What We're Drinking

REVIEW
Mixing cocktails is like cooking.You seek to combine various ingredients in order to produce a final result that is greater than the sum of its constituents.

Like cooking too, the quality of the constituent parts has a direct impact on the final flavour, as does the relative proportions used and the method of their addition. Finally, presentation counts for a lot, adding the final flourish.

St-Germain Elderflower liqueur is a beautifully presented French liqueur made from 100 per cent fresh, handpicked elderflowers from the foothills of the Alps. The process of steeping (soaking) the elderflowers in alcohol to capture their delicate fragrance and taste, is a method that has been used by liqueur-makers for centuries.

Each bottle of St-Germain is marked with a vintage, indicating which year the flowers were harvested. It can be enjoyed neat over ice and is ideal in cocktails, mixing well with Champagne, gin, tequila vodka and rum - although not with all simultaneously.

Experiment with this taste of summer at your leisure.

- Bernard Wilkes is assistant wine manager at Waitrose Canary Wharf