My drinking is pretty variable. Right now I hardly drink at all (I think I'm averaging maybe two units a week), but when I do it tends to be cocktails.

Most of the cocktails I make fit what I think of as the minimum viable cocktail: Take three ingredients, mix them together (probably in equal parts), serve over ice. Anything simpler wouldn't count as a cocktail. At any given point there tend to be only one or two I regularly make. The following are the current ones:

Armagnac Sidecar

  • 1 part Armagnac (I've been using Sainsbury's Taste the Difference for this. It's actually pretty good.
  • 1 part triple sec (I use Gabriel Boudier. I used to use Cointreau but honestly I can't taste the difference in this drink)
  • 1 part freshly squeezed lemon juice.

This is a bit on the sweet side, but the sharpness of the lemon offsets that nicely, and the Armagnac makes it quite interesting. This is the current house cocktail that everyone insists I make for them despite my repeatedly telling them that it's literally the simplest thing in the world.

Hanky Panky

  • 1 part sweet vermouth (Cocchi vermouth di Torino is great for this. Also for everything else).
  • 1 part gin (I just use Tanqueray or Beefeater)
  • About half a cap full of Fernet Branca

This is somewhere between a slightly augmented Gin and It and a Negroni. I really like it. Easy on the Fernet though - you're really using it as a bitter. It accents the drink. If you use a lot it will just dominate it.