Cocktail catch up!
Every cocktail I've drank or made for the last month or so...
It is nearing the end of March, so I thought I would share every cocktail-related thing I have done in the last month. So stay for the cocktail recipe at the end, but enjoy my other cocktail reviews and ramblings.
To begin with we’re heading right back to February, where I found myself in the bar and restaurant chain, Turtle Bay. I was celebrating a two-year anniversary with my boyfriend, which consisted of lots of yummy French food in Maison de Boeuf, Cardiff. We finished our meal at ten-to seven, and I knew full well that this meant there was ten minutes left of Turtle Bay’s happy hour, which was conveniently a minutes walk away. So we hurried on down and squeezed in some 2-for-1 cocktails before the clock hit 8pm.
I went for Turtle Bay’s new menu item, the Lychee Daiquiri (the pink/ red one) and my boyfriend chose the Mango Paloma (the orange one). After working in a Thai restaurant part-time, Lychee flavoured things have become my new obsession, so I had to try this cocktail out. It consisted of Twin Fin Lychee & Coconut, Triple Sec, sorrel and fresh lime and it was bloody gorgeous! Lychee is sweet and tangy, which paired nicely with sharp hints of lime and the over-arching taste of smooth coconut. It was definitely my favourite cocktail out of the two, however the Mango Paloma pleasantly surprised me. It’s ingredients were as follows: Tequila, Triple Sec, mango juice and grapefruit juice. The grapefruit added a sour tint to the mix, which was balanced well with sweet mango, leaving an enjoyable freshness overall.
My next cocktail experience was Valentines Day! Luckily my bestie from home came to visit, so I had another excuse to buy 2-for-1 cocktails. We decided to try out an independent bar and restaurant called Sticky Fingers. The venue welcomes different food venders that change every couple of weeks, meaning you can feast on many different cuisines in one sitting. It also has a cracking bar, with a happy hour deal of two cocktails for £12. Due to it being Valentines Day (or as me and bestie called it, Galentines) we went for the Pink Pony Club cocktail, as we also happen to love Chappell Roan!
As this was a while ago, I can’t seem to remember the exact ingredients, and I have even searched the restaurant’s entire website. All I do remember is that they were lush, and I ordered two more! And if you have a beady eye, you can spot the tiny pink hearts that the bartender drew in the martini foam - CUTE!
The following day, my house threw a Valentines themed party, which I provided a cocktail for. But stay tuned for the recipe at the end…
After looking back through my camera roll, I spotted a common theme amongst my cocktail-drinking habits over the past month. And that theme is, Strawberry Daiquiris!
Here is me and my two Strawberry Daiquiris! These two lovely cocktails were bought and quickly drunk in a bar called Motel Nights, Cardiff. It was the magazine launch party for our new publication, Ditch Magazine (please check it out). From what I can remember these were sweet and tangy, which is everything I want in a cocktail.
If there are any other Strawberry Daiquiri obsessed people out there, I have a secret for you… You can now get two strawb daqs for £8 in Wetherspoons, bargain if you ask me. Surprisingly, many of these were consumed in the last month, see below.
Lastly I will leave you with my take on a Paloma. As this cocktail was for a rather large party, the only requirements I had was that it was pink (for Valentines Day) and easy to make a big batch of. Therefore, I settled on a Paloma.
What you’ll need:
Grapefruit juice - preferably bottled
Vodka (stereotypically a Paloma is made with Tequila, but as a uni student I had to stick with what I already had)
Lime juice
Sugar syrup
Lemonade
The method to this is basically measuring it by eye, and tasting it before sharing with your guests. If you would like a more sophisticated version, leave out the lemonade, this was only added so I could ensure there was enough to fill everyone’s cups! Luckily my cocktail was beautifully displayed in a fish bowl and served with a metal ladle we found in the kitchen (it’s giving students on a budget).
I hope you enjoyed this random collection of cocktail-related images!
Cocktail Hour is the best hour xox