20 best Halloween cocktails

All Hallows' Eve, the 31st October, is spook night with bizarre costumes, trick-or-treat, pumpkin carving, apple bobbing and bonfires all the rage. Such

S 'n' Emm

So named due to originally being made with Savoia, Mezcal and Montenegro. On the bitter side of bittersweet but eases with the dilution that comes with

Smoke & Mirrors (mezcal-based)

A Mezcal Margarita with chili, ginger and pineapple, mellowed by a splash of foaming egg white.

Dorado Old Fashioned

Delicately smoky mezcal and agave caramel notes sit well with rich herbal pepperminty liqueur.

Spicy Smoky Margarita

Just as it says on the tin, but delicately smoky and subtly spicy.

Mex Martini

An apt name for a cocktail that's so tasty, it could well become a contemporary classic.

Difford's Falernum

We chat a lot with our mate Bob (of Bitters fame) and we got talking about what a great falernum should taste like. Weeks passed (as we sampled numerous

20 best Mezcal cocktails

Mezcal is often used to add a touch of its distinctive lightly smoky character to cocktails based on other spirits particularly tequila. However, it's

Mezcal - What it is and how it's made

The name mezcal originates from the Aztec language and refers to a traditional Mexican spirit made from the Maguey plant.

20 best Calvados cocktails

Calvados is a wonderfully flavoursome base spirit in cocktail recipes, particularly with a young calvados that retains the fresh crisp notes of apple with

Calvados

Calvados is a French brandy made from apples (though it can also contain pears). The name is an Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée, meaning that calvados

Avallen

Avallen is a Calvados made from 40 varieties of apple grown in La Manche, a Calvados Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée region of Normandy that has been

Difford’s Guide to Cocktails Fifteenth Edition

Only 58 copies left! More than twenty years in the making, our monster 2kg, 52mm (2 inch) thick hardback cocktail book includes 3,000 recipes (in both

Santiago de Cuba 8 Year Old

Blended by the 8th generation of Rum Masters from the city of Santiago de Cuba, Ron Santiago de Cuba Añejo 8-year-old is a blend of rums aged in white

Taoiseach

The quality of your pomegranate (grenadine) syrup will make of break this cocktail. (Perhaps even better with groseille syrup.)

Wogan

Best described as an apricot-flavoured Irish whiskey Daiquiri.

Anonymous (But Assertive) Sour

Lemon drizzled grilled sweetcorn with delicate chili spice and citric acidity. Sounds sophisticated but is easy drinking.

Sheroni

A Negroni riff created in October 2021 by yours truly at the Clocktower in Rye, England.

Four W Daiquiri

The oomph of rum, the sourness of grapefruit and the richness of maple syrup, all aromatised by bitters.

Ernest + Rita

A relatively low-alcohol floral grapefruit laced aperitivo-style Margarita.

Bombay Sapphire Murcian Lemon

Named in celebration of the citrus fruits produced in Spain's Murcia region, this Bombay Sapphire expression centers on the Fino lemons grown there, complemented

Mezcal Martini

With gin, my go-to stirred Dry Martini recipe is five-to-one, but that's way too-much when using mezcal – a Fifty-Fifty Martini is more befitting. Rather

Dunlop Cocktail

A punchy dry aperitivo – sherry-influenced rum with a dash of bitters.

Tunnel Negroni

Bittersweet and delicately herbal.