Willie Smith’s Dark River Stormy Seas

Willie Smith’s of Tasmania makes a wide range of ciders, both pure apple as well as flavored. I bought this thinking it was a cider, but it is a cocktail which is a combination of distilled apple spirits and ginger beer, with added lime zest. 6.0% ABV. My rating - not good - 4/10.

Taipei Lemon

I don’t know the proper name of this drink but it tasted great. I tried it in a tiny bar in Taipei during a nighttime food tour in the Guangzhou Street Night Market (near the Longshan Temple). The bartender told me the ingredients but not the proportions: gin, Cointreau, lemon juice and sugar syrup. Tart and very lemony. I’ll try to duplicate at home.
On a web search I discovered that it is probably some version of the White Lady, a classic cocktail from the 1920s that contains gin, Cointreau and lemon juice.

Here is recipe with the general proportions:

• 1.5 - 2 oz Dry Gin
• 0.5 - 0.75 oz Cointreau or Triple Sec
• 0.75 oz Fresh Lemon Juice
• 0.25 oz simple syrup (optional, for balance)
• 1 Egg White (optional, for foam)

Instructions

1. Dry Shake: Add all ingredients to a shaker without ice and shake vigorously for 10–15 seconds to emulsify the egg white.
2. Shake with Ice: Add ice to the shaker and shake again until well-chilled.
3. Double strain into a chilled cocktail glass (coupe or martini).
4. Garnish with a lemon twist.

Best Negroni

I had the best Negroni ever at the Hotel Plaza San Francisco in Santiago, Chile. It is made with Campari, their own "home made" vermouth and El Viaje, a Chilean gin.

Paloma

I first tried this at a bar in Luxembourg. I believe they used the standard recipe (as below) that uses grapefruit soda. I don't know what brand, but cosidering the quality of the bar and the taste of the drink it may have been Fever Tree. I would try fresh grapefruit juice or a mixture with the grapefruit soda. I would also look at adding a little grapefruit liqueur such as Giffard, which is one of the best.

Ingredients

• 2 ounces tequila
• 1/2 ounce lime juice, freshly squeezed
• 4 ounces Grapefruit soda, chilled
• Pinch of salt
• Garnish: lime wheel or wedge

Steps

1. Add the tequila, lime juice, and pinch of salt to the glass, and fill with ice.
2. Top with grapefruit soda, and stir briefly and gently to combine.
3. Garnish with a lime wheel or wedge.

I would use a high quality brand of grapefruit soda like Fever Tree. Other brands are Jarritos from Mexico and Wink which is a popular domestic brand. Do not use Ting, the Jamaican grapefruit soda.

I made my own version at home that is a bit different but very nice:

Ingredients

• 2 ounces tequila
• 1 ounce lime juice, freshly squeezed
• 3 ounces grapefruit juice, freshly squeezed
• 1 ounce grapefruit liqueur like Giffard
• Pinch of salt
• Garnish: lime wheel or wedge

Giffard

Drink Adornments

Various garnishes and adornments can be added to drinks to add that something extra. One type of adornment is the tuile made from fruit, honey or sugar. See my tuile recipes for ideas.

Aperol Spritz

Discovered on my 2023 trip to Europe, the Aperol Spritz is ubiquitous there. Aperol is a bitter aperitif from Italy. I had it straight at a museum cafe and found it too strong but interesting. Next tried the Spritz while on a bicycle ride and needing a thirst quencher. Refreshing and delicious.

I had 7 or 8 and found that the proportions of ingredients changed from one establishment to another. It was apparent by how strong the Aperol tasted and the intensity of the reddish colour, and tasted either too strong or too weak. After trying various proportions, I found that I prefer the standard formula as shown on Aperol's website – 3:2:1

3oz Prosecco
2oz Aperol
1oz Club soda

A variation on the spritz is to substitute Lemoncello for Aperol. Another variation is the fancy Aperol Sour.

Campari is the popular Italian bitter. It has a more intense flavour and a higher alcohol content than Aperol. Mionetto is another bitter aperitif that might be worth trying.

Hanky Panky

Ada Coleman, the famous head bartender of the American Bar in the Savoy Hotel, created this cocktail around 1910. The inspiration for the drink came from actor Charles Hawtrey. He had asked Ada to give him a drink with "a bit of punch in it." Ada then spent hours experimenting until she had a new cocktail. The next time Hawtrey came in, Ada served him her new drink and he said, "By Jove! That is the real hanky-panky!"

From Harry Craddock's The Savoy Cocktail Book.

In a cocktail shaker over ice pour:

1½ oz Italian red sweet vermouth
1½ oz dry gin
2 dashes Fernet-Branca

Stir and strain into a 4 oz. cocktail glass.
Garnish by squeezing an orange peel over the top.