Best Seasonal Cocktail Recipes to Make at Home

These eight seasonal cocktail recipes are worth mixing at home in the UK. Each one uses produce you can buy in that season, a supermarket spirit, and a method you can repeat.

Seasonal cocktail. A seasonal cocktail, on this page, is a drink built around produce you can buy in UK shops in that season, plus a supermarket spirit, measured in millilitres. Spring is March to May, summer is June to August, autumn is September to November, and winter is December to February. Best, here, means worth mixing at home with supermarket ingredients. It is not an award and not a sponsored list.

Measures are millilitres. A 50 ml pour is a UK double.

TL;DR

Make one drink from each season if you only mix four: a rhubarb and elderflower sour in spring, a Pimm's cup in summer, a blackberry and apple whisky sour in autumn, and a whisky hot toddy in winter. The other four recipes are the second style for that season. The garden spritz is the alcohol-free glass.

In September, start with the autumn recipes. Blackberries and Bramley apples are the produce that matches the shops then. The spring and summer drinks still work later in the year if you use the frozen-fruit notes on each recipe.

Serving temperature. Serve spring drinks cold, about 7–10°C. Serve summer drinks very cold, about 3–7°C, with tonic, lemonade and sparkling wine straight from the fridge. Serve autumn drinks cool, over one large ice cube. Serve the whisky hot toddy at about 60–70°C, with the whisky added off the heat. The clementine and rosemary gin sour is the cold winter drink, shaken and served cold, not hot.

Measures, ice and tools

Use a jigger marked in millilitres. Recipe amounts below are millilitres. The ounce line is only for a jigger printed in US fluid ounces.

UK cocktail measures. Use millilitres. These recipes use a 50 ml spirit measure, which is a UK double. A single is 25 ml. A 50 ml pour of a 40% ABV spirit is 2 UK units. Pimm's No. 1 is 25% ABV, so 50 ml is 1.25 units. Heating a toddy does not remove those units. If a jigger is marked in US fluid ounces, 50 ml is just under 1¾ oz, 25 ml is just under 1 oz, and 15 ml is ½ oz.

Plain sugar syrup (1:1). Stir 100 g caster sugar into 100 ml water until the liquid is clear. Warm water is enough; the pan does not need to boil. Cool, bottle, and refrigerate for up to two weeks. Granulated sugar works if you give it time to dissolve. This is the syrup in the spritz and the clementine sour.

Ice. Shake on ordinary cubes from a fresh tray. Serve the gin and tonic, the old fashioned and the whisky sour on large cubes. Ice that smells of the freezer will taste louder than the gin. Large cubes from a tray are enough; the route to clear ice is in the ice mould guide.

Tools. A jigger, a shaker, a Hawthorne strainer, a fine sieve (a tea strainer will do), and a bar spoon. A muddler can be the end of a rolling pin, used with a light press. Glassware is a coupe, a balloon glass, a highball, a rocks glass, a wine glass and a heatproof mug. Kit detail sits in the home bar tools guide and the beginner's method guide.

Shake or stir. Shake a drink that contains citrus juice or muddled fruit for about 12 seconds, until the tin is frosty. Stir a drink that is only spirit, syrup and bitters for 25–30 seconds, so it stays clear. Build a gin and tonic or a Pimm's cup in the glass and lift once. For the strawberry spritz, shake the gin and fruit for about 8 seconds, strain, then top with sparkling wine. Keep sparkling wine out of the shaker.

Rinse the tin when you finish. Citrus left overnight pits the metal.

Spring

Buy rhubarb stalks, lemons, elderflower cordial, London dry gin, cucumber, mint and a small bottle of plain tonic.

A longer floral piece is on spring cocktails. Buying what is actually growing near you is covered in seasonal produce and the home bar.

How to make a rhubarb and elderflower sour

This is the spring drink to learn first. You make a sharp pink syrup, then shake a gin sour against lemon and a small amount of cordial.

Why this season. Forced rhubarb, the pink stalks in late winter, gives a pinker syrup. Outdoor rhubarb, from April, is greener and sharper. Both work. Elderflower flowers are a May and June crop; this sour uses the cordial, which is the bottle in the shops all year.

Makes: 1 cocktail, plus a bottle of syrup. Time: about 15 minutes of work, then about 30 minutes to cool the syrup. Once the syrup is cold, the drink takes about 3 minutes. Glass: coupe, chilled. Ice: ordinary cubes in the shaker, none in the glass.

Ingredients

• 400 g rhubarb stalks, leaves removed
• 200 g caster sugar
• 200 ml water
• 2 strips of lemon zest, yellow only
• 50 ml London dry gin
• 25 ml freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 15 ml of the rhubarb syrup
• 10 ml elderflower cordial (the concentrated cordial, not sparkling elderflower presse)

Method

1. Cut the leaves off the rhubarb and throw the leaves away. They are poisonous. Chop 400 g of trimmed stalks and put them in a saucepan with 200 g caster sugar, 200 ml water and two strips of lemon zest, with none of the white pith.
2. Bring the pan to a simmer, lid off, and cook for about 10 minutes, until the rhubarb has collapsed and the liquid is pink. Keep it at a simmer, not a hard boil.
3. Strain it through a fine sieve into a jug and press the pulp lightly. You want roughly 350–450 ml of syrup. Cool it, bottle it and refrigerate it, and use it within a week.
4. Chill a coupe glass. Measure 50 ml London dry gin, 25 ml freshly squeezed lemon juice, 15 ml of the rhubarb syrup and 10 ml elderflower cordial into a shaker.
5. Fill the shaker with ice and shake hard for about 12 seconds, until the outside of the tin is frosty.
6. Double-strain through a Hawthorne strainer and a fine sieve into the coupe.
7. Garnish with a thin slice of rhubarb stalk or a small mint sprig. If it is too sharp, add 5 ml syrup next time. If it is too sweet, use 5 ml cordial next time.

Use a classic London dry. A sweet or flavoured gin makes this sour heavy. Frozen rhubarb, thawed, works in the syrup; skip the fresh stalk garnish if that is all you have.

Optional foam. Add 15 ml pasteurised egg white, or 20 ml aquafaba, before the ice. Shake for 10 seconds with no ice, then add ice and shake for 12 seconds. If you use a fresh egg, use one with the British Lion mark. Anyone who has been told to avoid raw egg should use pasteurised white or aquafaba, or skip the foam. Keep egg out of any jug you mix ahead.

Alcohol-free. Shake 50 ml dry alcohol-free gin with the same lemon, syrup and cordial. With no spirit stand-in, the garden spritz further down is the better glass.

Cucumber and mint gin and tonic

The three-minute spring drink. Cucumber and mint need a plain tonic and a cold glass, or they disappear.

Why this season. Cucumber and mint are in UK shops, and in a lot of gardens, through spring, before strawberries take over. This is the glass to build while the rhubarb syrup cools.

Makes: 1. Time: about 3 minutes. Glass: balloon (copa). Ice: large cubes.

Ingredients

• 50 ml London dry gin, from the fridge if you have room
• 150 ml plain tonic water, fridge-cold and freshly opened
• 3 cucumber slices, plus one ribbon cut with a peeler
• 1 mint sprig
• 1 or 2 edible flowers, optional

Method

1. Fill the balloon glass with large ice.
2. Add the cucumber slices and the gin.
3. Pour the tonic down the side of the glass so it keeps its fizz.
4. Lift once from the bottom with a bar spoon.
5. Slap the mint between your palms and place it in the glass with the cucumber ribbon. Add flowers only when the packet says they are edible.

Florist flowers are not a drink garnish. A tonic that is already flavoured with cucumber will swamp the slices, so use a plain tonic here. The old shorter build (a 1:2 gin-to-tonic pour) leaves little room for the cucumber; 50 ml to 150 ml is the serve that lets the garnish through.

Alcohol-free. Use the garden spritz. Tonic with no gin is bitter in a way this glass does not need.

Summer

Buy Pimm's No. 1, sparkling lemonade, strawberries, a basil plant or a small bunch, lemons, London dry gin, cucumber, mint, an orange and a bottle of dry sparkling wine.

British strawberries run from June into August. Basil grows happily in a pot. For outdoor pouring and a longer summer list, see summer cocktails.

Pimm's cup

The summer jug drink, made as a single glass first so the fruit does not take over.

Why this season. British strawberries run from June into August, which is when this cup belongs. Cucumber, mint and orange fill the glass. They should not turn it into a fruit salad.

Makes: 1. Time: about 3 minutes. Glass: highball. Ice: cubes.

Ingredients

• 50 ml Pimm's No. 1
• 150 ml sparkling lemonade, fridge-cold
• 1 strawberry, halved
• 1 orange slice
• 2 cucumber slices
• 1 mint sprig

Method

1. Fill the highball with ice and add the Pimm's No. 1.
2. Add the strawberry, orange, cucumber and mint.
3. Top with the lemonade.
4. Lift once with a bar spoon.

In the UK, lemonade is fizzy and sweet. Still lemon juice, or American-style cloudy lemonade, will not read as a Pimm's cup. Use Pimm's No. 1; the other numbered cups are different drinks. A pub variation adds 25 ml London dry gin. The classic cup does not. Fruit can be whatever looks good; keep it to a few pieces so you still have a drink rather than a fruit salad.

Jug numbers for eight glasses are in Batching for a party.

Alcohol-free. Use a bottled alcohol-free cup of the Pimm's style if you already keep one, at the same 50 ml, and the same lemonade. Otherwise serve the garden spritz.

Strawberry and basil spritz

A drier summer glass than the cup. Shake the fruit and gin, then add the bubbles. More spritz shapes are in spritz recipes.

Why this season. Strawberries are a June-to-August crop in Britain. Basil is a pot herb you can cut to order, not a field crop you wait for. Choose this when you want less sweetness than a Pimm's cup.

Makes: 1. Time: about 5 minutes. Glass: wine glass. Ice: cubes in the glass.

Ingredients

• 2 ripe strawberries, hulled
• 15 ml freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 10 ml 1:1 sugar syrup
• 40 ml London dry gin
• 80 ml dry sparkling wine, such as prosecco, fridge-cold
• 4 basil leaves

Method

1. In the shaker, press the strawberries once with the lemon juice and sugar syrup. Stop while you can still see pieces of fruit.
2. Add the gin and a handful of ice. Shake for about 8 seconds.
3. Fine-strain into a wine glass full of ice.
4. Top with the sparkling wine.
5. Slap the basil and lay it on top.

Basil that is shaken or muddled hard turns bitter and black. Frozen strawberries, thawed, are a better muddle than hard out-of-season fruit. Slap basil from a living pot if the bunch in the fridge has already blackened.

Alcohol-free. Shake the strawberries, lemon and syrup, strain over ice, and top with soda water instead of gin and wine. Taste it; add another teaspoon of syrup only if the berries were very sharp.

Autumn

Buy blackberries, one Bramley apple, one ripe pear, fresh ginger, lemons, an orange, blended Scotch whisky, bourbon, aromatic bitters and caster sugar.

Blackberries run from late August through September. Bramleys are the UK cooking apple from September. A Conference pear wants to ripen on the side until it yields at the stem; a rock-hard pear gives a thin syrup. Spice method, if you want a longer read, is on the autumn spice cocktails page.

Blackberry and apple whisky sour

A whisky sour lengthened with the two fruits that show up together in UK shops in early autumn.

Why this season. Blackberries run from late August through September, and Bramley cooking apples are in the shops from September. An eating apple can stand in; the syrup will be less sharp, so taste the drink before you pour a round.

Makes: 1 cocktail, plus syrup. Time: about 15 minutes on the hob, then about 30 minutes to cool the syrup. Glass: rocks. Ice: one large cube in the glass, ordinary cubes in the shaker.

Ingredients

For the syrup

• 300 g blackberries
• 1 Bramley apple, cored and diced (about 200 g prepared). Leave the skin on
• 150 g caster sugar
• 150 ml water

For the drink

• 50 ml blended Scotch whisky
• 25 ml freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 20 ml blackberry and apple syrup

Method

1. Put the berries, apple, sugar and water in a saucepan. Simmer for 12–15 minutes, until the apple is soft and the berries have burst.
2. Strain through a fine sieve. Press gently. A hard press pushes seeds through and makes the syrup cloudy. Cool, bottle, and refrigerate for up to a week.
3. Shake the whisky, lemon juice and 20 ml syrup with ice for about 12 seconds.
4. Double-strain over a large cube. Garnish with one blackberry and a strip of lemon peel.

Choose a blended Scotch that is not very smoky. A heavily peated malt will cover the fruit. Frozen blackberries are fine in the pan. Keep a few fresh ones for the garnish, or skip the garnish.

A pre-measured whisky sour cocktail kit packs spirit, mixers and a method card if you want the first sour measured for you.

Alcohol-free. Shake 50 ml strong cold black tea with the lemon and syrup. It tastes of fruit and tea. It does not taste of whisky, and it is still a pleasant sour.

Pear and ginger old fashioned

A stirred autumn drink, drier than the sour.

Why this season. Make this while pears are ripe. A Conference pear should yield at the stem before it goes in the pan; a rock-hard pear gives a thin syrup. Early winter stored pears are fine once they have softened. Ginger is a year-round shop root; sliced, it is the spice in this syrup.

Makes: 1 cocktail, plus syrup. Time: about 10 minutes on the hob, then about 30 minutes to cool the syrup. The drink then takes about 2 minutes to stir. Glass: rocks. Ice: one large cube to serve; ordinary cubes to stir.

Ingredients

For the syrup

• 1 ripe pear, cored and diced (about 180 g)
• 20 g fresh ginger, sliced, not grated
• 100 g caster sugar
• 100 ml water

For the drink

• 50 ml bourbon
• 10 ml pear and ginger syrup
• 2 dashes aromatic bitters
• 1 orange peel

Method

1. Simmer the pear, ginger, sugar and water for about 10 minutes, until the pear is soft. Strain, cool, bottle, and refrigerate for up to a week.
2. Measure the bourbon, 10 ml syrup and bitters into a mixing glass. Add ice and stir for 25–30 seconds.
3. Strain over a large cube.
4. Pinch the orange peel over the glass so the oils land on the drink, then drop the peel in.

Slice the ginger so it strains out cleanly. Grated ginger stays in the syrup as a sludge. If bourbon is not in the cupboard, blended Scotch works; the drink will taste a little smokier, so keep the syrup at 10 ml.

Alcohol-free. This build needs the weight of a spirit. Use the blackberry sour's tea version instead of a fake old fashioned.

Winter

Buy lemons, clementines, rosemary, runny honey, a few cloves, a cinnamon stick, blended Scotch and London dry gin.

Clementines are a shop fruit through winter in the UK, not a British crop. Rosemary is in the garden all year. Winter drinking is as much about heat as it is about produce. A longer fireside piece is on winter cocktails.

Whisky hot toddy

Make this to order. A toddy that sits will taste flat and, if it was boiled, harsher.

Why this season. From December to February the useful ingredients are heat, lemon, honey and a spice you already keep. Clementines are for the cold sour below. This mug is the hot drink.

Makes: 1. Time: about 5 minutes. Glass: heatproof mug, warmed.

Ingredients

• 15 ml runny honey
• 20 ml freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 50 ml blended Scotch whisky
• 100 ml water, just off the boil
• 1 lemon wheel
• 1 clove
• 1 cinnamon stick, optional

Method

1. Fill the mug with boiling water, then tip the water away, so the mug is hot.
2. Add the honey and lemon juice and stir until the honey dissolves. If the honey sits in a lump, use 25 ml of honey syrup instead: equal parts runny honey and warm water, mixed in a cup.
3. Add the whisky.
4. Pour in the hot water and stir once.
5. Stud the lemon wheel with the clove and float it, with the cinnamon stick if you are using one.
6. Leave it until it is comfortable to sip. Mixed this way it should land around 60–70°C. Let a hotter mug sit for a minute.

The whisky goes in the mug, not in a boiling pan. You still have the 2 units from that 50 ml pour. A very smoky whisky reads as smoke and little else once it is hot; blended Scotch is the better fit.

Alcohol-free. Leave the whisky out. You have a hot lemon and honey, which is a good drink on its own. Add another 20 ml lemon juice if you want it sharper. Honey is unsuitable for infants under one year.

Clementine and rosemary gin sour

The cold winter drink, for when the heating is on and a hot mug is too much.

Why this season. From about November to February, clementines are easy to find in UK shops. They are not a British crop. Rosemary will stand in the garden all year; here it is a slapped garnish, not something you boil or shake.

Makes: 1. Time: about 3 minutes. Glass: coupe, or a rocks glass over one large cube. Ice: in the shaker.

Ingredients

• 50 ml London dry gin
• 30 ml freshly squeezed clementine juice (about one clementine)
• 15 ml freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 10 ml 1:1 sugar syrup
• 1 small rosemary sprig

Method

1. Shake the gin, both juices and the syrup with ice for about 12 seconds.
2. Double-strain into the glass.
3. Slap the rosemary and rest it on top.

Clementine juice is sweet and low in acid. The lemon is what keeps it from tasting like squash. Keep the rosemary out of the shaker; boiled or shaken rosemary tastes of pine and turns bitter. Outside the November-to-February window, 30 ml orange juice plus the lemon works, and the drink will feel heavier.

Alcohol-free. Shake 50 ml dry alcohol-free gin, or 50 ml cold water, with the same juices and syrup. Taste before you add more sugar.

Alcohol-free garden spritz

A full recipe, not a list of sparkling water and herbs.

Why this drink. This is the alcohol-free recipe on the page. It uses elderflower cordial, lemon, cucumber and mint, which are the spring and summer flavours from the gin drinks, without a spirit. It will not taste like whisky. For a sour without alcohol, use the tea version under the blackberry recipe. For a hot mug, leave the whisky out of the toddy.

Makes: 1. Time: about 3 minutes. Glass: wine glass. Ice: cubes.

Ingredients

• 20 ml elderflower cordial
• 25 ml freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 6 cucumber slices
• 6 mint leaves
• 120 ml chilled soda water

Method

1. Put the cordial, lemon, cucumber and mint in the glass.
2. Add ice, then the soda water.
3. Lift once with a bar spoon.

Use cordial, not presse. Presse is already dilute. Slap the mint if you want more aroma, and take it out if it sits there long enough to go dark. This is an adult soft drink in strength of flavour. The honey toddy note above is the one that matters for infants.

If the drink is out of balance

Change the next drink by one move. Fixing the glass in front of you with a large extra pour of spirit teaches you nothing.

Squeezed citrus is doing real work in every sour here. Bottled lemon juice tastes flat in this company. Dried mint and dried basil are a poor swap for the fresh herbs. Dried ginger can go in the pear syrup if that is all you have: a few slices, then strain them out.

Batching for a party

Multiply the still ingredients. Add ice, tonic, lemonade and sparkling wine when you pour. Squeeze citrus on the day.

Eight rhubarb and elderflower sours. Stir together 400 ml London dry gin, 200 ml lemon juice, 120 ml rhubarb syrup and 80 ml elderflower cordial. Keep the jug in the fridge for up to 24 hours. Shake 100 ml of the mix with ice for each drink. Leave egg white out of the jug.

Eight Pimm's cups. Chill 400 ml Pimm's No. 1. Add the fruit to the jug. Add 1.2 litres of sparkling lemonade, and the ice, when people are ready. Ice added an hour early turns the jug watery.

Eight strawberry spritzes. Shake each one to order. Sparkling wine added to a jug of strawberries goes flat and brown. The same to-order rule fits the hot toddy.

The whisky sour batches the same way. For eight drinks, mix 400 ml blended Scotch, 200 ml lemon juice and 160 ml blackberry syrup. Shake 95 ml of that mix with ice for each drink.

Syrup storage and safety

Syrup shelf life. Keep syrups in a clean bottle in the fridge. Plain 1:1 sugar syrup, 100 g caster sugar stirred into 100 ml water, is good for up to two weeks. Honey syrup, equal parts runny honey and water, is good for up to two weeks. Rhubarb, blackberry and pear syrups are good for up to one week. Throw a syrup away if it smells of beer or wine, turns mouldy, or goes cloudy after it was clear.

• Plain 1:1 sugar syrup: fridge, up to two weeks.
• Rhubarb, blackberry and pear syrups: fridge, up to one week.
• Honey syrup (equal parts honey and water): fridge, up to two weeks.
• Pour the syrup away if it smells of beer or wine, grows mould, or turns cloudy after it was clear.

Rhubarb leaves. Rhubarb leaves are poisonous. Cut them off and put them in the food waste before you weigh the stalks. Only the stalks go in the pan.

Herbs. Mint: trim the stems, stand them in a jar of water, cover the leaves loosely, and refrigerate. Basil: stand it in water on the worktop, out of direct sun, and use it within a few days. The fridge blackens basil. Soft herbs bought in a bunch are a few days of use, not a fortnight.

Mixers. Cap tonic and lemonade, refrigerate them, and expect an open bottle to be tired the next day. Small bottles match a single round.

Questions about seasonal cocktails

What is a seasonal cocktail?

A seasonal cocktail, on this page, is a drink built around produce you can buy in UK shops in that season, plus a supermarket spirit, measured in millilitres. Spring is March to May, summer is June to August, autumn is September to November, and winter is December to February. Best, here, means worth mixing at home with supermarket ingredients. It is not an award and not a sponsored list.

What are the best seasonal cocktails to make at home?

Make a rhubarb and elderflower sour in spring (March to May), a Pimm's cup in summer (June to August), a blackberry and apple whisky sour in autumn (September to November), and a whisky hot toddy in winter (December to February). The other recipes on this page are a cucumber and mint gin and tonic, a strawberry and basil spritz, a pear and ginger old fashioned, and a clementine and rosemary gin sour. The alcohol-free drink is the garden spritz. Best, on this page, means worth mixing at home with supermarket ingredients.

What measures should I use for cocktails in the UK?

Use millilitres. These recipes use a 50 ml spirit measure, which is a UK double. A single is 25 ml. A 50 ml pour of a 40% ABV spirit is 2 UK units. Pimm's No. 1 is 25% ABV, so 50 ml is 1.25 units. Heating a toddy does not remove those units. If a jigger is marked in US fluid ounces, 50 ml is just under 1¾ oz, 25 ml is just under 1 oz, and 15 ml is ½ oz.

How long do homemade cocktail syrups last?

Keep syrups in a clean bottle in the fridge. Plain 1:1 sugar syrup, 100 g caster sugar stirred into 100 ml water, is good for up to two weeks. Honey syrup, equal parts runny honey and water, is good for up to two weeks. Rhubarb, blackberry and pear syrups are good for up to one week. Throw a syrup away if it smells of beer or wine, turns mouldy, or goes cloudy after it was clear.

Can I batch seasonal cocktails for a party?

Yes, if you batch the still ingredients and add ice and fizz at the last minute. For eight rhubarb sours, mix 400 ml gin, 200 ml lemon juice, 120 ml rhubarb syrup and 80 ml elderflower cordial, and shake 100 ml of that mix with ice for each drink. For eight Pimm's cups, chill 400 ml Pimm's No. 1 and add 1.2 litres of lemonade when you serve. Make the strawberry spritz and the hot toddy one glass at a time.

How do I make a seasonal cocktail without alcohol?

Build the garden spritz: 20 ml elderflower cordial, 25 ml lemon juice, cucumber, mint and 120 ml soda water over ice. For a gin sour, use the same measure of a dry alcohol-free gin. For the whisky sour, strong cold black tea stands in for the Scotch and will taste of fruit and tea. Leave the whisky out of the toddy and you have a hot lemon and honey. Honey is unsuitable for infants under one year.

Should I shake or stir a seasonal cocktail?

Shake a drink that contains citrus juice or muddled fruit for about 12 seconds, until the tin is frosty. Stir a drink that is only spirit, syrup and bitters for 25–30 seconds, so it stays clear. Build a gin and tonic or a Pimm's cup in the glass and lift once. For the strawberry spritz, shake the gin and fruit for about 8 seconds, strain, then top with sparkling wine. Keep sparkling wine out of the shaker.

What temperature should a seasonal cocktail be?

Serve spring drinks cold, about 7–10°C. Serve summer drinks very cold, about 3–7°C, with tonic, lemonade and sparkling wine straight from the fridge. Serve autumn drinks cool, over one large ice cube. Serve the whisky hot toddy at about 60–70°C, with the whisky added off the heat. The clementine and rosemary gin sour is the cold winter drink, shaken and served cold, not hot.

Are rhubarb leaves safe in a syrup?

No. Rhubarb leaves are poisonous. Cut them off and put them in the food waste before you weigh the stalks. Only the stalks go in the pan.

Which gin or whisky should I buy?

You do not need a named bottle. Buy a London dry gin, a blended Scotch that is not very smoky, and a standard bourbon if you make the old fashioned. For the summer cup, buy Pimm's No. 1. Buy elderflower cordial, not elderflower presse. Taste the finished drink and change the syrup by 5 ml on the next round.

More seasonal reading

• Spring floral cocktails
• Summer cocktails for outdoors
• Spritz recipes
• Autumn spice cocktails
• Winter cocktails
• Cooking with what is in season