Warm up with top 3 winter cocktails
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A surefire way to fire up the taste buds during a cold snap is to rustle up a cheeky cocktail.
Whether it’s the comforting, warming notes of a hot toddy or a crafty concoction, these winning recipes are worth shining up your cocktail kit...
1. Aerolite Lyndsay Hot Toddy
A deliciously peaty single malt from the Isle of Islay, Aerolite Lyndsay 10-Year-Old (£44.95, 70cl, Master of Malt) is matured in bourbon and Spanish oak quarter casks. We love its bold and complex character. Aerolite Lyndsay also makes a wonderful hot toddy.
Ingredients: 40ml Aerolite Lyndsay, 20ml lemon juice, 10ml honey water (1:1), cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg.
Method: Add whisky, honey water, lemon juice to a toddy glass. Add a pinch of nutmeg and stir in. Top with hot water and garnish with a clove-studded lemon slice and a stick of cinnamon.
2. Santa Teresa Aragua Old Fashioned
The simplest cocktails can sometimes be the trickiest – all that muddling can be a faff. For a tasty, stirred down twist, swap whisky for an aged rum such as Santa Teresa 1796 Solera Rum (£47.99, 70cl, Amazon), sugar cubes for syrup and reach for good bitters – we suggest The Bitter Truth Chocolate Bitters (£13.44, 20cl, Amazon).
Ingredients: 50ml Santa Teresa 1796, 7.5ml brown sugar syrup, three drops chocolate bitters.
Method: Fill a rocks glass with ice, add the ingredients, stir well and garnish with orange zest or chocolate-coated coffee beans.
3. Smoky Casa Margarita
Margaritas aren’t just for summer, especially with the A-list Casamigos Mezcal (£64.95, 70cl, The Whisky Exchange), whose smoky flavours play well with citrus of the classic margarita.
Ingredients: 50ml Casamigos Mezcal, 25ml fresh lime juice, 12ml agave nectar, two dashes of orange bitters.
Method: Half fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Add the ingredients, shake vigorously, strain into a rocks glass over ice and garnish with a flamed orange peel.