Cocktails to Match Your Mood

It’s Friday evening and sometimes that means you need your emotions in a chilled tall glass…

Have you got a signature cocktail – one that isn’t on the specials board? Here we go through some of the finest concotions that have crossed our paths, and we criss-cross these alcohol-infused oases with thier partnering emotions. Because sometimes the best listener replies with the clinking of ice on glass.

For when you need to commune with nature, but at a bar
Gin, nettle and thyme was not a song written by seventies sensation Simon and Garfunkel but maybe it should have been a folk anthem??This number delivers on mild flavour with the refreshing tint of gin lending it a bold edge.

Ingredients
35ml Blackdown Sussex Dry Gin (available from select off-licences. Try?Jus de Vine,?Blackrock Cellar and?Redmonds of Ranelagh – or, alternatively, just use your favourite gin)
35ml nettle syrup
35 ml freshly squeezed lemon juice
Soda water to top up

Method
Mix the gin, syrup and lemon juice. Shake over ice. Top up with soda, a lemon wedge and a sprig of thyme. Enjoy!

For when you want cake, but an alcohol version of cake
A rhubarb cocktail may be spinning up images of sticky cordial but this concoction is actually a just-sweet-enough pleasure.Ballyvolane’s Justin Green has us sorted.

Ingredients
For the rhubarb syrup
1lb caster sugar
1 pint water
1 tea spoon fresh root ginger
1 bunch rhubarb

For two rhubarb martinis
3 shots vodka
2 shots rhubarb syrup
1/2 shot fresh lime juice
2 lumps ice
1 cocktail shaker
2 martini glasses

Method
For the syrup: Boil the sugar and water to make sugar syrup. Once the sugar has dissolved, add the chopped rhubarb (2 inches long) and grated ginger and poach gently until the rhubarb is soft. Allow to cool for one hour and strain the rhubarb through a sieve. Decant the rhubarb syrup into a bottle and store in the fridge. It will keep for a couple of weeks in the fridge and it freezes really well too.

For the Martini: When using a cocktail shaker, always avoid trying to make too much in one go as the cocktail doesn’t mix well when full. Mixing two Martinis in one shaker is best. Put all the ingredients together into a cocktail shaker and shake vigorously for 30 seconds. Hold the shaker in two hands and shake it over your shoulder. Chill the Martini glasses by putting them in the freezer or leave some lumps of ice in them for a few minutes. Pour the Rhubarb Martini through a cocktail strainer into the glasses. Always taste before pouring and add more syrup if too sour or more lime juice if too sweet.

When you NEED Champagne
Sometimes you need a flute of champagne because sometimes you don’t need a reason. The Mariposa in?House on Leeson Street is fabulous and a total Friday treat.

Ingredients
40ml Havana Club a?ejo 3 years
15ml Aperol
25ml freshly squeezed lime juice
20ml passion fruit pur?e
Perrier Jo?et brut Champagne

Method
Shake first 4 ingredients over ice, ?and double strain into frozen cocktail coupe and top it with champagne. The drink looks best with a frothy layer on top. The key to achieving this is a long hard shake! Garnish with a slice of passion fruit

When asking for a classic is just plain easier than thinking
The Cast Iron Tom Collins from the Marker Hotel comes with a savoury twist – how about wrapping up and meeting at their famous roof top bar?

Ingredients
60ml Thyme infused Vodka
15ml Elderflower Liqueur
25ml Lemon Tincture
25ml Cardamom Syrup
6 pieces of diced cucumber
Top off with Soda Water

Method
Shake first 5 ingredients in a shaker with cubed ice.?Fine strain the ingredients into a chilled fizz glass.?Top up with Soda Water and 2/3 cubes of ice.?Garnish with a Thyme sprig and Cucumber roll.

Follow Jeanne Sutton on Twitter @jeannedesutun

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