A lot has happen in 6 months, countries have been invaded, governments have fallen, streets have been flooded, cats and dogs living together – mass hysteria.

Alongside all of this bottled cocktails have been ageing, resting quietly in my dark laboratory (or as some people call it my under stairs cupboard) waiting, no plotting, their unleashing upon an unsuspecting world.

6 weeks ago I laid down some cocktails for aging, for those of you who didn't catch the beginning of this little experiment you can find it here. 

 As they say the proof of the pudding is in the eating, well the proof of my cocktails (usually quite high !) is in the drinking.

Now we all like a good vintage, from wine to clothing the word vintage adds an air of respectability to something that can otherwise be described as plain old. I have found however that this doesn’t apply to the growing pile of used socks that are gestating in my laundry pile.

But what about cocktails I hear you cry! Well, you would be right to do so, bottle and case aged cocktails are very on trend now, but it seems the practise goes back a little further than that.

The word cocktails elbows its way into our vocabulary in the early 1800’s. Common practise then was to have casks of cocktails ready-made, which were subsequently transferred into glass bottles for serving. Indeed, legendary father of flare bartending and cocktails Jerry Thomas has several of his own recipes for bottling cocktails that he offered as “take-away” (now that has to beat a pizza), but is this just a convenient way to make a large batch of cocktails for a party or does the advantage go deeper?

So London cocktail week has again passed by, like Christmas come early, only without the glut of cold turkey and unwanted knitwear. We here at GGG had a riotous time and the experience was fun and in some part educational.

·         Vodkatini or a kangaroo cocktail – a martini made with vodka

·         Bradford – a martini that is shaken, not stirred

·         Dirty martini - contains a splash of olive brine in the mix.

·         Gibson – served with a cocktail onion

·         A perfect - uses equal amounts of sweet and dry vermouth.

·         Bronx – a perfect martini topped with orange juice

Taking inspiration from the latest trend of beer cocktails from the masterful cocktail shakers of Oskar's bar and Hawksmoor I took it upon myself to have a stab at my own cheeky number.

40ml Gin
40ml Pimm's Blackcurrant & Elderflower
40ml lemon or lime juice
100ml lemonade
100m real ale (I used Badger Blanford Flyer)

Simply mix the gin, Pimm's and lemon juice in a cocktail shaker over ice, pour in to a glass and top it up with the lemonade and ale.