Summery cocktails for happy hours

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Since it’s summertime, and the last thing you want to do is leave your house, I’ve been doing the next best thing and inviting people to come over. This serves two purposes: one, I don’t have to leave and two, I get a chance to experiment with food and drinks and try them out on a willing audience. So far, I’ve never been much of a cook, but with drinks, I can safely say, that I know what I’m doing.

My cocktail experiences thus far have been making up my own recipes. Which is great, because it means you’re being creative by marrying two thus far disparate tastes, but then, you never know what the finished product is going to taste like. So when I received The Tulleeho Book Of Cocktails in the mail, I figured it was a sign from the universe to say I was on the right track.
The one thing I don’t like about cocktail recipes, is the fact that they ask for such varied ingredients. I mean, who really has a bottle of grenadine syrup just lying around? Or triple sec? What I have are the basics: some liquor, some mixers, nothing fancy, and I need to know what I can do with that.
The nice thing about this book is that it offers you recipes to use with fancy alcohol and your basics. So if I flip over to the tequila cocktail section, I find a very easy recipe for a lemongrass tequilatini. Simple, and summery, just what your guest will like. It’s divided into sections: based on your liquor type, difficulty level and even techniques that a home bartender can use.
Here’s a simple recipe I’m going to be using at my next party (substituting vodka for the gin, because I don’t like the taste of gin). It’s called the Anarkali (but doesn’t have pomegranate which confused me a bit):

Gin: 60 ml
White grapes: 8-10
Orange peel: 1 strip
Fresh ginger: 1 inch piece
Sugar syrup: 10 ml
Ice

Muddle grapes, orange peel, fresh ginger and sugar syrup in a cocktail shaker. Fill with ice, add the gin then shake and double strain into a chilled rocks glass. Serve immediately. And if the idea of a cocktail shaker scares you, I do just as well covering a regular glass with a makeshift lid and shaking it around.
There you go. You’re sure to get plenty of ideas for your next soiree.

The columnist is an author