Sidecar

If you fancy a cognac based cocktail, you cannot do much better than a Sidecar. It can be pretty dry so rimming the glass with a little sugar can take the edge off. The quantities given here, although maintaining the classic 2:1:1 ratio, are more than sufficient for the glass, allowing the excess to be served in a shot glass on the side, in other words, a Sidecar.

Slutty Mary

There is a long history of the use of olive or pickle brine in drinks. This came to a head in 2006 when the Pickleback was created at the Bushwick Country Club, NYC and it pandemically spread worldwide.

Stout Cuban

A fine stout is a good place to start, having the depth of the malt combined with bitter undertone, just calling for enlightenment. It can be both hearty yet refreshing. Guinness is an obvious choice but you can do better. There are a lot of fine craft stouts available in the UK. Just get a strong one and avoid the silly fruit flavours.

Tom Collins

Perfect for hot summer afternoons, Tom Collins is probably the most well known of the Collins family of drinks, a Collins being a sour cocktail, that is, a spirit mixed with sugar and citrus, that has been topped up with soda water. Basically a Tom Collins is alcoholic lemonade for grown-ups. Lovely for a picnic or a right old punt.

Treacle

Another fine drink of Dick Bradsell’s devising. When he used to make a Treacle in the Colony Room Club, he used cheap pasteurised apple juice, in a carton, from the Somerfield supermarket, in Berwick Street.

Vesper

75 ml Gordon’s gin 25 ml Polish vodka 12 ml Lillet Blanc (Kina Lillet is no longer manufactured) Shake with ice. Sieve into coupe glass. Dress with lemon peel. The Vesper was Ian Fleming’s creation. Bond is on the lash again. “Just a moment. Three measures of Gordon’s, one of vodka, half a measure of …

Vodka Sandwich

This came to me via certain reprobate, though eminently professional, staff at a particular Soho hostelry of my acquaintance. It is, allegedly, popular, towards the end of the night amongst bartenders, as a pick-me-up to help make it through the last hour. I reckon that would do the trick.