5 Healthy Cocktails for the New Year

With each New Year comes the unappealing resolve to live healthier than you did in the last, less jaded by the effects of your favourite tipples. However, the prospect of a year of the ‘skinny bitch’ cocktail (water and vodka, no thanks) is enough to send anyone into despair, so we’ve found some cocktails that will remain within the confines of your healthy resolutions while still appealing to your taste buds. Serve all of these with a handful of ice and enjoy.

Old-Fashioned

One of the oldest recorded cocktails; this elegant short drink is clean in flavour and easy on the calories. We’ve halved the sugar intake, but not the flavour.

1 thickly sliced orange peel

3 drops whiskey bitters

1 tsp agave syrup

50ml Macallan Amber

Sidecar

This is the essential nip of the Mad Men era, and the clean, cooling ingredients might make this your choice of the year.

Half a lemon, freshly squeezed

2 oz Courvoisier Cognac

1 oz Cointreau

A twist of lemon peel

Gimlet

The lightest on the list, this is a seriously diet-friendly drink, and tremendously simple to make.

2oz Bols Genever Gin

1 ¾ oz freshly squeezed lime juice

1 fresh cucumber slice

Tequila and Soda

While this bears some resemblance to the Skinny Bitch, the lime and high-quality tequila give this cocktail a kick. Serve in a long glass with plenty of ice.

Soda Water

Half a lime, freshly squeezed

Remaining lime peel

2 oz Jose Cuervo Platino Tequila

Vodka Martini

The classic and still the best, this staple of sophistication is all about fine ingredients, down to the last olive. Shake the mixture with ice, just as Bond would have it.

1 ½ oz Skyy Vodka

¾ Martini Dry Vermouth

1 green olive