Does this recipe even merit a whole page? Yes it does, because it is wonderfully summery and delicious.
What’s a cocktail?
As most things, cocktails go back further in the past than you would think. I imagined they’d been invented in the Roaring Twenties, by jazz-age flappers giving a finger to the Prohibition police.
Very wrong – the first mention of “A stimulating liquor composed of any kind of sugar, water, and bitters”, as the definition went, appeared in the early 1800s in The Balance and Columbian Repository (Hudson, New York).
Although very much an American invention in its modern shape, cocktails were probably inspired by British punch: a mix of spirits, spices and fruit juices. The entomology of the word is less clear: there are theories that involve horse tails, egg cups, cocks and ale.
- Old Fashioned: a blend of bitters, sugar, water, and whisky, created in the later half of the 19th century.
- Sazerac: a mixture of cognac or rye whisky, absinthe, sugar, and bitters, created in New Orleans in the early 19th century.
- Manhattan: a combination of whisky, vermouth, and bitters, created in New York sometime in the late 19th century.
- Martini: a mix of gin and vermouth, garnished with an olive or a lemon twist, created in the late 19th or early 20th century.
- Sidecar: a variation of the sour, consisting of cognac, orange liqueur, and lemon juice, created in either London or Paris in the late 1910s.
- Gimlet: a cocktail made out of gin (or vodka) and lime juice, created by soldiers in the British Royal Navy during the 18th century.
- Tom Collins: a highball cocktail made with gin, lemon juice, sugar, and carbonated water, created in the late 19th century.
- Margarita: a variation of tequila, Cointreau and lime juice, created by bartender Francisco Morales in Mexico in the late 1940s.
- Pisco Sour: a drink made with Pisco (a brandy from grapes), lemon or lime juice, syrup, egg white, and bitters, created by bartender Victor Morris in Lima, Peru, in the early 1920s.
- Aviation: a cocktail made with gin, maraschino liqueur, lemon juice, and crème de violette (a rare and delicate liqueur), created in 1917 by Hugo Ensslin.
Modern tipple
After a slump in the 1960s and 70s, mixing your spirits regained popularity, with gin and tonic trending hugely these days. Craft gins have taken over craft beers and the enormous goblets sparkling with pastel-coloured liquids are dished out in the pubs and bars throughout Britain.
Pimm’s ranks close, a uniquely British bitter-ish Pimm’s No.1 liqueur which gets mixed with mint, strawberries and cucumber and served in jugs.
And last but certainly not least, the iconic vodka Martini must be mentioned: shaken, not stirred.
My strawberry fizz
You don’t need a cocktail shaker or any improvised substitutions thereof to make strawberry fizz. My cocktail offering is simple: a few frozen strawberries, a drop of Grenadine syrup and lots of sparkling wine: cava, prosecco or crémant. But if you wish to splash, use proper champagne; it will be the better for it.
This (non)recipe is a throwback to when The Weather Man and I first met. On one celebratory occasion, with a bottle of champers at room temperature and no patience to wait for it to chill sufficiently, we popped frozen berries into the glasses. The resulting fizz and sparkle was as lovely as the champagne buzz!
More frozen summery recipes
Watermelon granita with no added sugar makes a fantastic dessert when served with a scoop of ice cream. Plus, instructions on how to cube a watermelon.
Cold brewed ice coffee made overnight in a jar or a jug – 3 scoops per a cup of water per person. You can easily cold brew delicious coffee for a smooth iced drink.
Tomato sorbet made from fresh tomatoes, without an ice cream maker, is the perfect summer appetizer or palate cleanser.
More strawberry recipes
Slow roasted strawberries become jammy but not too sickly, coated in luscious syrup, and they have a multitude of uses in desserts, cakes and afternoon tea confections.
Strawberry fool is the supreme of strawberries and cream, with layers of vanilla scented whipped cream and gorgeous fresh strawberry puree, barely sweetened.
Italian style homemade ice cream without eggs with pureed fresh strawberry swirl. It’s not always all about raspberry ripple, you know.