7 Cocktail Recipes For Your Next Bash

Make the most of warmer weather while it lingers with one of these cocktails in your hand.

We scanned the menus of The Star’s favourite bars and consulted our top bartenders for some classic cocktails and tasty in-house inventions that will get the party started, every time.

1.      Lychee Sloe Gin Sour

At Garden Kitchen & Bar’s open-air deck bar, the classic sour cocktail gets the tropical Queensland treatment with lychees, smooth sloe gin and fruity garnishes. The pretty pink hue is a winner too – earn extra Insta points by coordinating your look to match.

Ingredients

• 15ml Lychee Monin
• 45ml Hayman’s Sloe Gin
• 20ml egg white
• 20ml fresh lemon juice
• Soda water, to top

Method

1. Add all ingredients to shaker and dry shake (without ice).
2. Add ice to the shaker and ‘wet shake’.
3. Double strain through a bar sieve over ice into crystal highball.
4. Top with soda, garnish and serve.

2.      Million Dollar Martini

You’ll feel like a million bucks with this playful martini from Garden Kitchen & Bar.

Ingredients

• 45ml Ketel One Vodka
• 15ml Aperol
• 15ml Vanilla syrup
• 30ml Passionfruit pulp
• 30ml fresh lime juice

Method

1. Add all ingredients to a shaker with ice.
2. Shake and double strain through a bar sieve into a coupette glass.
3. Garnish with a wedge of passionfruit and serve.

3. Strawberry caipiroska

A spin on the iconic Brazilian cocktail Caipirinha, caipiroska swaps out the Cachaça for vodka. Garden Kitchen & Bar goes one better by muddling strawberries along with the lime, for a fresh, fruity cocktail that’s as tasty as it looks.

Ingredients

• 4 lime wedges
• 3 fresh strawberries
• 60ml Ketel One Vodka
• 15ml Strawberry Monin

Method

1. Muddle the lime and fresh strawberries in a shaker.
2. Add monin, vodka and ice, and shake.
3. Tip the contents of the shaker (without straining) into a double rocks glass, garnish with a lime wheel and serve.

4.      Lime & lemongrass margarita      

Brisbane’s hottest new bar, Will & Flow, is the perfect spot to discover your new favourite riff on a classic cocktail: a lemongrass-infused margarita.

Ingredients

• 45ml lemongrass-infused tequila
• 15ml Cointreau
• 2 bar spoons of agave nectar
• 2 wedges fresh lime          

Method

1. Muddle the lime wedges with the agave nectar in a cocktail shaker, then add lemongrass-infused tequila and Cointreau.
2. Fill shaker with ice and shake vigorously.
3. Double strain through a bar sieve and serve in a salt-rimmed margarita glass with some dehydrated orange.

5. The Australian negroni

The negroni is what bartenders drink when they clock off. The classic makes a League-themed appearance at Brisbane’s Will & Flow – featuring a nip of Queensland’s own Brisbane Gin and New South Wales’ Brookies Gin from just over the border.

Ingredients                                                                                     –

• 15ml Brisbane Dry Gin
• 15ml Brookies Slow Gin
• 15ml Campari
• 10ml Sweet vermouth (Martini Rosso)
• Orange bitters

Method

1. Add Brisbane Dry and Brookies Slow Gin to a mixing glass, with the Campari and sweet vermouth.
2. Add two drops of smoked orange bitters and stir over ice.
3. Rim a rocks glass with burnt orange peel, pour negroni over ice and garnish with orange peel twist.

6. Champagne Cocktail

The Champagne Cocktail’s balance of fizz, bitters, sugar and citrus is as fresh in 2021 at it was when it first popped up in the 1860s. “It is as old as its mention, yet simple and easy on the palate,” says Behzad Vaziri, The Star Bars Manager in Sydney.

Method

1. Place a raw (brown) sugar cube at the bottom of a Champagne flute and add a couple of dashes of Angostura bitters.
2. Gently top up with Champagne.
3. Garnish with a long ribbon of lemon peel.

Love a little sparkle? Discover four more of Behzad’s favourite Champagne cocktails.

7. The Moscow Mule 

Another classic, the Moscow Mule is refreshing, delicious and – best of all – a cinch to make. Behzad adds extra kick with muddled fresh ginger, but a good ginger beer will see you through.

Ingredients

• 60ml vodka
• 30ml lime juice
• 15ml sugar syrup (1-part sugar dissolved in 1-part water)
• Top up with ice and ginger beer* (or use fresh ginger)

Method

1. Build the cocktail in a metal mug or a tall glass.
2. If you’re using fresh ginger, muddle a small piece in your mug before adding the other ingredients.  
3. Add ingredients (using plenty of ice) and shake. Serve in a glass.

*If you are using a sweet ginger beer, cut down the sugar syrup to 10mls.