These cocktails are a bomb

We got five city bartenders to give you tips on making drinks with a twist for your Diwali party guests

Take whisky chances

This one's for those who like whisky, and keeping things nice and simple. You don't need a blender, cocktail shaker or any other cumbersome gadget. Vikas Rana, head bartender at Headquarters, a recently reopened joint in Colaba, tells us, "Take 60 ml whisky, 20 ml lime juice, 15 ml each of grenaldine syrup and peach syrup, and 5ml of sugar syrup, before serving it on the rocks."

Vikas Rana

The grenadine syrup lends a certain tartness to the drink, the peach and sugar add sweetness, and the lime juice balances it out by adding sour notes. So, it's a drink with a burst of flavours.

Cane you do this?

Sugarcane juice is one of those drinks that define street cuisine in the city. So Indian-ise your drink this Diwali by adding it to dark rum. Nilesh Patel, head of beverages at Social, tells us, "We have something called Banarasi Patiala ('250), which is made with only three ingredients — lime, Old Monk and sugarcane juice. Sugarcane not only adds to the desi value, but makes it refreshing as well.

Nilesh Patel

People tend to drink it all the time since it's easily available throughout the year. Our take has 90 ml of Old Monk in 200 ml of the juice. So, it's quite stiff, but you can adjust the measurements if you want to."

Pinky promise

It's difficult to not like the taste of watermelon, and this drink that's served at Bandra bar The Big Flip, will go down well with most of your guests. Called watermelon and basil martini, it's a vodka-based cocktail that you need to muddle, meaning press the ingredients against the side of the glass with a pestle.

Chandrakant Arere

Bar head Chandrakant Arere tells us, "Take eight to 10 watermelon chunks, six to eight fresh basil leaves, a bit of lime juice and 60 ml vodka, before adding 5 ml watermelon syrup and some ice. Then shake it and strain it in a martini glass. Finally, garnish it with two watermelon chunks and two basil leaves. It's a great drink that you are guaranteed to enjoy. In fact, it's one of my favourite cocktails."

A festive twist

Diwali is synonymous with mithai, of course. So why not combine sweets and booze? Celebrity bartender Ami Shroff suggests, "You can take kaju katli and blend it to create a pina colada of sorts. But take a little less of the other ingredients since you are now contending with the kaju katli as well. If you're blending two pieces of the sweet, you'll need two tablespoons of coconut milk in the mixer.

Ami Shroff

Then add two full spoons of that to 50 ml of white rum and pour in 50 ml of apple juice instead of pineapple juice. It will be nice and chunky, so give it a shake or stir with ice before sipping on it after garnishing it with kaju."

Warm and refreshing

Ask any bartender what alcohol is trending and there is only one answer you'll get — gin. So, Diwali being a time when people decorate their homes with a lot of flowers, add a flavour of the festive season to your gin drink by adding hibiscus tea to it.

Dinesh Mondkar

"It is easily available and you'll also need spice-mix syrup, for which you need to make sugar syrup and throw in some cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and star anise. Then take 60 ml of gin, and add 45 ml of the hibiscus tea and 30 ml of the spice-mix syrup, before topping up your glass with soda to balance the sweetness of the spice. It makes for a warm drink because of the spices, while also refreshing thanks to the soda," says Dinesh Mondkar, head mixologist at Khar eatery, The Bluebop Café.

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