Original Cocktail Inventions, part 1: Yorkshire Guilt

The real deal

You may remember from my Has Anyone Ever Invented a Cocktail? feature that prior to inventing the Straw Donkey, my original intention was actually to invent a Yorkshire-themed cocktail. I had made a list of potential ingredients, but thought that I would have to put experiments on hold until rhubarb came into season. It turns out I was wrong; you can buy tinned rhubarb in Tesco.

What follows is an account of the making of the drink I decided to call Yorkshire Guilt. The name comes from a phrase coined by my work colleague, Bev. She is actually my second cousin (we learned after two years of working together), and therefore also of Yorkshire origin, and what she is referring to is the practice of assuming guilt for something that one cannot possibly be responsible for. I’m sure it’s not a specifically Yorkshire trait, but we refer to it that way, and it seemed like a good name for an alcoholic drink.

Early attempt

My first attempts were drinkable, but not entirely satisfactory – it was not a drink I’d be inclined to return to. I muddled the tinned rhubarb chunks, then cracked some ice and added 103 Brandy de Jerez and 2 tsp of sugar syrup before topping up with a little ginger wine. It wasn't to my taste, so next I tried replacing the ginger wine with ginger ale, in the style of a mojito. Still dissatisfied, I tried replacing the ginger ale with pineapple juice, and adding sugar instead of sugar syrup. It wasn't bad, but not as good as I was aiming for. Part of the problem was that the rhubarb was blocking up the straw. The next thing would be to blend the rhubarb.

Two experiments

Phase two: after some deliberation I decided to empty the whole tin of rhubarb pieces into the blender, including the syrup. I just blended this up and placed it in a jar in the fridge to draw upon for future experimentation.

with Blue Curacao

Results with the rhubarb were more pleasing. I shook 100ml of rhubarb puree with two measures of dark rum (Lamb's Navy Rum, in place of the 103 Brandy de Jerez), 1 measure of Blue Curacao and 1 measure of lemon juice with 5 ice cubes. It resulted in a fantastic colour, and was enjoyable. I still felt something was missing however, and decided more citrus was required.

Drink n' fixings

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to make another one of these, as that one saw the last of the blue curacao. Next time I used Triple Sec instead, and replaced the measure of lemon juice with two measures of lime juice. I thought this was it, but the last time I made it (with the last of the rhubarb puree), I used a little more of the puree, and decided this was better still. So the final recipe goes:

Blend a whole tin of rhubarb pieces, with the syrup. Store in the fridge. Then shake the following until a frost forms:

150ml rhubarb puree

Close-up of the finished article      

2 measures dark rum

1 measure Triple Sec

2 measures lime juice

5 ice cubes


Empty the whole lot into a glass. Enjoy.

So, give it a go, pass it around, tell me what you think. I’ll be planning to bring this one out on any occasion we have guests in future, so be warned. It’s ok if you don’t like it.

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So! It's the weekend again, and it looks like it's going to be a hot one, so no doubt you'll be hosting, or be invited to a barbeque, in that usual British, early summer panic to enjoy it before it's over. It's hot! Get the barbeque out! This might be the last chance we get! 


I know I'm going to one, and I learned today that there will be rhubarb bellinis, so I'll be taking more than a passing interest in how those turn out. Hopefully my rhubarb cocktail won't pale in comparison.


I've also got a wedding reception to attend tonight, so I'll have to be making mental notes, as you do when you're planning a wedding of your own.


Enjoy the sunshine then, and hopefully I'll see you next week - in a purely figurative sense, of course.

Simple Drinks

Now, I know that last week I promised to bring you a report on the Ramsbottom Chocolate Festival, and to give you my definitive opinion on combinations of beer and chocolate, but I’m afraid Brenda hasn’t been able to send me the photos from the event yet, so rather than make you do without, I’m just postponing it for a bit. Instead, here’s part one of an entirely new feature on simple alcoholic drinks. Enjoy.

Part 1

Until recently I harboured a strong preference for keeping my alcohol and soft drinks separate – unless I was making a full blown cocktail. I like the flavour of my strong liquors, and I hadn’t previously seen the merit in adulterating them with soft drinks. Similarly, if I was simply thirsty, a soft drink would do on its own.

However, sometimes you might want a long, refreshing alcoholic drink or you might have a bottle of something that isn’t nice enough to drink on its own. Or you might be feeling lazy, and not have the patience to fanny about making a cocktail – sometimes cocktails are like having to cook every time you want a drink. Drinking shouldn’t be like cooking - though it doesn’t hurt if it is an accompaniment to cooking.

The solution is a drink comprised of two ingredients that you can just throw together without too much care or accuracy. I’ve been experimenting a little in this field recently, and I’d like to tell you about some simple combinations. Some of these are standard drinks that I’ve heard of before, and some are ones that (as far as I know) I’ve invented. Give them a try and let me know what you think. If you’ve pioneered any simple drinks of your own, I’d love to hear about them.

Grapefruit juice and brandy – I’ve been making this with 103 Brandy de Jerez. Brenda brought it back from Ibiza a good few years ago, and it’s been sitting atop our kitchen cupboard ever since. Occasionally it has made it into my hip flask for nights out (I think I took a little to Malaysia, actually) but despite liking brandy, I’ve always found the aftertaste of this one a little too bitter.

I decided to pair it up with grapefruit juice because I’m often left with more than half a carton after I’ve had a cocktail night. There aren’t as many cocktails made with grapefruit juice as you might think, and it isn’t the most drinkable juice around – though it is essential for the excellent Havana Zombie (according to some recipes, but not to others). For whatever reason, this marriage works a treat. The brandy takes the sour edge off of the grapefruit juice very nicely. Quantities aren’t that important. I tend to fill a glass with the juice (over ice), but leave enough room for a couple of measures of brandy.

Whisky Mac (whisky and ginger wine) – I actually got this recipe from a bottle of Church’s Green Ginger Wine that was left at my house after a party. It says ‘original recipe’ on the bottle, implying that it’s traditional, but it also says ‘bottled for Aldi stores’ so what ‘original recipe’ means, I don’t know. Anything can be an original recipe, can’t it?

I’d never had any thoughts of drinking it until someone mentioned you could drink it with whisky. When I got the bottle down from the cupboard, I found the recipe right there – you just add a splash of the ginger wine to your whisky. I’ve decided I’m not actually that keen on this one, but I’m including it anyway in case you might be. I had to throw most of a glass of this away recently as I realised if I was only going to have one drink that evening, I didn’t want to waste it on this one.

Licor 43 and coke – I’ve spoken of this one before – most notably in the Spanish booze tourism feature - and it’s actually one of my favourite simple mixes. Licor 43 is a little too sweet for my palate, but it adds a nice twist to cola.

Amaretto and coke – a nice drink in the mould of the Licor 43 and coke that I already mentioned. The almond tones provide a nice backdrop for the cola. Or perhaps it’s the coke that provides a nice backdrop for the amaretto. On the strength of this, I’m surprised coke haven’t already invented the almond coke. Pictured is the bottle of Armila that I’ve been using.

Vodka and Tonic – clearly a very famous drink, but not one I could say I’d tried until recently. I decided to invest in a cheap bottle of Indian Tonic Water from Tesco just for the purpose of trying it with Gin and with Vodka. I’m happy to report that it’s delicious. I prefer it with vodka at the moment, and have mostly been using the Russian Standard that I put in my hip flask a couple of weeks ago, and took out with me, but never actually drank. It’s very sharp and refreshing, and you can taste the vodka even if you only use one measure with a lot of tonic. Try it over ice.

So that concludes part 1. I’ll be back at some undetermined point in the future to give you some more simple drinks, so come back regularly. All right, cool.