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Not quite got linked, but the lovely (and quite delectable) Violet Blue has given me much cocktail props and posted one of my old recipes, the Violet Martini, on her blog, TinyNibbles (Both probably NSFW). Thanks, V!
While we're on the subject of cocktails, I shall once again be on the bar at the wonderful Black Cotton Club at Volupte tonight: tickets on the door from 10, I think.

I had to ask him to repeat himself. The representative from Remy Martin had just told me that the bottle of Cognac was one of only 30 in the country, and that the bottle was black crystal; made using an entirely new process for Remy. Such facts are not so unusual, however, in the world of spirits. The statement that had caused my mind to briefly shut down was that it was worth £5000. My bartenders calculator immediately told me that was almost £200 per measure, meaning that it could retail in a bar for about £1000 a snifter (guessing conservatively). This is not a cognac for use in a Sidecar. When the cost of a spirit approaches this sort of telephone number level, one has to wonder if there is some sort of massive practical joke being played, if not on oneself, but on the entire industry.

My barrel of whisky in the Makers Mark distillery is coming along well; there is now a picture of the plaque on the side, with me (and 29 others) clearly labelled. Barrels are laid down for 5-7 years at Makers Mark, and I'm pretty sure I signed up for this a few years back, so I'm still hopeful I will have enough salary by the time it is ready to buy as much fine Makers as possible, in tasty over-dipped bottles.

Attached to this story is the extensive guide I produced introducing all the key spirits, the art of creating cocktails and bartending. Required reading

The Cosmopolitan is a drink that first made an appearance around the 1980's. It's origins are pretty hard to fathom; some say it was a marketing stunt for Ocean Spray cranberry juices, others claim it was born in the 70's gay community in Provincetown, Massachusetts. The most likely story, however, is that it was adapted from a sickly sweet pink cocktail someone ordered, in order to provide a thirst-quenching, stealthily alcoholic drink for the waiting staff at Dale Degroff's Rainbow Rooms in New York.

It's a fantastically well balanced cocktail, with the sour taste of the lime well balanced by the sweet citrus taste of Cointreau. The kick of vodka, especially the fantastic Absolut Citron, is balanced by the cranberry juice.

The Lynchburg Lemonade

I see a lot of people ordering this, and as you'll hopefully have some triple sec left over from the cosmopolitan, it should be easy to make.

Despite Jack Daniels' hometown being a in a dry county, the residents have still been able to give their name to this fine drink. The Jack Daniels distillery, in Lynchburg itself, lends itself to being associated with the drink, and this is one of the few whiskey cocktails where I would recommend Jack over a real bourbon (like Makers Mark).

Its an easy combination of flavours; a little bit of lemon, but more to refresh than for sourness, JD and triple sec, topped up with lemonade. It all comes together into a satisfyingly refreshing drink with a bit of a dry kick at the end; ideal for making the most of these last few days of sunshine, or relaxing after a 9-6 at uni.

This week, we’re going to gently introduce the topic of whisk(e)y, and talk a little bit about why I dislike Jack Daniels so very much!

Whisky is a gold spirit, produced from one of a number of means of distilling grain. Most whiskeys are produced from one of rye, corn, barley and other grains. Oh, and it’s a whiskey if it’s American or Irish, and a whisky is a Scotch.

American whiskey comes in three main types; Tennessee Whiskey (Jack Daniels), Kentucky bourbons (Jim Beam) and Rye Whiskey (increasingly rare, but look out for Pikesville, or get Canadian Club, which is close to a Rye Whiskey).

Right, enough classic cocktails. As I'm currently on the bath homepage promoting the BANTER enterprise for my work over the summer, I though we could talk about one of my special cocktails

It's always nice, just like with food, to use seasonal ingredients for cocktails. Obviously, it's winter now, but you should still be able to get these ingredients.

Firstly, then, a Strawberry and Basil Martini. The recipe is at the end of the article, but before we go into that, a note on how bartenders should treat herbs.

The mojito is the classic cocktail with a herb (mint), and I've lost count of the amount of mojitos I've seen ruined by abuse of the mint.

In 1948, the then head bartender of possibly the most famous bar in the world, Harry's Bar, Venice, was Giuseppe Cipriani, presumably related to the eponymous Harry Cipriani. The bar had become famous as a haunt of many famous people, including Ernest Hemingway, who drank Hemingway's (now a drink made with absinthe and champagne; then probably considerably more lethal), and Field Marshal Montomery, whose drink, the Montgomery (duh!), is 15 parts gin to one part vermouth; apparently because he aimed for a kill-ratio of 15 enemies to each man he lost(!). Harry's Bars have since sprung up around the world, perhaps most notably in Paris and Singapore, where the Singapore Sling was invented.

"There are three intolerable things in life; cold coffee, lukewarm Champagne, and overexcited women." Orson Welles

In keeping with the article above, this weeks cocktail article will discuss the venerable classic champagne cocktail. This cocktail has a very established history, going back as far as the 1850's and dinner parties at that time. The first time it really got a good public outing, however, was probably Mark Twain's 1930's work, ‘A Champagne Cocktail and Catastrophe'. It's not all about catastrophe, however; as Mr Twain said, ""Too much of anything is bad, but too much Champagne is just right".