Summer cocktail recipes

Summer is the time that long cocktails really come into their own. Either as single serve long drinks or sold in pitchers, freshly made cocktails can be a popular and profitable addition to your drinks menu during the summer months.

Perhaps the best-known summer drink of all is Pimm's, the gin-based cocktail mix which, with a dash of lemonade and a garnish of fresh fruit, is synonymous with the English summer. Invented by James Pimm in the 1820s to accompany meals at his oyster bar, the brand has just been relaunched by owner UDV.

Classic combinations using spirits, such as Margarita, Pimm's and Long Island Tea are well known, of course. You can come up with your own mixes just as well - all you need is a bit of imagination and perhaps a good cocktail book. Start out with a list of simple mixes first and add more sophisticated versions as barstaff get up to speed.

To get you started, UDV suggests some classic recipes which use some of its best-known spirit brands, starting with the Classic Pimm's and a variation on the theme. These are single serve recipes - to sell as a pitcher, multiply the basic recipe by the number of people and size of the pitcher to calculate the correct serving.