So I made lemonade, and I couldn’t help thinking that the addition of some alcohol might give it a whole new lease of life.

I considered all kinds of options (all listed below the recipe) – but in the end I thought an amalgamation of gin and bitter lemon and a pink gin might work well…. and it did.

Follow this link for how to make your own lemonade.

Recipe for Saucy Pink Gin Lemonade

Serves 1

Ingredients

• 60ml/¼ cup/4 tbsps gin
• 120ml/½ cup freshly made lemonade
• a few drops of angostura bitters, or better still, Dr Adam Elmegirab’s Spanish bitters , or his dandelion and burdock bitters, both of which contain orange and lemon peel and so go rather well.
• lemon or lime slice
• one berry – raspberry or blackberry, or a cherry
• couple of ice cubes

Method

1. Mix and serve.

Other cocktails made with lemonade

Lemonade goes well in lots of other cocktails and below are a few suggestions – you can experiment with the strength – make it strong to begin with (try 2 parts lemonade to 1 part alcohol), and then if it’s packing a bit too much of a punch, simply add more.

• Bourbon and mint (or thyme)

• Bourbon and mint, blackberries and bitters

• Rye whiskey, cinnamon and Grenadine

• Tequila … maybe some raspberries and mint

• Frozen lemonade with Malibu (coconut rum) and slices of lime

• St Germain (elderflower liqueur), blueberries and sparkling wine

• St Germain (elderflower liqueur), strawberries and vodka

• Peach schnapps and mint

• Vodka and rosemary

• Vodka, cucumber and mint

• Vodka, strawberry and basil

• Citrus vodka (try the Polish Sobieski – tastes of citron and vanilla), cherries, lots of ice

• Rum: 4 parts lemonade; 2 parts pineapple juice; 2 parts Malibu (coconut rum); 1 part dark rum

• Sparkling wine and cranberry juice – you don’t need too much lemonade (or cranberry juice) for this.

Freshly made lemonade is still, not sparkling, so it doesn’t go very well in drinks which use bought fizzy lemonade, like Pimm’s or shandy.