Of all the awareness days in the year, #WorldCocktailDay must be one of our favourites. Sipping a Pina Colada by the pool. Enjoying a freshly made Manhattan at the bar – a la Sex in the City. Or warming your festive spirits with a spiced blend by the Christmas tree. There is no better drink. And, for a leading event planner such as TLC, cocktails are also a versatile and creative element to an event. Cocktails are the perfect accompaniment to any celebration. A corporate occasion, awards dinner, wedding or a private gathering. So here, our senior events producer Laura Callaghan helps you make the best choice for your next event, and highlights TLC’s top cocktails for World Cocktail Day!
COCKTAIL CREATIVITY
Indoors, outdoors, chilly weather or blazing sunshine – there’s a cocktail to match any setting and any occasion. Whether you like your simple and classic cocktails or those more complex and layered in flavour, there is something for everyone. Even the teetotallers can get involved, with innovative mocktails making waves in bars and restaurants up and down the country. Not forgetting the growing trend for savoury cocktails too.
The UK has such an inventive and thriving hospitality scene with some of the world’s finest mixologist in residence. You won’t have to go far to find the perfect blend. A dash of this, a sprinkle of that. Shaken. Stirred. Strained. Squeezed. A recipe for delight and pure hedonism. Personalised to your taste-buds. Presented with flair and imagination. Cocktails are so much more than just a drink.
Here the TLC team has picked their top cocktails for World Cocktail Day, read on for our idea of the perfect mix.
TLC COCKTAIL COLLECTION
The Sophia Loren
My spirit of choice for a cocktail has to be vodka. But what a selection there is within the sphere of vodka cocktails? Certainly, I’m partial to the classics. Espresso Martini. Bloody Mary. Screwdriver. Vodka Martini. The list goes on. And I’m happy to keep sampling them all while I decide on my favourite.
However, here at TLC, we endeavour never to go for the obvious! So, the cocktail I have chosen is the Sophia Loren. Combining vodka, grapefruit juice, Campari and simple syrup topped with Champagne, and a grapefruit peel garnish.
Smooth, stylish. Sophistication in a glass. Just like the icon after which it is named.
Get the recipe here: https://www.cosmopolitan.com/food-cocktails/g2833/vodka-drinks/
A Rhubarb-Fennel Gin Cocktail
At this time of year, I love to enjoy a fragrant, spring cocktail while sat outside on a sunshine-filled terrace. Growing all around us in spring are delightful spring flavours – herbs, edible florals, and seasonal produce – that can infuse cocktails with fresh, zing for spring. Lighter spirits too (in taste and colour) gin and white rum for instance are often used at this time of year, but there’s no reason you can’t give a spring cocktail a kick with a sweet vermouth or whiskey too. It’s all about balancing flavour. For my cocktail of choice, I have selected a Rhubarb-Fennel Gin Cocktail. It brings in some of those fresh flavours that complement one another beautifully due to their seasonality.
https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/rhubarb-fennel-gin-cocktail
The Snowflake
Christmas is my favourite time of year. So, I’ve chosen a drink to reflect my love of the festive season as one of my top cocktails for World Cocktail Day. I adore the deep, spiced flavours you’ll find in mulled wine and cider, which not only taste delicious, but will fill your venue or home with that instantly recognisable fragrance of festivities. Yet the cocktail I’ve chosen isn’t a mulled drink at all – it’s a new take on a retro classic. The Snowball. Combining Advocaat, lime, lemonade, and ice and garnished with a maraschino cherry the snowball instantly transports you to carefree days gone by. This recipe updates two key ingredients to bring it right up to date, switch lemonade for Prosecco and lime cordial for fresh lime. Hey presto, you have the Snowflake. A ‘millennial makeover’ with fresher, bolder flavours still retaining a nod to its kitsch roots.
Get the recipe here: https://supperinthesuburbs.com/2018/12/30/snowflake-cocktail-prosecco-snowball/
The Mint Julep
With 1950s being a real inspiration at the moment thanks to the Queen’s Jubilee parties we’re planning, I’ve chosen a cocktail that was made popular during that period. Seventy years ago, it was a very stylish time. Think Madmen-style glamourous cocktail parties – the fashion, the décor, the drama!
This cocktail is a classic from the era. It is known as the drink of the Kentucky Derby and contains fresh mint, bourbon and sugar syrup as its core ingredients, but there’s more than one way to do a Mint Julep as this article shows: https://www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/drinks/how-to/g667/kentucky-derby-mint-julep-guide/
Hibiscus, pineapple, thyme, basil, blackberries, bitters, and peach can all be added to upgrade and up-style this classic cooler.
MAKE THE TLC DIFFERENCE
Most people when they make a cocktail don’t give much thought to what they serve it in, other than what type of glass to use. Thinking outside the glass gives you the opportunity to really ramp up the creativity. We’ve served cocktails in everything from tin cans, milk bottles and miniature buckets. To suitcases and little plastic bags with faux fishes inside – to mimic those sold at the fair (a fairground themed party of course). When looking at your top cocktails for World Cocktail Day, how it is presented is vital. Think about your party theme, and purpose. Is there anything you can use as a unique and innovative cocktail vessel?
IT COSTS HOW MUCH?
We like the finer things in life, but did you know that one of the world’s most expensive cocktails cost over £17,000 and comes with a real diamond. Aptly named, Diamonds are Forever, it is served at Japan’s tallest hotel, the Carlton-Ritz in Tokyo.
Find out more about the world’s most expensive cocktails here: https://www.travelandleisure.com/food-drink/cocktails-spirits/worlds-most-expensive-cocktail-ritz-carlton-tokyo