When the sun is high and the Ashes are in full swing, I become less interested in martinis, negronis and other short intensities; instead, I want long, cold refreshment. Here are a few of my summer favourites. Each is highly adaptable – try ginger ale for the mojito, mint syrup in the gin and tonic, and so on – but the non-negotiables are that the ingredients (and, ideally, the glass) should be very cold and an excess of ice is almost always the way to go: the more you use, the colder everything stays and the slower the ice melts.
If you prefer your cocktails alcohol-free, there are so many spirits and beers to suit these days: Caleño’s Dark & Spicy, for instance, works beautifully in the dark and stormy, Seedlip’s Garden 108 makes a very happy-making G&T and Strykk’s Not V*dka works really well in the Dalmatian; and while alcohol-free beer was mostly carwash just a few short years ago, there are any number of exceptional ones now widely available.
White Dalmatian
The traditional dalmatian uses black pepper, though I prefer it with white. It is a delightfully lively cocktail: should you have a slight sniffle or be feeling in any way lethargic, here is your medicine.
Serves 1
For the syrup (makes enough for 4 serves)
1 tbsp white peppercorns, roughly crushed
160g caster sugar
For the drink
50ml white pepper syrup (see above and method)
50ml vodka
100ml grapefruit juice
First, make the syrup: warm the peppercorns, sugar and 120ml water in a small saucepan until it reaches a simmer, then take off the heat and leave to cool. Pour the mix through a fine sieve and discard the pepper solids; a few finer particles may get through, but they’ll only add to the impact on the drink later.
Put the syrup, vodka and grapefruit juice in a cocktail shaker filled with ice and shake vigorously. Pour into a glass and prepare to be restored.
Rosemary gin and tonic
Rosemary may suit autumnal and winter recipes best, but its scent is very much of summer; I, for one, always rub the leaves every time I pass a plant. Syrups are such a simple way of capturing a herb’s qualities; the same approach works with mint, lemon verbena, lovage and thyme.
120g caster sugar
Rosemary sprigs
50ml gin
Tonic water, to top
Make a syrup by pouring 120ml boiling water over the sugar and stir until it dissolves. Add a few good sprigs of rosemary – the more you add, the quicker the flavour will develop – then leave to cool, tasting every few minutes and lifting out the rosemary when its flavour is nicely present.
Half-fill a tall glass with ice, add 35ml rosemary syrup and the gin, and stir. Top with tonic to taste, stir with a rosemary sprig and sit somewhere sunny to enjoy.
Hans and Gaby’s mojito
My friends Hans and Gaby Wieland, smallholders at Neantóg Farm in Ireland, magnified my embryonic interest in fermentation with their creative, imaginative approach, and this drink was invented in their honour. Make your own kombucha or use one of the many brands now out there – Blighty Booch is my favourite, and their bramley apple and elderflower kombucha would be perfect here.
1 lime, juiced and peeled
1 good handful of mint
50ml white rum
90ml kombucha
Put the lime juice and peel and the mint in a bowl, then lightly pound the leaves with the end of a rolling pin to extract scent and flavour (this is known in the cocktail trade as “muddling”). Lift out the lime skins, then squeeze them into the bowl to extract as much of the juices as possible.
Half-fill a tall glass with crushed ice, pour in the contents of the lime bowl, the rum and the kombucha, then stir and sip at your leisure.
Chipotle michelada
This hot, sweet, sour, salty delight will turn your headlights to full beam. The kecap manis, a sweet soy sauce available in specialist south-east Asian shops and online, as well as in some larger supermarkets, is a departure from the classic michelada, but it works brilliantly. Mexican beer may be the authentic choice, but it is the quality of the lager/light beer that’s most important here. Finally, the sriracha is optional, not least because that hot, limey rim is plenty wakey-wakey in itself, but if you’re feeling in need of a kill-or-cure, there is often only one avenue to take.
Makes 2
2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp chipotle chilli flakes
1 juicy lime
1 tbsp kecap manis (sweet soy sauce)
200ml tomato juice, chilled
600ml Mexican beer
A dash of hot sauce, such as sriracha
Swizz the salt and chilli in a spice grinder to reduce them to a fine-ish powder, then tip on to a small plate.
Juice the lime, add it to a jug, then stir in the kecap manis. Add the tomato juice, stir, then carefully pour in the beer to minimise the froth.
Rub the spent lime flesh around the top of each glass and dip the rims in the chilli salt. Put a handful of ice in each glass.
Taste the beer mix and add sriracha, if using, a teaspoon at a time, to taste. Pour into the two glasses and relax, ideally in the sun.
Dark and stormy
Rum and ginger are one of my favourite pairings, and lime draws them into a tighter embrace. As classic as those ingredients may be, I am also quite partial to a white rum version, or to using ginger ale instead of beer, in which event an extra tweak of lime might well be in order.
80ml ginger beer
25ml lime juice
A dash of Angostura bitters, if you fancy
50ml dark rum
Half-fill a tall glass with ice. Build the drink as you want – I usually add the rum last, however, because I like that first long sip to be rum-heavy.
White peach and lavender bellini
Lavender brings an extra twist of summer to a classic bellini. If your peaches are as firm as an apple, rather than simmering them as here, instead halve, stone and roast the fruit in a low (120C or so) oven, cut side up with some chopped lavender and a little water in the pit of each, until soft but still retaining their shape.
2 white peaches
1 sprig lavender
Prosecco, to top
Peel, stone and chop the peaches, then put them in a pan with the lavender and just a little water, and bring to a simmer. When the fruit has surrendered, lift out and discard the lavender, then puree the fruit. Leave to cool, then chill.
The proportions are yours to choose, but you can’t go wrong with one part peach puree to three parts fizz.
Mark Diacono’s latest book, Spice: A Cook’s Companion, is published by Quadrille at £25. To order a copy for £22, go to guardianbookshop.com
