Perfect cocktails for New Year’s Eve

Planning your perfect tipple to ring in 2014? We enlist some of the best bartenders in the business to give us the low-down on their favourite New Year’s Eve cocktail.

Bartenders suggest their perfect New Year’s Eve cocktails

Sometimes a simple glass of Champagne just won’t do it, and to ring in the new year what’s really called for is a cocktail to set the year off in style.

To help party-goers, hosts, and bar-owners devise the perfect cocktail list for this New Year’s Eve, we approached some of the industry’s finest bartenders for their own suggestions.

From fun, fruity Punches to downright dirty Martinis, there’s a recipe in this list for everyone, no matter where in the world you’re celebrating this new year.

Click through the following pages for some fabulous drink ideas to make your 2014 start with a bang.

The Ritz – Ritz 100

“What better way to celebrate the new year then with champagne and gold leaf? The Rivoli Bar’s count down choice is our Ritz 100, a lovely cocktail bringing back the decadence of 1920’s. Made with mandarine liquor, Creme de peach, ketel one vodka, 24 carat gold leaf finished with a sugar cube, this is a great champagne cocktail perfect to be raised and cheer for a great year past and a better year to come.” – Francisco Santos, bar manager at The Rivoli at The Ritz, London.

Ingredients:

10 ml Ketel One vodka
10 ml Creme de peach
10 ml Mandarine Napoleon
1x 24 Carat gold leaf
Champagne
1x sugar cube

Method:

Build in a shaker using a dry shake, pour in a coupe glass, top up with champagne and finished with a sugar cube. Garnished with orange twist.

Barts – Elegant 14

“Elegant 14 is a great cocktail for New Year’s Eve as it is a light and bubbly drink and it is not too sweet in flavour, like some other cocktails, and so perfect for drinking on long evenings when everyone stays out partying extra late. It is also made from especially luxurious ingredients such as champagne and caviar –making it perfect for special occasions.” – Vincenzo Sibila, head bartender of Barts, London.

Ingredients:

125ml Veuve Clicquot Brut
2 slices of fresh ginger marinated in Belvedere Vodka
Lemon juice – to make the crust
1 tsp of red caviar to garnish

Method:

Build all ingredients in a glass and then pour into a Champagne flute over ice.

Archer Street – Gin-gle Bells

“The Gin-gle Bells cocktail is the perfect drink for ringing in the New Year. The zesty lemon notes provide the perfect amount of zing to keep people partying until the early hours.” – Mike Rogers, general manager at Archer Street, London.

Ingredients:

35 ml Tanqueray Gin
15 ml Apple liqueur
15ml Ginger and lemongrass cordial
15ml Lemon juice
Topped with soda

Method:

Build all ingredients in a Hi Ball glass filled with cubed ice, top with soda and garnish with an apple fan.

Bunga Bunga – Buon Anno 

“Buon Anno is the perfect cocktail for New Year’s Eve as it includes wintery red berries that add to the festive feel. It also has a vodka base that making it a perfect drink to kick start the evening, before moving onto wines and heavier whisky-based drinks after dinner.” – Renato De Benedictis, bar manager of Bunga Bunga, London.

Ingredients:

40ml Belvedere vodka
20ml Pama liquor
10ml Lime juice
20ml Sugar syrup
Handful of raspberries
Handful of blackberries
Top up with rose prosecco

Method:

Shake all ingredients together with ice and pour into a tall glass.

London Cocktail Club – Pornstar Martini

“Nothing screams celebration like the classic Porn Star Martini. A drink that comes with a shot of bubbles is always a winner, fingers crossed you all get a kiss at midnight.” – JJ Goodman, founder of London Cocktail Club.

Ingredients:
35ml Vodka
15ml Passoa
15ml Vanilla syrup
20ml Passion fruit puree
20m Apple juice

Method:
Shake all ingredients then strain into a coup and serve over ice. Top with a shot of bubbles.

Strip Bar & Steak – Reverse Cowboy

Ingredients:

30ml Chocolate & raspberry vodka
25ml Rose wine
15ml Hennessy VS
15ml Dry vermouth
15ml Cinnamon syrup
10ml Frangelico
10ml Egg white

Method:
Add ice to a mixer, then add all ingredients, shake & fine strain into chilled glass. Garnish with a cinnamon stick, edible flower, cinnamon dust.

The Worship Street Whistling Shop – Rose Sangree

Ingredients:

125ml Rose wine
25ml Merlot reduction
1 Licquorice stick
2 Blackberries
1 Stemmed lavender

Method:

Stir down all ingredients and garnish with a crushed ice crown. Garnish with a licquorice stick, two blackberrie and one stem of lavender.

Merlot Reduction:
Ingredients:

500ml Merlot
20g Dried lavender

Method: Vac pack ingredients, sous-vide at 50° for 1hour, strain through a fine strain, reduce the mixture in the pan to 300ml, and add 175ml sugar.

The Savoy – Neuvo Comienzo

“This drink is called Neuvo Comienzo, meaning ‘a fresh start’. Taking inspiration from central American culture where people craft handmade fireworks, writing down their misfortune of the year and attaching to the firework, letting go of your misfortune.” – Dominic Whisson, The Savoy, London.

Ingredients:
50ml Tapatio Blanco
30ml Lime
10ml Yellow Charteuse
5ml Violette
5ml Sugar Syrup
Dash Egg white

Method:
Blend the ingredients together and shake with schezuan pepper corns and mint. Double strain into a Champagne flute.

Kensington Palace Restaurant & Fish Shop – We Three Kings

“You don’t always have to celebrate New Year’s Eve with glass of bubbles; sometimes you can treat yourself with a nice, warming cocktail.” – Imants Zusmanis, bar manager, Kensington Place, London.

Ingredients:

15ml Glenfiddich 12 Year Old
10ml The King’s Ginger liqueur
Pear juice
One pear (cored and cubed)
One Star anise
One black clove
One teaspoon ground cinnamon

Method:

Muddle the King’s Ginger with the star anise, clove, cinnamon and fresh pear. Heat mixture together with fresh pear juice and finish with the Glenfiddich. Pour into a Martini glass and garnish with fresh ginger, a cinnamon stick and edible flower.

Enrique’s School For Bullfighting – Vote For Pedro

“NYE in Perth means a 35-40 degree day, so you’re going to need something refreshing and tropical!” – James Connolly, Enrique’s School for Bullfighting, Perth, Australia.

Ingredients:

60ml Rum infused with dehydrated pineapple
25ml Fresh lemon juice
15ml Crawley’s Burnt Orange and Vanilla Syrup
10ml Pedro Ximenez (to rinse glass)

Method:

Add all ingredients (except the PX) to a cocktail shaker, shake and fine strain into a coupette rinsed with PX, and garnish with an edible flower.