Comfort & Joy

Cooking on an open fire is a kind of alchemy. Basic ingredients turn into something more than the promise of a pedestrian blast from an oven or stove. A pink sausage becomes a charred hot dog dripping with bonfire night charm, an ear of sweetcorn turns dirty with melted butter and charred kernels, and spongy marshmallows become caramelised, oozing crack on sticks.

Campfire cooking turns the mundane into something dramatic. Campfire cocktails, now that is another level of theatre. All you need for your glamping, mixologist mobile bar is a few additional ingredients, a pan, pen knife, some glasses and the fire.

CAMPFIRE COCKTAIL

This sweet and smoky Bonfire-Night-inspired cocktail comes from the team at whisky bar Black Rock just off Finsbury Square, London. Toasted marshmallows, crunching through piles of leaves, sparklers and the smell of the bonfire. It is a glass of nostalgia created from the comfort of your luxury campsite.

Bulleit bourbon 50ml
Lagavulin malt whisky 5ml
Marshmallow syrup 5ml (Mini marshmallows 100g, Caster sugar 400g)

To make the syrup, boil the marshmallows with 500ml water. Once they have dissolved, add the sugar and stir to dissolve this until fully combined. Stir all ingredients over ice and serve with a toasted marshmallow (optional).

CAMPFIRE SLING

Rye whiskey, maple syrup and chocolate bitters form a wintry trifecta in this Autumnal cocktail. The liquid version of a hot water bottle when you’re glamping.

2 oz rye whiskey
¼ oz pure maple syrup
3 dashes chocolate bitters

Combine all ingredients in an Old Fashioned glass with a large piece of ice, stir and garnish with a flamed orange twist.

THE SMOKEY BEAR

The best smoky cocktails are made with mezcal. This one uses ingredients you usually have on hand in your bell tent: hot cocoa and marshmallows.

Hot cocoa (pick your favourite)
1 1/2 oz mezcal
1 sugar cube
Toasted marshmallows

Make the hot chocolate according to package directions. Add the mezcal and sugar cube to your glass and stir. Top with as many toasted marshmallows as you can handle.

STONE WALL

Generally when cocktails have names like Stone Wall, it’s because drinking too many of them feels like you’re hitting it. Don’t wander too far from your yurt.

1-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
1 ½ teaspoons simple syrup
1 ½ oz aged rum
1 ½ oz apple cider

Ice

1 ½ oz chilled ginger beer
1 lime wedge
1 slice of apple

In a cocktail shaker, muddle the ginger with the simple syrup. Add the rum and cider; fill the shaker with ice and shake well. Strain into an ice-filled rocks glass and top with the ginger beer. Garnish with the lime wedge and apple slice.

BUTTERED RUM

Sweet, warming and decadent. You’re camping, cooking outdoors, sleeping under canvas, albeit a luxury glamping site. You still deserve a cuddle of a drink.

20g butter
2 x dates
1 x cinnamon stick
1 cup almond milk
1 tsp rapadura sugar
pinch of salt
60ml Mount Gay Black Barrel Rum

Put dates, sugar and salt in pan. As it heats up add butter and cinnamon and allow to caramelise. Add almond milk and bring to boil. Take off heat and allow to cool slightly before adding rum. Serve in camping mug with ground cinnamon sprinkled on top.

GINGER APPLE CIDER

Mulled cider is the ubiquitous campfire hot toddy. We’ve created our own version with a little help from our friends at Burrow Hill. A legend in the apple orchards of the West Country and round the campfires at Yurtel.

1 cup unfiltered apple juice
2 cups Kingston Black Apple Aperitif
½ apple, cut into slices
1 ½” inch piece of ginger, very thinly sliced
3 cinnamon sticks
15 whole cloves

Add all the ingredients to a small pot or saucepan on the stove. Bring to a boil over medium high heat, then lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Divide between two or three mugs, being careful to strain out any of the spices.