Cocktails To Make This Burns Night

Bowmore Hot Toddy

A Scottish hot toddy serves as the perfect treat to warm you up on a cold January night. The delicious combination of Bowmore Scotch whisky, honey, lemon, cinnamon and cloves really packs a punch and is a real crowd pleaser, especially on Burns Night.

Ingredients:

50ml of Bowmore 15 Year-Old

3tsp of honey

1 cinnamon stick, snapped in half

1 lemon, half juiced, and half sliced

2 cloves

Method:

Mix the whisky and honey together and put into a heatproof glass.

Add half a cinnamon stick, then top up with 200 ml of boiling water.

Add a splash of lemon juice, then taste, and add more to your preference.

Finish with a slice of lemon, stuffed with a clove and serve immediately.

From Bowmore

Laphroaig Smoked Mule

A smoked mule with Laphroaig Quarter Cask emits smoky, peaty tones.

Ingredients:

56ml Laphroaig Quarter Cask

42ml lime juice

Ginger beer

Garnish with lime or lemon wedge

Method:

Add Laphroaig Quarter Cask and lime juice into a mixing glass and stir.

Top off with as much ginger beer as you seem fit.

Garnish with a lime or lemon wedge.

From Laphroaig

Highland Park Salted Honey Old Fashioned

This particular Old Fashioned emphasises the salty, heather honey notes of Highland Park 12-Year-Old and is the perfect tipple to celebrate Robert Burns. Best served with an orange twist.

Ingredients:

50ml Highland Park 12 Year Old

10ml Honey Syrup

Pinch of smoked sea salt

Dash of orange bitters

Dash of Angostura bitters

Method:

Add all ingredients to an ice filled mixing glass.

Stir for 25 seconds and strain into a rocks glass filled with ice.

Garnish with an orange twist.

From Highland Park

Cranachan Cocktail

This is a drink designed to appeal to a wide audience, to be enjoyed after your traditional Scottish meal and one which stays true to Caorunn.  

Ingredients:

35ml Caorunn

15ml Calvados

15ml honey syrup

15ml freshly squeezed lemon juice

5 fresh raspberries

20ml pasteurised egg white

Top soda

Method:

Shake first 6 ingredients and double strain into hi-ball.  Fill glass with ice and top with soda water. Garnish with large cinnamon stick and cinnamon sugar dusting.

From Caorunn

Rogue Wolf by Regal Rogue and LoneWolf Gin

Ingredients:

Ice

25ml LoneWolf Gin

25ml Regal Rogue Bold Red vermouth

25ml Campari

A splash of pomegranate juice

Orange wedge and cloves for garnish

Method:

Fill a rocks glass with ice. 

Add 25ml LoneWolf Gin, 25ml Regal Rogue Bold Red vermouth, 25ml Campari and a splash of pomegranate juice.

Garnish with an orange wedge studded with cloves.

From Regal Rogue and LoneWolf Gin

Beeble’s Perfect Hot Toddy

Ingredients:

50ml Beeble Honey Whisky

150ml boiling water

Juice of half a lemon, squeezed

¼ tsp ground cinnamon

⅛ tsp ground nutmeg

1 cinnamon stick

2 cloves (slightly ground using pestle and mortar)

Method:

Fill a heat-proof glass with boiling water and let it stand for 1-2 mins to warm.

Empty mug and half-fill with the 150ml of fresh boiling water.

Add all other ingredients to glass and stir.

Garnish with a slice of lemon and a cinnamon stick.

From Beeble

Talisker 25-Year-Old Ocean Point

Jenna Ba, Global Whisky Ambassador at Diageo, and creator of this cocktail said: ‘It’s a rich and complex cocktail that opens up to some unexpected flavours. The herbal liqueur beautifully accentuates the chilli chocolate and woody notes.’

Ingredients:

50ml Talisker 25-Year-Old

10ml Yellow Chartreuse

25ml Sweet Vermouth

Dash of orange bitters

Dash of Angostura bitters

Twist of lemon

Method:

Add all of the ingredients bar the twist of lemon to a cocktail shaker and shake over ice until frosty. 

Strain well into a chilled coupe glass and garnish with a twist of lemon. 

This serve can also be prepared in advance. Dilute with 15% water and place it in the fridge ahead of serving and pour straight into a frozen glass.

From Talisker

Mortlach 20-Year-Old Old Fashioned

Ewan Gunn, Senior Global Brand Ambassador at Diageo, and creator of this cocktail said: ‘The rich intensity of Mortlach 20-Year-Old stirred down in a classic Old Fashioned is an indulgent and delightfully decadent way to create an exceptional moment this Burns Night.’

Ingredients:

Large cube of ice

Dash of water

1 tsp sugar

50ml Mortlach 20-year-old

2 dashes black cherry bitters

1 cherry

1 twist of orange

Method: 

Add the sugar, bitters, and water to a mixing glass and muddle until the sugar dissolves.

Add some ice and the Mortlach 20-year-old, stirring for a few minutes.

Strain into a rocks glass with the large block of ice and garnish with a cherry and a twist of orange.

From Mortlach

The Botanist Gin’s Perfect Martini

The Botanist is an artisanal handcrafted and distilled gin from the Scottish island of Islay, so it’s a good option for a Burns Night cocktail base. The Perfect Martini is the closest recipe to the Martinez and the mythical origins of the Martini. This Martini is sweeter on the palette with higher tannin levels, allowing it to play perfectly with The Botanist Gin.

Ingredients:

45ml/1.5oz The Botanist Gin 

22.5ml/0.75oz dry vermouth (chilled from the fridge)

22.5ml/0.75oz sweet vermouth (chilled from the fridge)

Classic garnish: lemon peel twist

Local or sustainable garnish: lemon balm

Method:

Fill a Nick and Nora glass with ice and set aside.

Fill a mixing glass with 2/3 good quality ice cubes, add all the ingredients and stir continuously for at least 30 seconds to allow a small amount of dilution from the ice.

Empty the ice out of the glass.

Strain into your chilled Nick and Nora glass.

From The Botanist Gin

Coachbuilt Fashioned

Ingredients:

50ml Coachbuilt infused with Grilled pineapple

Long pepper

10ml Simple Syrup

Garnish – grilled pineapple

Rocks glass

Method:

Pineapple is first roasted in oven to dehydrate and increase sweetness.

Heat up long pepper on hob then muddle in pestle and mortar.

Add all ingredients in vac pack bag.

Add to sous vide at 70 degrees for 1 hour.

From Jack Porter, Head Bartender at Booking Office 1869