Hey All

Last week we were invited to a cocktail masterclass as Dirty Martini. Of course we said yes, we were both gutted to have missed opening night and couldn't wait to try it out. If you've followed us from the early days you'll know we are big cocktails fans (the blog used to be cosmetics, shopping and intoxication) and used to post recipes to our favourite cocktails weekly.

Hey All

I can't believe it's only 11 days until Christmas! When the email came through to see if we wanted to try the Mojito Master I was interested straight away. Mojitos are something that are made regularly in my house as it's what me and my other half drank on our first date and one of our favourite drinks. I don't have the proper tools though and tend to just use a rolling pin and stuff to make them.

The mojito master is the Swiss knife of cocktail making, it has everything you need and the bits pop out. It contains a muddle, drinks measure, knife, spoon and mint cutter.

The knife was impressively sharp. I had assumed with something like this it wouldn't be that good but it is. All the bits pop out easily and there our measures inside the cup for the perfect mojito.

It's comfortable in the hand when all assembled again to be able to perfectly muddle the ingredients! Apologies for my lack of pretty glasses. We opt for big mojitos!!

I make mine by squeezing the juice of half a lime into the glass, add 2 large teaspoons of sugar and muddle all of that together. I then add around 8 mint leaves to the glass (apparently if they give them a clap between your hands it released flavour. I then fill the glass with crushed ice. The smaller the better. Here the rolling pin is still used to smash it. I then add to large shots of rum and use the spoon to get right the bottom of the glass and kind of pull the liquid up so all the ice, rum and lime, mint, sugar mix is all combined. I then add a quarter of a lime wedge and mint sprig to garnish. I don't opt of soda in mine as the crushed ice melts and waters it down a little. We also prefer a spiced rum to a white rum or an aged rum!

The result some very tasty mojitos! If you're looking for a last minute gift this is a great idea! I would have definitely grabbed on for my other half. The only thing I would say could be improved it the spoon folds out but then doesn't look in so bends halfway down. If I wanted making pints of Mojito though it probably wouldn't be an issue!

Are you a mojito fan? The mojito master is currently on offer for £9 at Handpicked Collection.

Love M

xxx

Hey All

L and I are massive cocktail fans, we've spent many years sampling them on nights out and making up our own (check out are cocktail series from when the blog first started here!) so this was a box we were interested in receiving through the post.

Taste cocktails offer a subscription service where you get a box a month or you can order one off boxes. This means you can test it out to see if it's something you want or gift them as presents. With fathers day just around the corner I think they'd be great. Had we not already got my dad a bottle of whiskey I'd have ordered him the gin box but I think two alcohol gifts may not go down too well.

As soon as the box arrived I loved the packaging. It just feels like something a bit different. Sometimes simple is all you need and the brown packaging with the stamp of the logo fits this well. Everything is well protected to help prevent any breakages in transit.

Inside the box comes a recipe card explaining the background behind the spirits. I like this touch as I love to know random bits of information. You never know when it may pop up on a pub quiz! The recipes are simple and easy to follow and you get enough of the spirits to make about 4 cocktails (2 of each). The box comes with all you need except the lime juice and grapefruit peel.

I love the little glass bottles. I've kept them and like to put single flowers in them. I love the slightly vintage feel to the presentation of these. 

I am gutted my martini glasses are currently in storage so we had to use wine glass which don't look quite as good. L and I had a film night last week and got stuck into the cocktails. If we're honest the box wasn't to our taste as we aren't Chartreuse fans but the recipes were quick and easy to follow and the we're eyeing up the other boxes. The Daiquiri and Gin box we could see ourselves loving.

What are your thoughts on a cocktail subscription box? Would you like to receive it as a present? You can see all of the different boxes here.

Love M

xxx

To be perfectly honest, I should have started off the whole Cocktail Hour series with this one.

This is mine and M's absolute favourite cocktail of all time and whenever we go out its the number 1 that we start off with!

It is off course the wonderfully pink and world famous Cosmopolitan.

Vodka, cointreau and cranberry juice shaken up with ice and a slice of orange peel lit on the side to give it an amazing orange smell.

This week's Cocktail Hour comes courtesy of M, when she told me she'd had this cocktail I was unbelievably jealous and foaming at the mouth!

I'm talking about TGI Friday's Silver Mercedes:

A fruity, frozen blend of SKYY vodka, cranberry juice and orange sherbet poured over Champagne.

I don't know about you, but when it comes to drinking cocktails with a big group of you, it always seems a good idea to get a punch bowl!

When me and M went out for my birthday with a few of my friends we couldn't resist this beauty...

It's called the 10 Feet Tall grog (after the bar that we were drinking in)

Excuse my photos this week...a few too many cocktails were had and these were the best I could get haha.



It has a lethal but gorgeous mix of rums, lime juice, lemon juice, passion fruit juice, pomegranate juice, lychee juice and grenadine!

Phew, what a list!

It was absolutely gorgeous and we sat down and drank a few of them whilst we waited for it to get busier on the dancefloor.

Another new addition to our menu is the Flirtini!

Neither of us had even heard of this before but we were excited to try it as usual!

As the photo from the menu below shows, it contains vodka, cointreau and pineapple juice shaken together with ice and topped up with champagne, ooh err!

Here's another cocktail from our favourite cocktail bar: Dark and Stormy




We also had a few nibbles with these, mixed olives, pistachios and fried corn which we thoroughly enjoyed!

Me and M decided to go to a new cocktail bar which conveniently has a 'happy hour' style price reduction until 8pm, meaning their cocktails are only £4 woohoo!

We decided, in the name of blogging of course, that we need to frequent this little beauty a little more often! So we took it upon ourselves to test a few drinks we hadn't heard of before.

This week's is a French Martini.

I'm not sure I've ever had a martini before, aside from adding in a martini-esque type spirit to a alcohol heavy cocktail bowl at uni!
So this was interesting for me.

This is a photo taken from the menu of the ingredients:

I am SUPER excited to show you this week's cocktail...

I noticed the other day on Facebook of all places that Revolutions were doing an amazing deal of a FREE cocktail when you took a voucher in.

You even had the choice of either a Vodka Moonshine, or a Frozen Strawberry Daquiri!

Being the super savvy people that we are, we obviously had to claim these freebies and went for the most expensive out of the two which was the Vodka Moonshine.

This cocktail is again representative of me at the end of this week.... a Zombie!

I've been inundated with Uni work, had loads of family stuff going on (nothing too bad btw!) and I've been attending the gym like a fiend, so by today I'm feeling a little/a lot non-human and more like a zombie shell!

This cocktail seemed the perfect choice and is a little more snazzy than your average long drink.

It's a rum based cocktail (again!) mixed with juices and sugar.

The recipe is usually along the lines of 1 part light rum, 1 part dark rum, 1 part apricot brandy, shaken with ice, pineapple juice, orange juice, 2 teaspoons of sugar and some lime juice. This mixture is poured into a tall glass over ice, and normally garnished with some pineapple or lime.

To create the 'Zombie effect', traditionally a shot of Bacardi 151 (75.5% bacardi rum, eek!) is added to the top of the cocktail  in order for it to be lit! I get so excited by cocktails on fire!

I thought last week was a long week, but this week really took the biscuit!

I'm so pleased the weekend is finally here, I'm going to London for a girls weekend with my mum and have been planning it since before Christmas!

This weeks cocktail hour is the unforgettable Mojito, a rum based highball cocktail with lime, sugar or sugar syrup and mint. 

Not a lot of people like it, but I find it quite refreshing, and particularly love the sugary/rum combination you can get at the bottom of the glass.

Sometimes in life, all you need is a short and sharp drink to wake you up from your work induced coma on a Friday evening...

Say a big hello to the Daiquiri!

9 parts rum, 4 parts lime juice and 1 part sugar syrup, shaken up with ice, strained, and poured into a super chic frozen Martini glass looking a little like this:

Hi Ladies!!

Guess what............it's the weekend! Whoopee!!!

Phew this week has gone so fast :)

This week's cocktail is the classic Sex on the Beach, super easy and refreshing.

I haven't had one of these in FOREVER but every time I see it on a menu it reminds me of being on holiday in the evenings; beautiful sunset, warm sands and ice cold cocktail in hand, with an umbrella of course ;)

Well thank the lord its Friday again!!
Here's a little early pick me up for everyone facing those last few hours of slavery...

This week I'm championing the Long Island Iced Tea, basically as it's one of the most lethal combinations of alcohol and I absolutely LOVE it!

It contains a mixture of vodka, rum, gin, tequila and triple sec (Cointreau), muddled together with ice and topped up with Coke. Dangerous right??

It's normally served in a chilled tall glass as it's another long cocktail just like last weeks Bellini.

There are a few variations of the recipe, but most have equal parts of all five spirits shaken with ice, lemon juice and sugar syrup.

The glass is filled with ice, before being topped up with Coke (regular/diet/pepsi whatever takes your fancy!) and then slowly the mixture is poured in to give the double layer effect, and garnished with a lemon.

Hello there! Happy Friday to you!!

I'm sure at the end of the week everybody likes to let their hair down, and I certainly like a good drink to help me along the way!

I realise this is quite an early cocktail hour but I'm far too excited about the weekend ahead to care! 

This week's cocktail recipe is the Bellini.

I'm quite a big fan of classic cocktails, and you can't go wrong with a cocktail invented in 1934 in Venice that was originally drunk by the like of Ernest Hemingway and Humphrey Bogart....Ooh err!

The recipe is relatively simple, it contains only a peach puree and sparkling wine, Prosecco being the Italian's first choice.