Easy Cocktail Recipes

A Pink Lady is, as its name implies, a deliciously decadent relation of the White Lady that fully merits the garnish it is traditionally given. The drink tastes just as wonderful as it looks.

For most people, Bombay, in drinking terms, is associated with Bombay gin, but this powerful cocktail must have raised a few eyebrows during the heady days of the British Raj.

A stiff mix of half a pint of Guinness and the same amount of barley wine, which the blacksmith saw as the ideal way of ending a day of labour. The cocktail version, though slightly more sophisticated, is equally delightful.

Here comes another seductive favourite in the form of the Bosom Caresser. This one relies on brandy for its punch.

This cocktail takes its name from one of the U.S’s most prestigious universities – though tradition does not tell us whether it was first devised on campus, or in the bar of Harvard Club in NY.

No one knows where, when, how or why this cocktail got it name: the only coffee that is involved in its mixing are the beans that are applied as the garnish before the cocktail is served.

This is one of the few cocktails where the specific use of Cognac is often stipulated. Traditionally the cocktail is always served ungarnished. The name of the cocktail is derived from the grenadine in the drink.

Dating back to the 1890s, it was a non-alcoholic mixture of ginger ale, ice and lemon peel. By the 1910s, brandy, sometimes bourbon would be added for a ‘Horse’s Neck with a Kick’ or ‘~ Stiff’. The non-alcoholic version was still served in upstate New York in the late fifties or early sixties, but eventually it was phased out.  To give this an extra kick, you can substitute whisky for the brandy.

In the cocktail world, sours come in all kinds of varieties – as well as brandy sours, there are rum, vodka, gin, whisky and tequila equivalents. All of them should taste tart and lemony; they are extremely refreshing on a hot, humid day.

There are literally dozens of cocktails simply entitled Brandy Cocktails. It’s almost as if bartenders around the world have all vied with one another to create their own individual versions. The cocktail recipe given here is for an accepted standard of Brandy Classic.