Cocktails To Make This Burns Night
By Ellie Smith
4 months ago
Scottish-inspired tipples to make this January
Getty Images
If you don’t fancy heading out for a Burns Night supper on 25 January, there are lots of ways to get involved with the Scottish celebration from home. First and foremost: some Burns Night cocktails. Toast to Scotland’s national poet Robert Burns by mixing up one of these Burns Night cocktail recipes. Naturally whisky features heavily, but there are gin tipples in the mix too.
Burns Night Cocktails To Make At Home
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:
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
Featured image: Getty Images
