3 Simple Cocktails To Make With Ingredients You Already Have In Your Kitchen

Skip the queues and bring the pub to you with these delicious, easy to make cocktails! 

After four very, very long months...the pubs have finally re-opened!...well, sort of. 

Bars which serve "a substantial meal worth at least €9" opened up their doors last Monday (June 29) but not as we know it. From pre-booked slots to a two pints drink limit, popping down to the local may not be the leisurely activity we once knew it to be. 

So whether you're feeling anxious about returning to the pub or have grown rather fond of staying at home, we reached out to Catch Events' Federico Riezzo to bring the pub to you. 

Catch Events has become Insta-famous in for its 'quarantini boxes', which arrive at your front door complete with ingredients and equipment to easily shake-up a drink. However, if you fancy trying to make a few of your own cocktails from scratch, Riezzo has given us some boozy recipes. 

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Easy to make and full of flavour, they're a brilliant way to use up some of the ingredients you have lingering in your presses like jam and marmalade.  Flavours can be swapped depending on what you have, which is where the fun element kicks in. Use a grapefruit instead of a mandarin, honey instead of jam, and so on.  

But first things first: "always try the drink before you add ice or shake the cocktail," advises Riezzo. "This way, you can adjust the flavours in your drink prior to the dilution process. We all have different taste buds and there is no sweet or sour written in stone, just what you think tastes great."

Mandarin and black pepper Americano

Bittersweet and with a zesty feel, this is the perfect aperitif. The pepper adds a lovely little layer to the drink, without overtaking. Easy to make and easy to drink.

Ingredients:

• 30ml Campari
• 30ml Rose vermouth
• 80-100ml of soda water
• 25ml of mandarin juice 

Method:
1. Squeeze the mandarins to get 25 ml of juice and pour it in the glass.
2. Add some freshly cracked black pepper - 3 or 4 turns of pepper mill will suffice.
3. Add all the ingredients, minus the soda, to a highball glass, fill to the top with ice and then top up with the soda. Stir gently.
4. Garnish with mandarin wedge and black pepper. Rosmarin or thyme can also work very well.

Raspberry jam Collins

This is a deliciously fruity and refreshing crowd-pleaser. You can use any jam in lieu of the raspberry. If you are fond of bitter favours you can also swap tonic for the soda.

Ingredients:

• 35ml gin
• 25ml raspberry jam
• 25ml lemon juice
• Soda water

Method:
1. Dilute the jam with a dash of hot water ( 10ml should suffice) so to make it a little runny and let it cool for a  few minutes.
2. Add all the ingredients, minus the soda, to a highball glass.
3. Taste with a straw to see if the drink is balanced to your taste.
4. Add ice and top with soda. Gently stir and garnish with a lemon wheel.