3 festive cocktail recipes to try at home, from mulled wine and watermelon rum to ‘iced lemon tea’
Festive drinks for your New Year’s Eve celebrations, from showpiece pours to minimal effort mixes
Dong Ling Cha
Recipe by Axel Gonzalez, bar manager of Terrible Baby
Infuse 200 grams of spent cold brew coffee grounds per 1,000ml of rum for 24 hours. In a highball glass, combine 20ml coffee-infused Matusalem 15-year-old rum, 20ml Campari, 30ml lemon juice and 15ml grapefruit juice and stir with ice until chilled. Add more ice, then top up with sparkling Vita Lemon Tea. Garnish and serve. Serves one.
Oriental Mulled Wine
Recipe by Dennis Mak, co-founder of Clan & Company
Combine 20ml brandy, 30ml Magnolia Lab Christmas Edition, 60ml red wine, 30ml orange juice and 10ml honey thoroughly in a mixing glass, then bottle. Pour in a small porcelain bowl over a large cube of ice. Garnish with cinnamon, cloves and star anise, then serve. Serves one.
Bayou Breeze
Recipe by Shaun Nuqui, senior bartender at Ella
Blend 1.2kg of fresh watermelon juice with 250 grams of cucumber. Add 100ml of sugar syrup and 4 barspoons of tartaric acid. Blend again, then double strain with a coffee filter. Carbonate it using a soda charger, then refrigerate. Makes 13 portions of watermelon-cucumber soda.
Rim half of a stemmed Collins glass with Cajun powder. Combine 45ml of white rum and 90ml of the watermelon-cucumber soda in the glass, stirring to cool and dilute. Add a large cube of ice, then garnish with a watermelon slice. Serves one.