari base perfectly balanced between complex bitterness and sugary earthiness, the delicious assault this one will make on your senses is completed by the bubbly prosecco and fragrant mint garnish.

This one's for you if you're the type of person that delights in your friends being unable to place how you've made 'that amazing cocktail'. Bring on the summer.

You'll need:

• 50ml Campari
• 50ml elderflower cordial
• Prosecco to top up
• Mint leaves

Make it!:

• Add the Campari and elderflower to a deep wine glass.
• Stir until mixed.
• Top up with Prosecco or Cava as desired.
• Add a few mint leaves.
• Add a large ice cube (this ice tray comes recommended).
• Garnish with mint and wait for the sun to start shining. 

The Boy and His Poison: The Marmalade Mule

It’s hard to believe there are occasionally pitfalls to being a self-critical, semi-professional lush. Nevertheless sometimes you can get dragged into particularly difficult to solve situations. Like having to cater to the drink demands of 15 people with only the ingredients of the local corner shop.

The Marmalade Mule was the result. At 3pm I was sent out on a drinks-run to celebrate someone’s birthday, with instructions to avoid champagne (apparently this causes hooking up with people you shouldn’t at work, who knew?) my instincts drifted to vodka. Ideally you’d make this drink with a bottle of Chase Marmalade vodka but in the absence of a nearby Waitrose, improvisation was key. A jar of marmalade, some reasonably pure vodka (I opted for Russian Standard which imparted a much softer taste on this drink) and a decent cloudy ginger beer later, I had the makings of an excellent corner shop cocktail. 

The Marmalade Mule (makes one, but scales easily)
You’ll need: 

• 50ml Vodka 
• 1 dessert spoon of marmalade 
• A bottle of cloudy ginger beer 
• 1 Lime halved (for garnish) 

Make it: 

1. Add the marmalade and vodka to a cocktail shaker. 
2. Stir until mixed.
3. Drain into a tumbler. 
4. Add ice and top up with ginger beer. 
5. Squeeze half a lime into the drink. 
6. Garnish with the remainder of the lime.

The boy and his poison: Rhubarb and Rose Bellini

As a consummate romantic I couldn't let Valentine's day slip by without bestowing a little gift to the readers of Domestic Sluttery. Girls may come and go but you know you're all my favourite, right?

This little gem came about courtesy of a trip to the newly reopened and always wonderful Polpetto, a cute little bàcaro tucked away in London's Soho. The only problem was the issue of rhubarb being a little late in season and me feeling particularly lazy and cunning in my approach to recreating their delicious cocktail.

My solution was in syrup-canned rhubarb. Tinned anything doesn't instantly evoke sexy-valentine's shenanigans, however, it's a romantic holiday (believe me you have better things to do than simmering perversely phallic fruit in sugary water) and you can always turn the rest into any number of amazing things. Add a dash of sugar syrup (or a tiny squeeze of agave/runny honey) to compensate for the weak nature of the rhubarb syrup and serve, let's just keep the whole 'tinned' thing to ourselves.

You'll need:

• 75ml of the syrup from a tin of rhubarb-in-syrup
• A dash of rose essence
• A dash of sugar syrup/runny honey/agave
• Prosecco

Make it!:

1. Strain the can into a measuring jug.
2. Add 75ml of the syrup to a champagne glass or tumbler.
3. Add 5ml of Rose essence to the glass.
4. Add a dash of the sugar syrup/runny honey/agave.
5. Stir thoroughly until mixed.
6. Top up with prosecco.

The boy and his poison: Our Dirty Secret

Writing cocktail recipes is an amazing form of therapy. I could easily have filed this week into the 'compound bad news' category. However, bad news for me means a lovable, roguish cocktail-correspondent, stumbling home in the early evening, excitedly debating how he could make something spectacular for Domestic Sluttery readers using just the ingredients he had in his fridge.

Inspiration struck around 2am as a coke can came (somewhat) into focus and the outcome is a drink that has now appointed itself to my fortnightly cocktail rotation like it always belonged there. With a little work, the ‘secret syrup’ (aka cola reduction) can be easily achieved. Add that that to some bourbon and kirsch and you have a deceptively complex cocktail.

You’ll need:

• 50ml Bourbon/Rye
• 50ml Secret Syrup
• 25ml Kirsch
• 10ml or a hefty squeeze of lime juice
• A can of coke

Make the syrup:

1. Add the can of cola to a small saucepan.
2. Bring the coke to a simmer.
3. Simmer until the liquid has reduced by half.
4. Leave to cool then, decant to a small bottle.

Now shake:

1. Add the bourbon, syrup, kirsch and lime to a cocktail shaker.
2. Dry shake for a couple of seconds.
3. Add ice to the shaker.
4. Shake again for 10 seconds.
5. Strain into a chilled glass.
6. Garnish with a cherry.

The boy and his poison: Jimmy's Cranachan

It's Burns Night tomorrow and as a quarter-Scottish semi-professional-lush it would be remiss of me not to mark the occasion with a cocktail that celebrates the pinnacle of Celtic distilling, whisky. There's a bit of a hitch here, I love single malt, and you don't need to adulterate it in cocktails. I'm partial a whisky sour or rusty nail but neither recipe really seemed to do Robbie's Scottishness justice. So I set about trying to create the highlands in a glass.

Borrowing heavily from the the constituent parts of Cranachan, this drink infuses whisky with oats, compliments a gentle ginger heat with the warming taste of lavender honey and then cuts through it all with a little lemon. Think of it as an oaty hot-toddy martini. As this is the first year I don't get to chat haggis with my grandfather, I've decided the cocktail should have his name. Drink it with excellent people this weekend.

You'll need:

• 75ml oat infused whisky (instructions below)
• 25ml heather honey
• 25ml lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp of grated ginger

For the whisky:

1. Add a handful of oats to a jar.
2. Pour the whisky over the oats and seal the jar.
3. Agitate the jar and leave to infuse for at least 24 hours.

And to make the cocktail:

1. Strain the whisky using a bar strainer or sieve into a cocktail shaker making sure to press the booze soaked oats to extract all the Scotch.
2. If your honey is quite stiff, microwave it for a few seconds to loosen it then add it to the whisky along with the lemon juice.
3. Using a microplane grater, grate about half a teaspoon of ginger into the shaker.
4. Shake to get the honey mixed, add ice, and then shake again for a few seconds.
5. Strain into a martini glass.

The Boy and his Poison: The Ms. Negroni

I think there's still time to slip in a legitimate happy new year to all you lovely dipsomaniacs. To you detoxers and dryathaletes, good luck, but having stupidly dallied with sobriety last January, this year I'll be dodging abstinence and making sure I support all those brave January hedonists instead. So let's ease into this month with something full of winter-fruit tastes but with a hint of new year optimism, the Ms. Negroni.

Hazily reverse engineered from a pre-Christmas trip to a little bar called Tozi, this cocktail takes a negroni base, then spikes it with a tart hit of blackberries and softens the Campari bitterness with a shot of Chambord. So if you're usually a little cautious with bitter drinks, definitely give this one a go. You can thank me later for suggesting this gateway drink into all those delicious Italian cocktails you'll be knocking-back at barbecues in six-months time.

You'll need:

• 50ml gin
• 50ml sweet vermouth
• 25ml Campari
• 25ml Chambord
• 8 blackberries

Make It:

1. In a shaker, muddle five of the blackberries with the gin.
2. Add the sweet vermouth, Campari and Chambord. 
3. Drop in a handful of ice before shaking vigorously for ten seconds. 
4. Strain into a small tumbler. 
5. Garnish with the remaining blackberries.
6. Sip and choose to forget a few of your most boring new year resolutions. 

The Boy and His Poison Festive Double: The Brown Sugar Flip and The Damson Sour

I hope, like me, it may feel like there was barely a beat between that last late-August margarita and that cheeky early-December sip of port … but here's to you – the boozy dreamers, the relentlessly amazing party hosts. The lovely Ape and Bird is the inspiration behind these recipes. Having had a near death experience Christmas shopping at the weekend (if you think I'm using hyperbole, you weren't there), that boozy shrine took me in with welcome arms and a couple of hours later I'd forgotten about all my troubles and was happily mumbling to myself about brown sugar syrup.

COCKTAIL ONE: Brown Sugar Flip
You'll need: 

For the syrup:

• 40g brown sugar
• 50ml water

For the drink:

• 50ml brown sugar syrup
• 50ml bourbon or rye (even blended scotch is fine, but don't waste the single malt)
• A dash of angostura bitters
• 1 whole egg

Make it:

First make the syrup: 

1. Drop your sugar into a small milk pan and turn the heat onto your gentlest setting and add the water. 
2. Stir gently for 5-10 minutes until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture has begun to reduce.
3. Decant to a small bottle and allow to cool. 

Now the drink!:

1. Add the syrup, bitters and bourbon to a shaker. 
2. Break the whole egg into the shaker (and ignore the fact you're about to drink a whole egg - just trust it'll taste amazing)
3. Dry shake the ingredients without ice for a few seconds until blended. 
4. Then add some ice to the shaker and shake for another 5-10 seconds. 
5. Strain into a small tumbler before grating nutmeg over the top of the glass (or just use a pinch of the ground stuff). 

If that's not quite enough syrupy goodness for this festive period, let's move on to cocktail two...

COCKTAIL TWO: The Damson Sour

You'll need: 

For the damson syrup:

• 2 tbsp of damson jam
• 50ml of water

For the drink:

• 50ml bourbon/whisky/brandy/gin/vodka - the spirit will change the character of the drink so my personal preference would be a bourbon. However, the versatility of this drink mends it lends itself to any spirit you have lurking around the house.
• 50ml damson syrup
• 50ml lemon juice
• 1 egg white

Make it!

Your syrup: 

1. Add the jam to the pan and (as you did to make the brown sugar syrup), turn the heat on to your gentlest setting and add the water.
2. Stir gently for 5-10 minutes until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture has begun to reduce. 
3. This time round, strain the mixture into a small bottle and allow to cool. 

And the drink:

1. Add the syrup, lemon juice, egg white and spirit to a shaker.
2. Dry shake for 5-10 seconds before adding a handful of ice.
3. Shake for a further 5-10 seconds before straining into a small martini glass.
4. Watch all the strain of the festive period slip away...

Wishing you a very merry little Christmas! 

The boy and his poison: An Early Anniversary

In a mere two days it will become socially acceptable to start every day with a mouthful of chocolate, for company lunches to extend into late night debauchery, and for morning hangovers to be admired rather than reproached. Christmas is coming.

I'd like to say I toyed with a healthy pre-tox cocktail, but then a healthy gulp of inspiration courtesy of the Rotary Bar's Anniversary Cocktail led me astray. They make theirs 'festival size' topping up the delicious passion fruit and gin base (with that little Aperol hit) with soda water and, whilst I'm all for necking the stuff by the pint, I prefer to go a little shorter and a little less gassy. So, before you erode your your taste buds with mulled wine and eggnog next month, give them a little wake up call with this pre-Christmas treat.

You'll need:

• 100ml Passion fruit juice
• 50ml Gin
• 25ml Aperol
• 25ml Lemon juice

Then make:

1. Fill a shaker with ice.
2. Add to your shaker the gin, passion fruit juice and lemon juice.
3. Shake for a few seconds until blended.
4. Pluck out an oversized ice cube from your freezer and relocate it into a large tumbler.
5. Strain the shaker into the tumbler.
6. Pour the 25ml of Aperol over the top of the drink and serve.

If you do fancy it longer just top up with some sparkling mineral water or soda water. Also, if giant ice cubes are your thing, you may want to check out these incredible whisky balls, perfect for Old Fashioned and Sazerac season.