There are many reasons to celebrate these days. It's the final weeks of winter (which has been the coldest one in recent years) and the liquor ban has been lifted. If the weeks of being off booze have whet your appetite for something a little different post-prohibition, look no further.
We have got your back with these warming winter cocktails and, best of all, you do not need to leave home to get your hands on the ingredients, all of which are available online.
Easy enough to whip up in your kitchen and guaranteed to warm you from the inside out, here are five favourite cocktails to cosy up with this week.
Bloedlemoen SA-Groni
Ingredients
25ml Bloedlemoen gin
25ml Campari
25ml full-cream sherry
1 twist of orange peel garnish
Method
Stir all ingredients together and strain into a tumbler with a big block of ice. Take the twist and squeeze the oil over the drink.
The dark and stormy
Ingredients
50ml Kraken black spiced rum
150ml ginger beer
Lime wedge
Method
Combine all ingredients in a glass filled with ice. Stir to mix and enjoy! Or don’t stir and leave the Kraken lurking on top. Dangerous. Go on. We dare you!
Mourning, noon and night
Ingredients
35ml The Sexton single malt Irish whiskey
25ml sweet vermouth
25ml Campari
Method
Stir all ingredients together, rub half a red pepper around the rim of the glass and garnish with a twist of lemon peel.
Don fashioned
Ingredients
5 parts Don Papa oak-aged rum
1 part liquid brown sugar
2 drops grapefruit bitters
1 drop orange bitters
1 Maraschino cherry
2 slices of orange rind
Method
Pour liquid sugar into a mixing glass and add 2 drops of grapefruit bitters and one of orange bitters. Top up the glass with some ice and pour in Don Papa Rum. Stir to melt the ice and serve in an old-fashioned glass filled with ice. Garnish with a Maraschino cherry and a twist of orange peel.
And if teetotalling has grown on you, have no fear – you can always order a bottle of Seedlip non-alcoholic distilled spirit here and make yourself a delicious alternative to a hot toddy!
Grove toddy
Ingredients
Hot heatproof mug
50ml Seedlip Grove 42
15ml honey
120ml hot water
Method
Build and garnish with a cinnamon stick.