The perfect Espresso Martini

Every hour is cocktail hour from now until 2020 and The Hind's Head is calling the shots with an Espresso Martini – just the way Heston likes it.

It’s Christmaaaaaas! And I plan to spend tfrom now until 2020 getting blissfully hammered. I’m not talking a bottle of cheap vodka in a brown paper bag. I mean, jeez, I have some standards. But a grand tour of cocktails could be an adventure.

We’ve been spending an unhealthy amount of time propped up the bar at The Hind’s Head Bray – if you haven’t visited yet, seriously, get yourselves down there. Whether you’re eating in the restaurant or not, you have to have a drink (or three) in the The Royal Lounge. It is one of my favourite bars in Berks. The decor and the drinks menu are elegant and eccentric in equal measure.

You’ll find classics with a the expected Heston twist – Champagne cocktails with gold leaf, or dash of rhubarb and ginger liquor. Plus Bloody Mary, Negroni and Martinis, but the Royal Signatures get my vote. I ‘m slowly working my way through the list – Emily’s Earl Grey Sour, served in a vintage teacup, is gin based and named after the resident ghost and Great Expectations is a rum cocktail served in a hip flask nestled in the pages of a vintage copy of Dickens’s famous book are both a worth trying again and again.

: Spiced Rum

: Emily’s Earl Grey sour

Cocktails (or mocktails) not your bag, then there’s fab selection of quality gins, vodkas and whiskeys, plus an extensive wine list that with bottles costing between £27 and £695! Blimey.

But right now I’m calling cocktail hour and this should perk you up a treat – the recipe for the perfect Espresso Martini (just the way Heston likes it). Cocktail or rocket fuel? You decide. Cheers…