Scottish Orchard

Autumn is the time for dark, smokey beverages like whisky and earthy, dry cider. Combine the two in this homage to the orchards of our mothers, to quote W.H. Auden. The cider gives the drink a light acidity that plays well with the heft of the whisky so your autumn days don't turn too melancholic.

4 cl Scotch whisky

0.5 cl honey syrup 

1 dash Angostura

4 cl hard French or English cider

Mix the first three ingredients in a mixer with ice. Strain into a cocktail glass. Top with cider, and garnish with a lemon twist and, if you wish, a cherry.

You may want to try it as a long drink which gives more prominence to the cider.

Sloe Royale

Sloe gin is not what you get most of in cocktails, and that's a pity. Sloe gin, which by the way isn't gin but a liqueur, has a characteristic bittersweet taste of berries that is fresh, tantalizing and a little peppery. Just the thing for an autumn aperitif. And quite British, old chap!

2 cl sloe gin

12 cl champagne or dry sparkling wine

Pour the sloe gin into a flute, and top with champagne or sparkling wine.

Mercy, Mercy

Autumn calls for five o'clock short drinks that can whet the appetite and lighten up the settling dusk. Lillet with its fragrant blend of Bordeaux wines and citrus liqueur plays along with the orangey and bittersweet taste of Aperol to counterbalance the botanicals in dry gin. The bitters turn the drink into a true cocktail.

4 cl gin

1 cl Lillet Blanc

1 cl Aperol

1 dash Angostura

1 dash orange bitters

In a mixing glass with ice stir the ingredients until cold. Strain into a cocktail or coupe glass.

Instead of Lillet you may want to try Cocchi Americano, an Italian aperitif wine that is more bitter.

Source: Joseph Schwartz, Little Branch, NYC

Shaddock's Fizz

Pretend it's still summer and enjoy this combination of floral and fruity flavours held together by sweet, tart and bitter notes.

6 cl Aperol

2 cl grapefruit juice

1.5 cl St-Germain

6 cl dry sparkling wine

Shake the first three ingredients with ice. Strain into a highball glass with ice. Top with sparkling wine and garnish with a grapefruit twist.

Judgment Day

It's officially autumn and you may want a drink that's not for quenching thirst but for fondly remembering a summer gone. This smooth cocktail gives you the fruits of summer with its aromas and notes of rotting grapes, elderflowers in bloom and lemon and lime galore.

4.5 cl pisco

1.5 cl St-Germain elderflower liquour

1.5 cl lime juice

1.5 cl lemon juice

1.5 cl simple syrup

3 cl pasteurized egg white

Shake the ingredients without ice. Add ice and shake again. Strain into a coupe glass.

Source: Jim Meehan

Pisco Sour

This cocktail is the most well-known drink with pisco. It's actually a cocktail that goes back to the early1920s. Some say it was created in Lima, Peru, by a bartender from California. It's a delightful experience that shows pisco at its very best, delicately strong and full of subtle notes. The egg white gives the drink a full, smooth body with lime and bitters warding off cloying effects.

4 cl pisco

2 cl lime juice

1 cl ordinary syrup

1 cl pasteurized egg white

2 dashes Angostura bitters

Dry shake the ingredients except Angostura, then add ice and shake again. Strain into a cocktail glass and dash the bitters on top.

Cuzco

I want to introduce you to another Latin American brandy that is a godsend to happy cocktailers, namely pisco. It's based on grape juice and produced in Peru and Chile. Compared with Brazilian cachaça, which is based on sugarcane juice, pisco is more refined and sophisticated with notes of fermenting grapes and apples. The best brands can be enjoyed neat as digestifs.

In this pearl of a cocktail the taste is composed like a melody with the citrus fruit and  Aperol creating a harmony that lets the lead singer show what he or she is worth.

4 cl pisco

1.5 cl Aperol

1.5 cl simple syrup

1 cl grapefruit juice

1 cl lemon juice

Shake the ingredients in a shaker with ice. Strain into a cocktail glass.

Note: There is an intense rivalry between Peru and Chile as to which of the two countries is the original home of pisco. However, there are superb brands on both sides of the border. Among them are Ocucaje from Peru and El Gobernador from Chile.

And the name of this drink? Cuzco is a city in the south of Peru. It was the capital of the Inca Empire.