A vodkatini, a garibaldi and a shrub – your essential autumn cocktails – recipes

. UK edition

Six colorful cocktails and a metal shaker are arranged on a green table with green lighting
What’s your poison? Six enterprising aperitifs to kick off cocktail hour. Photograph: Charlie Lee / The Guardian. Food styling: El Kemp

Try a millionaire’s martini, a Campari that couldn’t be simpler and a booze-free blackberry fizz (plus an Aperol that doesn’t need a spritz)

Bramble and ginger shrub

A bramble and ginger shrub sits redly, in a cocktail tumbler, upon a green table, with an orange transparent plastic cocktail stick in it, and a fetching spring of rosemary. And a blackberry lies at its base.

I make a variation on this year-round. Bring on the autumn.

2 tbsp shrub syrup
Ginger beer, to top
1 spring of rosemary, to serve

For the shrub
200g blackberries
200g golden caster sugar
1 grating each of nutmeg and black pepper
½ tsp ground cinnamon
100g vinegar (I use raw apple cider)

To make the shrub, measure the berries and sugar into a sterilised jar, mashing them so they meld together. Add the spices and mix again. Put in the fridge for 24-48 hours.

Strain the mixture; set aside the solids for baking or to top your morning porridge, and keep the syrup for your drink, putting it back into a sterilised jar. Add the vinegar, stir and put back in the fridge until you’re ready to drink.

To a tumbler, add ice and two tablespoons of the syrup. Top with the ginger beer and rosemary to serve.

Millionaire’s vodkatini

The Millionaire’s vodkatini and a peel of lemon in a martini glass.

An evening’s first drink is important to get right, and I often wring my hands over it. A vodka martini or a glass of fizz? My friends, the answer is both.

Makes 1

30ml vodka (from the freezer)
15ml dry vermouth, or aromatised wine like Cocchi Americano
3 drops Angostura bitters
Sparkling wine, to top
Lemon twist

To a cocktail shaker, add the vodka, vermouth, bitters, and a couple of cubes of ice. Stir gently for 20 seconds, then strain into a martini glass fresh out of the freezer. Top with sparkling wine, then briefly run the lemon twist around the glass rim before dropping it in. Serve.

Mexican fizz

The translucent Mexican fizz in a highball glass.

I recently discovered Fever Tree’s Mexican lime soda – if you use this rather than sparkling water, you don’t need the maple syrup. Either way, this is something between a paloma and a margarita, and I can’t get enough of it.

Makes 1

60ml tequila blanco
Juice of ½ lime, plus a slice to serve
Tiny pinch of salt
½ tsp maple syrup (optional) Mexican lime soda or sparkling water, to top

To a cocktail shaker, add the tequila, lime juice, salt and maple syrup, if using. Give it a quick shake.

Put a handful of ice in a highball or large tumbler, and strain the content of the cocktail shaker over. Top with the lime soda, stir briefly and garnish with the lime slice on the glass rim.

Aperol garibaldi

An Aperol garibaldi. It is orange. It is served in a cocktail bowl or stemmed old fashioned glass.

A bittersweet drop to remind you of warmer days – but which I’ll happily put away year-round. Slips down dangerously easily.

Makes 1a

2 large oranges
45ml Aperol

Halve the oranges, then cut a half-moon slice from one of the halves and set aside, and squeeze the remaining oranges into your blender. Whizz for one minute, so the juice is frothy.

To your glass (I like a stemmed old fashioned glass but a tumbler works just as well), add a few ice cubes and the Aperol, then pour the blended orange juice over. It will gradually mix, but you can give it a quick stir if you wish (I like to see the colour gradations of Aperol, juice, froth). Garnish with the half moon slice set across the diameter of the glass rim, and serve.

Halve 2 large oranges, then cut a half-moon slice from one half and set aside. Squeeze the remaining orange juice into a blender and whizz for one minute, until frothy.

To a stemmed old fashioned glass (a tumbler works just as well), add a few ice cubes and 45ml Aperol, then pour the blended orange juice over. It will gradually mix, but you can give it a quick stir if you wish. Garnish with the half moon slice set across the diameter of the glass rim, and serve.

Campari shakerato

The rosy red Campari shakerato in a cocktail bowl martini glass and a cocktail shaker next to it.

A single ingredient drink that can be scaled up or down according to your needs. For me, 60ml of Campari (two lidfuls from my shaker) is just right – and fits a mini martini glass perfectly.

Makes 1

Ice
Campari

Add several ice cubes and your preferred volume of Campari to a cocktail shaker (you could also use a blender or Nutribullet). Holding it tightly with two hands, shake vigorously for as long as you have the energy – about 30 seconds. Strain into a freezer-chilled glass and serve.

Mulled AJ garnished with a s’more

A mulled AJ, in a glass mug, garnished with a s’more. A s’more sits at its base.

If ‘the days drawing in’ was a drink, this would be it. For my children, the combination of warm, spiced AJ and – though I say so myself – a superior s’more is as good as it gets.

Makes 1 (or 2 small)

250ml cloudy apple juice
1 strip orange peel
Juice of ½ lemon
1 cinnamon stick
3 cloves
1 tsp soft dark brown sugar (optional)

For the s’more
1 marshmallow
2 chocolate Leibnitz biscuits

Put the apple juice, orange peel, lemon juice, spices and sugar (if you are using it) in a small saucepan over the lowest heat. Leave to warm for 10-15 minutes, so the room smells delicious and you start to see faint steam rising from the pan. Do not let it boil.

Meanwhile, put the marshmallow on a metal skewer and hold it just above an open flame, turning often, allowing it to bronze and char, if you like your s’mores like that (I do!). Put the toasted marshmallow on the chocolate side of a biscuit, then sandwich with the other. Decant the mulled AJ into a mug, and enjoy alongside the s’more.