Vodka Celebrates Cocktail Day.
A Monday isn’t usually the day of the week chosen for a celebration involving cocktails, yet on Monday 13 May it’s Cocktail Day. This provides the perfect reason to shake, stir, sip, and celebrate by raising a glass with friends, so we’re going to be cracking open a crisp, clear bottle of TOVARITCH! Vodka, the world’s most highly awarded vodka.
Cocktail Day is all about celebrating with friends and so this vodka is a great choice as ‘tovaritch’ means ‘friend’ in Russian. Despite its Russian name heritage, rest assured, with this lovely liquid you’re drinking a spirit that is 100% European. TOVARITCH! Vodka is made from traceable European wheat, is distilled five times, and filtered 10 times, before being bottled in Latvia, part of the EU.
It is a recreation of a recently rediscovered 200-year-old family recipe and this vodka is so smooth that you can even drink it neat. It’s for this reason that drinks experts around the world have conferred a total of 145 awards on this spirit.
This Cocktail Day, we bring you some outstanding recipes to make the evening go beautifully. Both cocktails involve ‘muddling’ fresh ingredients, so they taste fresh and look appealing.
TOVARITCH! Blackberry Basil Smash
A refreshing and elegant drink that makes the most of this fine vodka.
Ingredients
5-6 Blackberries (fresh, or frozen and then defrosted)
2-3 Basil leaves
60ml TOVARITCH! Vodka
25ml Lemon juice
25ml Simple syrup
Garnish: sprig of basil plus a fresh blackberry
Method
Muddle the blackberries and basil in a shaker. Half fill the shaker with ice. Add the vodka, lemon juice and syrup and shake until chilled. Add fresh ice to a rocks glass. Strain the liquid into the glass. Garnish with a sprig of basil and a fresh blackberry, if desired.
TOVARITCH! Cucumber Mint Cooler
This refreshing drink tastes as delicious as it looks.
Ingredients
Cucumber – a few slices
Mint leaves – a few
60ml TOVARITCH! Vodka
30ml Lime juice (freshly squeezed)
25ml Simple syrup
Soda
Garnish: mint sprig and cucumber slices
Method
Muddle a few slices of cucumber and a few mint leaves in a shaker. Half fill the shaker with ice and add the TOVARITCH! Vodka, lime juice and sugar syrup. Shake until chilled. Fill a highball glass with crushed ice. Strain the cocktail into the glass and top with soda to taste. Garnish with a mint sprig and cucumber slices.
You can find TOVARITCH! Premium Vodka (ABV 37.5%) at good drinks retailers including Amathus Drinks (RRP £23-25). Look out for the elegant bottle with a blue label proudly declaring that it is made in Latvia and that it is ‘The World’s Most Awarded’.
Embrace the spirit. Happy Cocktail Day.