David Hoyle

Very appealing and prominent lemony apple flavours with no need for a neutral base spirit.

There is a reason to the combination of vodka and gin in this carefully balanced cocktail: the smallish amount of Hayman's (or similar) Gin brings a subtle floral undercurrent that blends beautifully with the apple flavours. I used Briottet Manzana Verde as the Schnapps and Cawston Press Cloudy Apple juice. All in all, a winner for me and my guests, and one we will assuredly return to.

A lovely way to appreciate apple flavours, and it's good to see Avallen as the recommended calvados as it's an old favourite of this drinker. I used Cawston Press Cloudy Apple juice, in the absence of freshly-pressed Granny Smiths, and it's in UK supermarkets. It's a "monolithic" cocktail - but definitely something that adherents of apple might like to explore.

The generous portion of pear juice hides a kick from the vodka and is subtly boosted by the sweet Triple Sec and sour lemon juice which are, no doubt, fighting it out in the background, but without actively altering the dominant Pear flavour. In the absence of agave, I used sugar syrup - sweetness can be down to personal taste - 7.5 ml suited this palate. A fascinating alcoholic take on a plain pear juice, with added oomph, edge and intensifed flavour!