Easter drinks and cocktails: brunch fizz, the lunch toast and the garden

Easter Sunday is usually a long day at one table, often with children and drivers. Choose one drink for each part of it, keep most of them low in strength, and leave only the fizz and the ice to the last moment.

Units are worked out at typical strengths: 40% ABV for whisky and other spirits, 11 to 12% for sparkling wine, and the usual strength of each liqueur and vermouth. Check your own bottles.

Easter Sunday falls between 22 March and 25 April. Good Friday is a bank holiday across the UK; Easter Monday is one in England, Wales and Northern Ireland but not in Scotland. An early Easter can be cold, so keep the afternoon drinks flexible.

The Mimosa is equal parts: 75ml cold fresh orange juice in a chilled champagne flute, topped slowly with 75ml prosecco, with one gentle lift of a spoon. Juice first, then wine, or the foam rises over the rim. A dry cava or crémant works as well.

At two parts wine to one of juice it becomes a Buck’s Fizz: 50ml orange juice topped with 100ml champagne. London’s Buck’s Club is said to have first served it in 1921, by Wikipedia’s account, a secondary source, and the Mimosa’s origin is unclear, though some credit Frank Meier at the Ritz in Paris.

Squeeze the oranges just before brunch. Fresh juice separates within about twenty minutes, so a jug of mixed Mimosa does not keep. For a crowd, set out a jug of juice beside an ice bucket of prosecco and let people pour their own, juice first.

The Bellini is 50ml of cold white peach purée in a chilled flute, with 100ml prosecco added slowly in stages and folded in gently, never stirred. White peaches are out of season at Easter, so buy a good purée. The drink was first poured at Harry’s Bar in Venice.

The Bloody Mary is the savoury glass: 45ml vodka, 90ml tomato juice, 15ml fresh lemon juice and two dashes of Worcestershire sauce, with Tabasco, celery salt and black pepper to taste. Stir it over ice and never shake it, because shaking breaks the tomato juice and it separates in the glass. Garnish with a celery stick and a lemon wedge.

Mix the tomato, lemon and seasoning the night before and keep it cold, then add the vodka to each glass. Without the vodka it is a Virgin Mary. Worcestershire sauce contains anchovy, so tell anyone who avoids fish.

The French 75 is the toast. Shake 30ml gin, 15ml fresh lemon juice and 15ml simple syrup hard with ice for 10 to 12 seconds, double strain into a chilled flute, and top slowly with 60ml of well-chilled champagne. Express a strip of lemon peel over it and rest it on the rim. Never shake the champagne.

A 750ml bottle of champagne tops twelve French 75s, or pours about eight 90ml glasses on its own.

At the table, wine does more than a cocktail. Roast lamb suits a dry rosé or a medium-bodied red such as Pinot Noir. Glazed ham suits sparkling wine, whose acidity cuts the sweet glaze. Keep sweet drinks away from the lamb.

The Elderflower Collins is the drink of the season. Shake 45ml gin, 20ml elderflower liqueur and 25ml fresh lemon juice with ice for 10 seconds, strain into a collins glass of fresh ice, top with 90ml soda water and stir once. Garnish with a lemon wheel and a slapped mint sprig. Hold the liqueur at 20ml; at 30ml it tastes of pot-pourri.

The Aperol Spritz goes in a large wine glass filled to the top with ice: 90ml prosecco first, then 60ml Aperol, then 30ml soda water poured gently down the side, and one slow lift of the spoon. Prosecco goes first because Aperol is denser and pools under the ice. Add an orange slice.

The Hugo Spritz is the lighter, floral one: 25ml elderflower liqueur, 90ml prosecco and 30ml soda water over ice, with a slapped mint sprig and a lime wheel, stirred once.

If the day turns warm, a Pimm’s Cup is 50ml Pimm’s No. 1 and 150ml sparkling lemonade over ice layered with cucumber, strawberry and orange, with a slapped mint sprig. At 22% or 25% ABV, the figures Wikipedia, a secondary source, gives for different markets, Pimm’s is mild, so keep it at one part to three.

If it stays cool, the Storm & Spice is our spiced rum highball. Fill a highball glass with ice, squeeze in 15ml fresh lime juice, pour in 150ml ginger beer to about two thirds, then float 50ml Expedition Spiced Rum over the back of a bar spoon, with two dashes of Angostura if you like. Let each guest stir it.

The Limoncello Spritz is 50ml limoncello straight from the freezer, 90ml brut prosecco and 30ml soda water over ice in a large wine glass, stirred once, with a lemon wheel and a slapped mint sprig. Do not skip the soda; it keeps the drink from turning sweet.

The Espresso Martini is 50ml vodka, 30ml Kahlúa and 10ml simple syrup, with a strong shot of fresh espresso added hot and last, then shaken hard with ice for 10 to 12 seconds and fine strained into a chilled martini glass, with three coffee beans on the foam.

The Brandy Alexander is 30ml cognac, 30ml dark crème de cacao and 30ml cold double cream, shaken very hard for 12 seconds and double strained into a chilled Nick and Nora glass, with fresh nutmeg grated over. Its chocolate meets the chocolate eggs halfway.

The Sparkling Elderflower Lemonade covers the whole table: 25ml elderflower cordial and 25ml fresh lemon juice over ice, topped with 150ml sparkling water and stirred gently. We keep the cordial and lemon for a couple of days in the fridge; add the sparkling water to each glass.

The Shirley Temple is the one children ask for: 150ml ginger ale over ice, 15ml grenadine poured slowly so it sinks through the glass, and a maraschino cherry on top.

The Virgin Mojito is 25ml fresh lime juice, 20ml simple syrup and ten mint leaves pressed gently in a highball, filled with crushed ice and topped with 120ml soda water.

For the brunch toast, pour fresh orange juice into a flute so nobody raises a tumbler. Label every jug, because a Virgin Mary looks exactly like a Bloody Mary.

Most Easter drinks split into a part that keeps and a part that does not. The Bloody Mary base and the elderflower cordial and lemon keep overnight. The Elderflower Collins base of gin, liqueur and lemon can be mixed that morning: add cold water at about a fifth of the batch, the lower figure, because it is served over ice and topped with soda. How to batch cocktails explains why.

Never batch anything sparkling. Open the prosecco and the soda at the table and pour them into each glass.

A 750ml bottle of prosecco makes ten Mimosas at 75ml, seven Bellinis at 100ml or eight Aperol Spritzes at 90ml. For a brunch, plan on two drinks each in the first hour and one an hour after that, with plenty of alcohol-free drinks alongside.

Buy more ice than seems sensible. Long drinks fill the glass to the top, and a half-filled glass melts faster, not slower.

St George’s Day on 23 April can fall in the same week, and St George’s Day drinks covers it. Summer cocktails takes over in June, and the seasonal cocktails calendar has the rest of the year.