Article: Kristen Pitout from Ideas
Image: Ablestock

Cocktail strainer
This is used to remove the ice from a mixed drink once it has been shaken. Ice bucket and tongs Crushed ice forms the basis of many drinks so an ice bucket and tongs are an integral part of cocktail-making.

Swizzle sticks
These small, spear-like sticks with flat handles are used to hold fruit, stir a drink, or simply as decoration. They were invented in the 1930s in the United States, shortly after prohibition ended, by Jay Sindler, an engineer, who struggled to retrieve an olive from his martini without using his fingers.

Cocktail umbrellas
These small, decorative umbrellas are used to decorate cocktails as well as other food and beverages.

Drinking straws
There are many types of straws used in cocktails: the basic straight straw; the concertina straw, which is bent at the top; the crazy straw with its twists and turns; and the spoon straw with a wide mouth piece at one end, for drinking ice slush. Find a selection at party shops and supermarkets.

Maraschino cherries
These preserved, sweetened cherries are a cocktail standard. The cherries are first preserved in a brine solution or alcohol, then soaked in a sugar syrup coloured with red food colouring and flavoured with almond essence.

Basic cocktails
Bellini
Quarter-fill a champagne flute with peach juice and carefully top up with chilled sparkling wine. Don't stir before serving.

Bloody Mary
Pour 30ml vodka, a dash of Tabasco sauce, lemon juice and Worcester sauce over ice in a tall glass. Top up with tomato juice and stir well.

Margarita
Pour 45ml tequila, 30ml lime or lemon juice, 15ml triple sec and 60ml crushed ice into a cocktail shaker, shake, and strain into the glass.

Martini
Pour 45ml vodka and 15ml dry vermouth into a mixing glass or jug and fill with ice, stir well, then strain into a glass. Add an olive on a toothpick.

Strawberry daiquiri
Blend 30ml white rum, 15ml lime juice, 5ml sugar and 125ml fresh strawberries. Pour over crushed ice to serve.

Tequila sunrise
Pour 30ml tequila and 120ml fresh orange juice into a glass filled with ice, and stir. Slowly pour 7ml grenadine into the glass before serving.

Good idea
A Shirley Temple is a non-alcoholic cocktail. Add 30ml grenadine to a glass filled with ice. Top up with cold ginger ale or lemonade, mix well and top with cream.

What's your favourite cocktail? Share your loveliest, most luscious recipes below.