New Year’s Eve: four cocktails to get you going

The turn of the year deserves something special, so don’t just settle for economy-class sparkling.

A Vesper Martini.

Amateur hour, right? That’s how every seasoned drinker worth his bitters is supposed to regard New Year’s Eve, with its crowds and enforced jollity and economy-class sparkling that brings the sour stomach and the sugar crash long before any semblance of buzz. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Instead of watching the fireworks on the sofa and going to bed at 12.15 hoping not to be woken five hours later by a troop of staggering backpackers singing Wonderwall, why not mix up a few proper cocktails and take a stand against mediocrity? Extra points if you invite the neighbours around and demand everyone wears evening clothes. Here are four to get you started.

Brace yourself

While the obvious thing to do on the night is to start on champagne, unless you’ve got a Croesus-like budget it’s best to save the good stuff for the midnight toast; bubbles have their place but can make it hard to reach cruising altitude. Instead, mix up a pitcher of army & navies (best if you can get your hands on some navy-strength gin — Four Pillars is an excellent example): Three parts gin, two parts lemon juice, one part orgeat syrup and a dash of bitters. Shake over ice and strain into flute glasses, and hand one to everyone who walks in the door. Infinitely scalable and utterly refreshing, it’s a great way to get the party started.

Bubble up

It being New Year’s Eve, of course there will be demand for a champagne-based cocktail. Our first instinct is: don’t. But further research suggests that none other than the great British novelist and legendary soak Kingsley Amis was a devotee, thus giving the drink a pedigree far more sophisticated than the Lido deck of the Love Boat. In his collection Everyday Drinking, Amis suggests that you “saturate a lump of sugar in Angostura bitters and put it in a wine glass, add about a pub single of brandy, top up with chilled champagne”. He adds: “Everybody seems to think this is an overrated drink, but it keeps going all the same.” Remember this is for fun — don’t use the Ruinart or Collard-Picard. Rather, look for bottles with pictures of Australian fauna. We are drinking one as we type this and Amis is right. Alternatively, make a French 75 — shake a good measure of gin with a sugar cube and the juice of half a lemon, strain over ice and top with bubbles. Refreshing!

Grow up

But New Year’s Eve is supposed to be adulthood, or so it seemed when we were kids, and short of tax trouble there’s nothing more adult than a martini-style cocktail. If you have — and why wouldn’t you? — a set of proper martini or coupe glasses chilling in the freezer, mix up some vespers. While you can’t get the original Kina Lillet made famous in James Bond’s recipe, Lillet Blanc does in a pinch. Simply mix gin, vodka, and the Lillet in a cocktail shaker with ice at a ratio of 3:1:½, stir vigorously and strain into the glasses. Garnish with slices of lemon peel.

Rock on

Obviously all of the above is meant to be consumed responsibly with plenty of healthy food and interspersed with glasses of fresh mineral water. Now that we’ve satisfied the legal department, it may very well be that some will find the next day somewhat challenging. In such circumstances boutique Australian vodka producer Alaskan Rock — yes, there’s a story behind the name; no, we haven’t space for it here — suggests mixing up its take on a salty dog, or in Alaskan Rock’s version, a doctor’s orders. Simplicity itself, it involves shaking 2½ parts ruby grapefruit juice with one part Alaskan Rock vodka and a couple of dashes of grapefruit bitters. If you can, salt the rim of an old-fashioned glass with black salt and a ginger and pepper syrup, though this may require more rocket science than one is capable of at the hour. Strain over a large ice cube. As Alaskan Rock’s cocktail team says, “If you’ve overindulged at any point this drink will lighten your mood and deliver a hit of vitamin C and some much needed sodium at the same time.”

Happy new year!