Cocktail Trio (with some assistance)

By Friday afternoon there is a tangible quiver in the air come 4 o’clock as the many young professionals, hipsters and miscellaneous city dwellers feel the urge to baptise the weekend with alcoholic splendour. So, for those of you needing inspiration for that late afternoon tipple, here is a rundown of my 3 current favourites for the essential summer bevvy: the cocktail.

The Lost and Found: Smokey Joe

For those of you who follow my Twitter account @countryboyblog, you will have already seen that I have tweeted about this on previous occasions (and accidentally uploaded about a bazillion pictures of it by mistake...) This is essentially a whiskey and coke, but not like any you have ever tried before. Instead of standard coke, this is carbonated with smoked bubbles and finished with a shot of maple syrup, resulting in a sophisticated warmth to this beverage. At £7.95, this is not the cheapest of drinks, and can certainly be undercut by some local rivals, but what you are paying for is a quality drink, served by knowledgeable staff, in a quirky environment.

Bodega: Blueberry and Elderflour Margarita (Jack) and Raspberry Caipirinha (Sarah)

This was a bit of an impromptu cocktail stop after an afternoon at the Sea Life centre. Sarah and I (being strong willed as we are...) were tempted by the appealing offer of selected cocktails being available for £4 until 7pm. I opted for the Blueberry and Elderflour Margarita (right) and I wasn’t quite sure what to expect! Moving away from it’s more bitter counterpart, this one was edged with sugar and floated with a couple of blueberries. Flavour wise, the two main ingredients worked well together and the tequila (which I usually hate after one too many slammers in my uni days!) added spice and warmth rather than the customary burn. Sarah plumped for the Raspberry Caipirinha (left), a variation on the Brazilian classic, which met with her approval and was deemed ‘fruity but sharp’.  For two cocktails for £8 you can’t go wrong with this, but after 7pm there is a bit of a price hike so get there early to enjoy these creations.

Jekyll and Hyde: Love Heart (Jack) and Lemon Bon Bon (Amy)

The Jekyll and Hyde is part of the same chain as Bodega and as such, has the same offers on cocktails until 7pm. Amy and I had no need for this as we started mid-afternoon... on a Monday (guess that’s one of the perks of being a teacher that during the summer hols you can be slightly sozzled on a Monday afternoon!) True to it’s quirky roots, the Jekyll and Hyde is offering up sweet shop themed cocktails this summer, served in retro jam jars. What I liked about this was right from the offset, our cocktail maker knew what she was doing and was able to alter my Love Heart (left) to make it less sweet and offer her own recommendations. Both mine and Amy’s drinks paid homage to their sweet namesakes, but we were both in agreement that the Love Heart would be the cocktail of choice on future occasions.

The verdict...

Well judging by my tweets, the Smokey Joe is definitely the drink of choice for both quality and innovation, but... where did I end up going back to on Monday evening... The Jekyll and Hyde, and this time for the Turkish Delight cocktail, AND I even coughed up the full £5.50, post 7pm price for this and it did not disappoint.