All images: Nicola Foley
Rachel Burnett, of d’Arry’s Liquor Loft, shares recipes for Christmas cocktails guaranteed to get you in the right festive spirits
Salted caramel espresso Martini
Ingredients
• 25ml Araku rum and coffee liqueur (any coffee liqueur will work)
• 25ml vodka (we used East London Liquor Company’s Small Batch Grain vodka)
• 25ml espresso
• 25ml caramel syrup
• Large pinch of sea salt
• Ice
• Coffee beans to garnish
Step-by-step guide
1. Put all ingredients except the ice and coffee beans in a Boston tin (cocktail shaker).
2. Add a scoop of ice and give it a hard shake.
3. Strain into a coupe glass and garnish with coffee beans.
Cardamom and pear white lady
Ingredients
• 1 egg white
• 40ml gin (we used East London
Liquor Company London Dry Gin)
• 15ml Xante pear & cognac liqueur
• 25ml lemon juice
• 25ml sugar syrup
• 4 cardamom pods (extra to garnish)
• Ice
Step-by-step guide
1. Crush the cardamom pods in a Boston tin.
2. Add all other ingredients.
3. Add scoop of ice and shake.
4. Strain the ice and then shake again (this is called a wet and dry shake and helps to make egg white cocktails nice and foamy).
5. Fine strain into a coupe glass to serve.
6. Garnish with cardamom pods.
Flaming Christmas pudding brandy
Ingredients
• Brandy (however much you want to make! We used Maxime Trijol Cognac)
• Christmas pudding
• Orange peel to garnish
Step-by-step guide
1. Put Christmas pudding and brandy in an airtight container for two weeks.
2. This then needs to be strained so you don’t get lumps. We use coffee filter papers to do this.
3. When it comes to serving, you need to heat the brandy – you can do this by putting it over a glass of boiling water, creating a kind of bain-marie. You can also light it for added theatre!
4. Garnish with orange peel.
Christmas Champagne cocktail
Ingredients
• Brown sugar cube
• 4-5 dashes of Angostura bitters
• 15ml of Christmas pudding brandy (recipe above)
• Champagne
• Orange peel to garnish
Step-by-step guide
1. Place sugar cube in bottom of flute glass.
2. Add the Angostura bitters and brandy.
3. Top it up with champagne and garnish with orange peel.
All of these cocktails and plenty more are available at d’Arry’s Liquor Loft, which you’ll find upstairs at the King Street restaurant.
