If you’re throwing a big party, my advice would be to leave the cocktail shaker in the cupboard for the night and serve a punch. Here are two of my favourite recipes:

*Both recipes make 6 litres or approx 50 x 150ml cups (more by the time the ice has melted a bit). Feel free to tweak to your taste – tinkering is very much in the spirit of the punch. To make 500ml sugar syrup dissolve 500g white sugar in 250ml water over a low heat and leave to cool.

GARRICK CLUB PUNCH

This recipe was created for the Garrick Club in the 1830s. The maraschino (an Italian liqueur made with sour cherries) turns it from simple boozy lemonade into something rather more sophisticated, but if you don’t have maraschino it works well with Cointreau too:

1 part / 400ml sugar syrup

2 parts / 800ml Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur

3 parts / 1.2litres lemon juice

4 parts / 1.6 litres gin

5 parts / 2 litres chilled soda water

Method: Combine in a big punch bowl with masses of ice and garnish with lemon wheels and an optional grating of nutmeg.

BADMINTON CUP

This garnet-coloured recipes was a favourite of Charles Dickens. Don’t bother using your best claret – in fact, this tastes better with something cheap and cheerful.

4 parts / 2 litres cheap red wine

1 part / 500ml sugar syrup

1 part / 500ml Cointreau

2 parts / 1 litre lemon juice

4 parts / 2 litres chilled soda water

Method: Combine in a big punch bowl with masses of ice and garnish with lemon wheels, cucumber wheels and an optional grating of nutmeg.

For Port Eliot Festival 2017 I showcased three very different gin recipes that are great for a party: a punch, a bottled cocktail and a Negroni with a twist. Here they are…

GIN, PEAR & BAY LEAF PUNCH

SERVES 40

All the work for this recipe is in the prep, which leaves you free to have a good time when your guests arrive. As with all punches, you may want to tweak a bit to your taste, to make it more sour, sweet or strong. That is part of the fun of punch.

1 litre gin

1 litre Sainsbury’s Apple & Pear Juice

1 litre homemade bay leaf syrup*

1 litre chilled soda water

1.2 litres freshly squeezed lemon juice (approx 25 lemons)

lots of ribbons of lemon peel and some bay leaves to garnish

Method: Ten minutes before your guests arrive, mix all the ingredients in a big punch bowl. Add the best part of a bag of supermarket ice (normally 100 cubes), garnish and leave to chill. Give it a good stir and serve.

*you will need to make this at least 24 hours in advance: dissolve 1kg white sugar in 1 litre of water over a low heat. Take off the heat, pour into a Kilner jar and stuff two thirds full of bay leaves (more if you’re crazy about bay leaves). I like to throw in a few peppercorns and cloves to make it more spicy too. Seal and leave to infused out of direct sunlight for at least 24 hours.

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BOTTLED GIN MARTINI

SERVES 12

If you’re throwing a party of more than 6 people save yourself the bother of shaking cocktails all night and serve bottled cocktails instead. This isn’t cheating – people have been bottling cocktails and punches for more than 200 years. Boozy cocktails like Martinis, Manhattans and Negronis work best, and once bottled last for weeks. I like to serve a selection in a big tureen full of ice, so people can help themselves. This recipe takes inspiration from the earliest Martinis which often had a dash of orange bitters in them, a touch I love.

700ml gin

150ml Noilly Prat Dry Vermouth

150ml water (to replicate the dilution that usually comes from stirring with ice)

6 dashes orange bitters (eg Angostura Orange Bitters are more spicy, Bitter Truth Orange Bitters are more zesty)

lemon twists or olives to garnish

Method: Mix all the ingredients in a jug, pour into a glass bottle, seal and chill well before serving. Then pour straight into the cocktail glass and garnish.

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NEGRONI JELLY ORANGES

SERVES 24

This Negroni recipes was inspired by childhood birthday parties, when my mum would serve us magic jelly oranges (without the gin, obviously). The recipe is a complete faff, but the completely delightful result makes it all worthwhile. And it gives everyone at the party something to talk about.

1 pack of strawberry jelly (135g)

1 pack of orange jelly (135g)

150ml hot water

150ml Negroni mix (50ml gin + 50ml Campari + 50ml Martini rosso vermouth)

3 good sized oranges

Roll of tin foil

Method: You will need to start this recipe at least 24 hours before the party so the jelly has time to set. Cut each orange in half and carefully scoop out the flesh until you’re left with a nice, clean hull. (This bit is a drag but the cleaner you can make the hull, the better your oranges will look). Next make a little ring of tin foil for each orange hull to stand on – this will stop them rolling over when you fill them up. Spread the foil rings out on a tray that will fit in your fridge and then set the orange hulls out on them, as level as humanly possible. Next, chop up the jelly into a saucepan, add the 150ml of water and heat gently until the jelly is dissolved. (NB this recipe calls for jelly that’s a lot firmer than normal jelly, so ignore the instructions on the packet and follow these ratios). While the jelly is melting, mix your Negroni in a jug. Take the jelly off the heat, leave to cool slightly and then add to the Negroni mix. Stir well and then pour carefully into the orange hulls, so they are full to the brim. Then stick the lot in the fridge and leave to set for 24 hours. When the time comes to serve, remove from the fridge, slice each hull into four and serve.

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