6 easy cocktails to make for Valentine’s Day

Making a cocktail doesn’t have to involve the skills of a bartender, a battery of equipment and a shelf full of obscure bottles. You can make a simple cocktail for your beloved with as little as two ingredients - so long as they’re red or pink . . .

Here are six simple ideas. Feel free to improvise . . .

BELLINIS

Originally made with the juice of fresh white peaches topped up with prosecco that’s not going to be the easiest cocktail to run up at this time of year unless you’re in the southern hemisphere.

A company called funkin pro does a white peach purée in a 1 kilo bag though which you can order from amazon or make a raspberry bellini instead with fresh or thawed frozen raspberries, blitzed in a blender with a little icing sugar and strained.

Or use that most sexy of raspberry liqueurs, Chambord, to make a framboise royale

RASPBERRY MOJITO

Just crushed raspberries mint and white rum. Simples!

THE ECLIPSE (AKA WATERMELON MARTINI)

A bartender told me about this the other day and it sounds delicious. Basically you pour 2 shots (60ml) of frozen vodka and 1 shot (30ml) of fresh lime juice into a shaker full of chopped watermelon flesh and ice adding a little gomme (sugar syrup) if your watermelon isn’t that ripe. Shake well and strain into a chilled martini glass.

PINK BLOSSOM

One of a number of cocktails devised by port producer Croft who sell a pink port. That of course will outrage traditionalists but it's perfect for V Day. It calls for St Germain Elderflower liqueur but I don’t see why you can’t use a mixture of elderflower cordial and vodka if you can't get your hands on some. I like the frozen berry garnish too.

RHUBARB MARTINI

You might not be turned on by the idea of rhubarb but you have to admit the forced rhubarb that’s in season at the moment is dead pretty. If making it from scratch poach your own rhubarb then strain off the rhubarb syrup and shake it up with some vodka or gin - and lemongrass according to this stylish recipe from Diffordsguide.com. Or you can buy rhubarb vodka readymade - Chase does one which is stocked by The Whisky Exchange but it’s not cheap. If you’re organised enough next year you could make your own.

PORN STAR MARTINI

OK, it's not pink but it's suggestive which makes up for it. There are variations but basically it's vanilla-flavoured vodka (or vodka and vanilla sugar), Passoa (passionfruit liqueur) and passionfruit pulp topped up with champagne - or served with a champagne shooter on the side.

That's a couple more ingredients than the others which might deter you unless you have a handy offie like Gerry’s of Old Compton Street or a well-stocked supermarket* nearby but it is a modern classic.

You can also turn your cocktail into a dessert as you can see from this post

* Other shops with good spirits and liqueurs selections include larger branches of Marks & Spencer and Waitrose.

Image © Jag_cz - Fotolia.com

Summer ale cup

A cross between a Pimm’s and a shandy which I concocted a few year's ago for my son Will’s and my book An Appetite for Ale. You'll obviously need to play around with the proportions depending on the fruit cup and the beer you use

Makes 4-6 glasses

250ml fruit cup, chilled - I originally used Plymouth but Sipsmith is good and Aldi does a cheap one called Austin’s for £5.99 it might be worth playing around with. Or you could, of course use Pimm's

500ml fruity golden ale such as Badger’s Golden Glory, chilled

250ml traditional white lemonade, chilled

10-12 ice cubes

Slices of apple, orange and cucumber and a few sprigs of mint

Pour the fruit cup into a large jug. Add the beer and lemonade and stir. Add the ice cubes and slices of apple, orange and cucumber. Decorate with mint and serve.

Image © Vanessa Courtier

Cognac Summit

Sometimes cocktails seem like just one more thing you have to do when you have people round but this summery cognac one is so easy it's no hassle at all.

I tasted it at a a pop-up supper club I was co-hosting for the Bureau National Interprofessional du Cognac (for which - declaration of interest - they paid me). But they didn't ask me to run the recipe or tweet about it. I just thought it was so good I wanted to pass it on. And you don't even need a shaker - you just make it in the glass.

For each glass you need

1 strip of lime peel/zest

4 thin slices of fresh ginger

40 ml (1 ½ oz) VSOP cognac

60 ml (2 oz) traditional lemonade (something like R. White's - nothing fancy)

1 long strip of cucumber peel

An old-fashioned/rocks glass

Place the lime zest and ginger slices in the glass.

Pour in 20 ml (3/4 oz) of VSOP Cognac.

Lightly press the lime and ginger 2 or 3 times using a pestle (in other words 'muddle' it)

Half fill the glass with ice. Stir well for 5 seconds using a bar spoon.

Pour in the remaining cognac

Add the lemonade and cucumber peel.

Stir well for 5 seconds and serve

You can reduce the amount of cognac if you want to, obviously, and skip the muddling and it'll still taste good.

* If you're wondering the cocktail is named after the International Cognac Summit in 2008 which brought together mixologists from all over the world to create cognac cocktails. Bet they had a good time ....

Why the Negroni is the Marmite of the cocktail world

"The Negroni is the Marmite of mixed drinks" writes Ian Cameron. So why does it put so many people - including restaurant critic Jay Rayner - off?

"Taken at face value, the classic cocktail from 1920s Florence is a simple enough concept: gin, sweet vermouth and Campari, poured in equal measures. There's no mixological whimsy at work, no fancy techniques - you just pour the liquids over a few ice cubes in the glass you're going to serve it in and give it a stir. Throw in an orange twist and Bob's your uncle.

Yet when drinkers raise a Negroni to their lips the cocktail has an incredibly polarising effect. Like the nation's reaction to its most famous yeast extract, people literally love it or hate it. It's a big, boozy, big boy's drink, dry and jowl-shakingly bitter. It comes at you like a wake-up call at 3am.

To its fans, it's an aperitif without compare, a sophisticated kick start to enliven the palate and stiffen the sinews ahead of a meal.

To the haters, it's a red devil incarnate.

Is it in the healthy slug of gin? It can't be. We all love a stiff G&T and gin has been probably the most interesting spirit category of late, with a slew of new brands, flavours and styles.

What about the vermouth? Sure, an appreciation of aromatized wines can be an acquired taste, and in this ratio it's undoubtedly a star player as much as the gin, but it's hardly offensive.

No, it must be the Campari.

The bright red allure of Campari is deceptive, its hue redolent of a cordial, promising sweetness, maybe berry flavours or a pomegranate-like grenadine quality. But to the uninitiated, its bitter, rooty glory can come as a nasty surprise, akin to licking a full ashtray.

Those that are averse to the taste may never change their minds, but for those it appeals to, there's really no substitute. And that, perhaps, is its ultimate conceit: if you like it, you're a member of a special club.

If you're not, they're not looking for any new members.

Here's how I make mine:

Take a nice, chunky rocks glass. Fill it with some good quality ice - chunky, tongue-stickingly cold, no wet pub ice and certainly not crushed. Pour over a shot of a bold gin - I like Plymouth - then a shot of vermouth such as Carpano Antica Formula. Finally a shot of Campari - there's no substitute. Give it a stir and add in an orange wedge. Job done.

Ian Cameron is editor at diffordsguide.com, which won the Best Cocktail Writing (Publication) award at the Tales of the Cocktail convention in New Orleans in July 2013. He is a contributing editor to worldsbestbars.com and has written for BBC Olive, GQ, Esquire and The Independent.