There is nothing like a Cocktail made by a master mixologist, but you can make your own and enjoy the whole process just as much.

The general rule or formula for making a cocktail is to mix two parts base spirit with one part sweet and one part sour (50ml,25ml,25ml). Mix by shaking with ice, with your chosen Garnishes, and strained into a glass with ice, adding addition
Garnish and sometimes adding a bit of fizz.

As a starting point you can have a go at your own gin using ingredients from the categories below to build your own Signature Cocktail.

Spirits:  There is a massive range of spirits that you could use but those
used more than most are Brandy, Gin, Rum, Tequila, Vodka, or Whisky. I obliviously prefer to use one of my gins, either Explorers Grand Slam Gin, Peak Baggers Gin or Rowers Gin. Each are distilled using unique botanicals connected to their back story

Sweet: The sweet in cocktails usually comes from a syrup made by boiling sugar with water and cooling. The flavour can be increased by infusing the syrup with herbs or spices, fruits, honey and vegetables.  The most popular syrups used in cocktails are Coconut, Grenadine (Pomegranate), Honey, Raspberry, Strawberry and Vanila.

Sour: The sour added to a cocktail comes from the critic acids found in Lemons, Lime and Grapefruit, all readily available.

Garnishes:  here are so many to choose from including Basil, Cucumber, Ginger, Lemon, Lime, Nut oil, Mint, Peppercorns, Rosemary, Strawberries. The list goes on and on, and many flavours can be found in fizzy waters and tonics.

Once you have created your signature cocktail you can have a bit of fun naming it. When it comes to Cocktails the names The Cosmopolitan, Gin Martini, Harvey Wallbanger, Margarita, Manhattan, Old Fashioned and Pina Colada have become iconic.

I love a good Gin and Tonic but even better are Gin Cocktails and one of my favourites, for its simplicity of flavour and punch, is a Bees Knees using our Rowers Gin, distilled using botanicals found on our Riverbanks, Coast and Sea. This must be in any top 10 most popular gin cocktails.

Just mix 50ml Rowers Gin, 25ml Lemon Juice and 25ml Honey Syrup (made of 50% honey 50% hot water till dissolved, then cooled). Mix, shake well, pour in a glass with plenty of cubed ice and garnish
with lemon. No tonic is needed for this amazing cocktail which packs a punch.

You can use your own honey or those found on the shelves of your local store or farm shop which may give it a more unique taste.

I also love Cucumber with Gin and a great Cocktail using this amazing garnish is a Ten on the Legs, also known as a Strawberry and Cucumber Bramble, made using our Peak Baggers Gin, distilled using botanicals from the tops of British Peaks and Mountains including Bear Berry, Blue Berry, Mountain Ash and Heather.

Just mix 50ml Peak Baggers Gin, 25ml Lemon Juice, 25ml Sugar Syrup, 12.5ml Creme de Mure (Blackberry Liqueur), three strawberries and a few slices of Cucumber

Build in a Cocktail Shaker, add the Gin, Lemon Juice, Sugar Syrup and two cut Strawberries and two slices of Cucumber and shake. This muddling helps extract the favours from the Strawberries and Cucumber.

Then strain into a glass full of cubed ice and drizzle Crème de Mure over the top, adding a sliced Strawberry and little Cucumber to garnish.

This is a great summer cocktail; it looks great and tastes great.

You can find our range of spirits at www.adventurersdrinks.co.uk

At the Adventurers Drinks Company, we have two really good Pale Ales brewed for us by the First and Last Brewery in Northumberland.

Rowers Pale Ale is a great British session ale with a 3.4% ABV. It is brewed with Malt from Barley, Wheat and Oats and using Endeavour and Harlequin Hops. Its flavour can be described as gentle flavours of passion fruit, peach and light citrus complemented by a fruity and floral aroma.

Peak Baggers is also an amazing American Pale Ale with a 3.8% ABV. It is brewed with Malt from Barley, Rye, Wheat and Oats and using Comet and Centennial Hops. Its
flavour can be described as notes of zesty grapefruit and tangerine with aromatic pine and subtle pine notes to finish.

You can find these great Pale Ales available online at the Adventurers Drinks Company.

How long has beer been made in Britian?

Brewing in Britain predates recorded history, but it’s understood that early inhabitants of Britain brewed ale from barley and other grains. This ale was quite different from modern beer, and it was often flavoured with herbs and spices. In
the Middle Ages it was widely consumed due to its nutritional content and relative safely compared to water. Hops were introduced in the 15th Century, beers becoming more bitter, a departure from the sweeter beers traditionally brewed in Britain. Over time, with its preservative qualities, most beer included hops and ales came to describe pale less hoppy beers in
Britian.

How is beer made?

In the present-day beer is made by a process that involves Malting, in which grains are soaked to initiate germination to activate enzymes that covert starches into fermentable sugars and dried to stop germination and to determine the malts colour and flavour. Lighter malts produce pale beers. Then there is Mashing, in which the malted grains are milled and mixed with hot water to create wort in which the starches are broken down into fermentable sugars which is critical in determining the beers alcohol content and its flavour. Lautering and boiling follow where the liquid is separated from the grain and brought to the boil whilst adding hops, which contribute to the beer’s bittiness and flavour. Cooling and Fermentation is next where the wort is cooled and yeast is added, the type of which will affect the beers flavour, aroma and whether it’s a beer or lager. The yeast converts the sugars in the liquid wort to alcohol and carbon dioxide. After fermentation the beer is aged dependent on its style. Pale Ales are best consumed fresh whilst stouts benefit from aging. Beers can then be naturally carbonated by small amounts of sugar to the seal containers or carbonated using Co2 gas. Some beers are filtered to remove yeast and create a clearer product before being transferred into bottles cans or kegs. Finally storing and serving the beer at the right temperature is important to the beers ultimate drinking experience.

How is Pale Ale made?

Pale Ale involves brewing beer with a specific balance of malt and hops, resulting in a pale colour and a hoppy flavour profile.

The malts are pale, due to the Malt being lightly kilns dried, giving the ale its light colour. The hops feature at a moderate to high level of bitterness, flavour and aroma, many imparting citrusy piney, floral or earthy notes. The yeast used also
contributes to the ales characteristics by imparting a clean fermentation allowing the malt and hops to shine. American ales tend to use a clean yeast which imparts less flavour than the English yeast which add mild fruity or earthy notes.

Flavour within a pale ale includes a bitterness balanced by the malt’s sweetness. Whilst the malts presence in a pale ale is less dominated it does provide a biscuity sweet flavour compared to the hop bittiness. The main favour in the pale ale comes from the hops. The array of varieties give flavours and aromas that range from citrusy and fruity to piney and resinous.

What’s the difference between Indian Pale Ale and Pale Ale

The difference between an India Pale Ale (IPA) and a Pale Ale mainly lies in their hop content, alcohol strength, flavour profile. While both beers belong to the broader category of Pale Ales, IPAs are generally hoppier being more bitter, stronger in alcohol content 5.5% to 7.5% ABV compared to Pale ales 4.0% to 5.5% ABV , and more intense in flavour with the malt less dominant.

What’s the difference between British and American Pale Ale

The main difference is the variety of hops used. Britain and American hops provide a different range of flavours. Those from Britain typically impart earthy, floral, herbal, and sometimes slightly fruity or spicy flavours and those from America are known for their bold, citrusy, piney, floral, and tropical fruit. Flavours and aromas. The yeast used in the American Pale Ale has less of a contribution to flavour and the character of malts used in American Pale Ales is also less pronounced than in British Pale Ales.  American Pales ales are also slightly more carbonated.

When it comes to spirits, Vodka and Gin are two of the highest selling in the UK.

There popularity can be attributed to their versatility. Vodka’s neutral flavourmakes it ideal as a base for cocktails mixing with a range of other spirits and fruits without overpowering their flavours. It has also benefited from heavy investment in marketing, the introduction of flavoured vodka’s, a range of prices that make it affordable as well as a culture shift from beers to spirits and mixed drinks. Gins popularity is based upon many of the same reasons. It also has a historical back story with its use by the British Armed forces in India in the 17th Century to make quinine tonic water more palatable, resulting in the Gin and Tonic. The rise in the small local craft gin distilleries in the 21st Century is also a significant factor in it’s more recent popularity.

Vodka and Gin are closely related, due to their similar base spirit. The difference is Gin adds flavour through the introduction of botanicals.

The alcohol in spirits is produced by fermentation.

The raw material used are sugars or starches, which can be converted into sugar. Fruits such as grapes and apples naturally contain sugars, whilst grains such as barley, rye and wheat, contain starch, from which sugar has to be extracted. This is done by malting, that is soaking them, allowing them to germinate and in the process activating enzymes that convert starch to sugars. They then need to be mashed by mixing them with hot water to further break down the starches into sugars, creating a sugary liquid called Wort in brewing and Mash in distilling

Fermentation takes place by adding yeast, a microorganism, which consumes the sugars and produces alcohol. For spirits the fermented Mash needs to be distilled. Quite simply the liquid is heated and as alcohol has a lower boiling point than water it vaporises first and is condensed into a liquid form in a separate container creating a base alcohol with circa 95% ABV.

For Vodka, its alcohol is made this way. The choice of the base raw material can subtly change its favour. Multiple distillation produces a purer product and a more neutral flavour. Filtration also helps with purity and a smoother taste. Finally, the addition of water makes the pure alcohol into Vodka by reducing the distilled alcohol from 95% ABV to the 40%, seen in many Vodka’s.

When it comes to what is Gin made from, the base alcohol is infused with botanicals. To be a gin Juniper is the essential botanical required by law.  It imparts a piney, resinous, slightly citrus flavour that is central to gin’s character. Coriander is also used in most gins together with Angelica and Orris, the latter two used to fix and stabilise theflavours from other botanicals.

The botanicals can be introduced by Maceration, soaking the alcohol in the botanicals, or by Vapour Infusion, passing the alcohol vapour through a basket of botanicals.  The infused spirit is distilled to extract and concentrate the flavours, the first and last part of a distillation being discards to retain the middle part, the heart, which contains the best flavours. Post distillation, gin is usually diluted with water to create an alcohol content of 40 to 50% ABV.

The botanicals used in a gin depends on what flavour the distiller is looking to achieve as an end product. As well as Juniper and Coriander the more common botanicals include Angelica, Orris, Citrus Peels, Cardamon, Cinnamon, Liquorice, Nutmeg, lavender, Rose Petals, Rosemary and Peppercorns, the list goes on.

At the Adventurers Drinks Company, we have created three amazing Gins with our distillers, all with their own unique botanicals connecting them to their back stories.

Peak Baggers Gin, inspired by Claire Hughes and all you Peak Baggers out there. Those who do it for fun, for the physical and mental challenge, or for the records.

Created on the classical foundations of Juniper and Coriander together with Angelica and Citrus, it embraces its back story with its unique flavour coming from the botanicals found on the mountains and peaks of Great Britain including Bearberry, Blueberry, Heather, and Mountain Ash. Bearberry provides a natural sweetness complementing the slightly bitter taste of Mountain Ash. Blueberry provides a real depth of fruit flavour, and the Heather provides a subtle perfumed aroma, imparting a delicate grassy floral note.

Together they produce a fresh vibrant gin, with an aroma that gives you that fresh invigorated feeling one gets when you are on top of the world.

Our Rowers Gin is inspired by Phil Kite and all the rowers out there, those who do it for fun, for the physical and mental challenge, or for the records.

Created on the classical foundations of Juniper and Coriander together with Angelica and Citrus, it reflects its rowing backstory with its unique flavour
coming from the botanicals found on our riverbanks, coasts, and the
Atlantic Ocean that surround us. Meadowsweet, in abundance along riverbanks with creamy flower heads, offers a bewitching sweet aroma, reminding us of summer regattas. Rock samphire, found on our coasts gives an incredibly concentrated burst of flavour, reminiscent of those crashing waves. Sugar kelp, found in the Atlantic Ocean, gives a soft slightly sweet maritime flavour, with a gentle saltiness, bringing memories of those ocean crossings. Together, these amazing botanicals, create a gin reflecting our rowing heritage and our Adventurous Spirit.

Explorers Grand Slam Gin is inspired by Sir David Hempleman Adams, the first person to walk to the North Pole and South Pole and climb the highest summit on all Seven Continents. The gin is hand crafted with botanicals found on all seven continents. It is truly the Inspirational Spirit.

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