The Ex Expat

10 August 2012

Last weekend we had a wee summer party to celebrate our first year of being in Berlin (actually, the boy and I haven’t quite been here one year yet, but the husband arrive 6 weeks ahead of us, so we went for the golden middle for our party). Since we still had loads of cocktail ingredients left over from our Jubilee Party, we thought we’d have cocktails on our party menu again, but this time we’d had some fun making up our own, which were all served in jam jars with vintage paper straws. Due to the occasion of the party, they all had Berlin themed names too :-)

Sommer Spree

This was my creation, based on a classic Mojito recipe. The husband came up with the name (Spree being the river that runs through Berlin).

• Dip jam jar in some lemon juice and then lemon rim sugar.
• Add 1 shot rum, 1/2 shot sugar syrup and juice of 1/2 a lime.
• Add 2-3 torn up mint leaves and mash everything together with a cocktail stirrer.
• Add 2-3 ice cubes and top up with lemonade.
• Decorate with a slice of lemon.

Berlini

This was the husband’s creation, based on a Jasmine but with a gin and tonic twist.

• Mix 1 shot Gin, 1/2 shot Vermouth, 1/2 shot Campari and 1/2 shot sugar syrup in a cocktail shaker with a couple of ice cubes.
• Shake until the ice cubes have dissolved, then strain into your jar.
• Top up with tonic water.

Kreuzberg Queen

This is actually just a variation of the London Queen cocktail we had at the Jubilee Party, but with added orange juice. We renamed it for the party, Kreuzberg being the district of Berlin we live in.

• Mix 1 shot of Vermouth, 1 shot of Peach Schnapps and 1 shot of Golden Rum in a cocktail shaker with a couple of ice cubes.
• Shake until the ice cubes have dissolved, then strain into your jar.
• Top up with orange juice.
• Decorate with a slice of lemon.

If you don’t have a cocktail shaker, you can just use a jam jar with a lid. To make your own sugar syrup, all you need is sugar and water in a relation of 2:1 (e.g. 2 cups sugar, 1 cup water). Bring the water to the boil, then stir in your sugar and take off the heat once the sugar has dissolved. Leave to cool.