Credit: Unsplash / Adam Jaime
Culture Editor
Cocktail recipes for the loved up, and the loveless
The annual commercially indulged guilt-trip that is Valentine’s day has arrived in the shape of a Wednesday, which in my opinion provides as good an excuse as any for some indulgent mid-week drinking. However you plan on spending your day, below are some dreamy cocktail recipes to ensure you do it in booze-soaked fashion. There’s something for everyone, with even the cynics getting a sweet treatment.
Bae-leys
This is a traditional and indulgent Scottish take on cream liqueur, for the traditional and indulgent Valentine’s Day. If Saint Valentine was knocking back anything before unlawfully joining couples in holy matrimony, it was definitely this. Essentially a drinkable dessert with just the right amount of kick to animate your incredibly conventional Valentine’s Day dinner date. The balance of sweet, creamy coffee flavours against smooth whisky will have your other half semi-believing you’re still trying to impress them.
Ingredients:
25ml Blended Scotch Whisky
25ml Tia Maria
25ml Double Cream
Shake and strain over ice
Bakewell Tart Prosecco
Best served with as many bitterly lonely people as you can pull together on a Wednesday night. This cocktail is for the defiantly single. Those of you who are resisting the suffocating, socially constructed expectations of this commercial sick-fest should do so in the best way you know how: getting violently drunk together. With its perfect ratios of sweet to tart, delicious to tacky, bubbly to high alcohol content – this one will send you to bed alone, drunk and early in fizzy, rose-tinted style.
Ingredients:
15ml Chambord
15ml Amaretto
125ml Prosecco
Pour Chambord and Amaretto in equal measures in the bottom of a champagne flute and top with prosecco, garnish with a raspberry (or a single tear)
Dutch Courage
A bright and fresh cocktail for those hoping to imbue Saint Valentine’s romantic optimism. It’s essentially gin and juice with frills, perfectly suited to this glorified occasion for frilly sentiment. A healthy measure of Holland’s underrated national spirit paired with the zesty kick of orange flavours guarantees the boldest version of yourself to approach strangers in bars. Although feel free to substitute for any dry gin, the 38% mark is really the key ingredient here. Side note: Saint Valentine’s optimism may have led to his eventual beheaded end, but don’t let that discourage you.
37.5ml – or as much as you feel is necessary for the task in hand – Genever Gin
12.5ml Solerno Blood Orange Liqueur
50ml Fresh Blood orange or Tangerine juice
Dash Orange Bitters
Wet shake and strain over ice into a tall glass. Garnish with a slice of red grapefruit.
