BBC Good Food - 04.2020

120 bbcgoodfood.com APRIL 2020

A mixing glass is called for when the drink

requires dilution and chilling, but doesn’t

need the aeration that a cocktail shaker or

blender would create. Mixing glasses are

often made from thicker-cut glass, and

are larger (like a pint glass) with a pouring

spout. The weight keeps it in place while

you stir with a long bar spoon.

Spring drinking

DRINKS CABINET

Resident drinks expert Miriam Nice shares her

favourite seasonal cocktails, and gets professional

insight on the continuing trend for tipples that

are big on flavour but light on alcohol

With more lavours popping up all the time, tonic’s not

just for gin. These new varieties work well with spirits and

in cocktails, but are complex enough to enjoy on their

own. We like Franklin & Son’s rosemary tonic water with

black olive (£1.29 per 200ml, drinksupermarket.com) and

Jerey’s yarrow, rosehip & elderlower tonic syrup (£7 per

200ml, jereystonic.com). Classic tonic water is a delight

with ice and vermouth, port or even a shot of espresso.

WE STILL LOVE...

TONIC WATER

BAR DICTIONARY:

MIXING GLASS

WHAT DOES ‘LOW ALCOHOL’ OR ‘LOW ABV’

MEAN? IS THERE A SET THRESHOLD?

For a product to be considered ‘low alcohol’ it has

to be 1.2% ABV (alcohol by volume) or less. When

it comes to low-ABV cocktails, the lines are slightly

blurred – it’s a bit of a grey area, as it’s such a new

category. For example, a negroni is 25% ABV – people

generally say that drinks under 10% ABV are ‘low

alcohol’ (less than a glass of wine) and anything

under 5% ABV is beer territory.

HOW DO YOU CALCULATE A COCKTAIL’S ABV?

The equation is the volume of strong alcohol

times the ABV percentage of that alcohol, divided

by the sum of the ingredients and multiplied by 100.

So, let’s say you are having a single-serve gin and tonic

• that’s 25ml gin at 40% ABV and 200ml tonic water.
  The equation would be (25 x 0.4 / 225) x 100. That’s
  an ABV of 4.44% – a double would be about 8% ABV.

ARE THERE TYPES OF ALCOHOL THAT ARE

BETTER SUITED TO LOWABV COCKTAILS?

There’s a whole category of aperitifs, such as sherry,

vermouth, wine and liqueurs, that have a lower ABV

and allow for flavourful drinks without a sky-high

alcohol content. You can make cocktails with these,

but just vermouth or liqueur with soda or tonic water

can be delicious. If you’re going for no alcohol, check

out the new, zero-alcohol, bittersweet aperitifs that

have launched recently – they’re truly something to

look forward to at the end of the day.

2

1

3

EXPERT ADVICE

LOW ALCOHOL

Mixologist and author Camille

Vidal explains the low alcohol

trend and what it means

&

Camille Vidal is the founder of mindful drinking

brand and creative consultancy La Maison

Wellness, and co-author ofHow to Drink

French Fluently (£14.99, Ten Speed Press).

lamaisonwellness.com @lamaisonwellness