When summer feels like a distant memory, there’s plenty of enjoyment to be found in sampling the epicurean pleasures of this ‘season of mellow mists and fruitfulness’.

In many ways, the Cobbler is the epitome of an old-fashioned cocktail. It uses very few ingredients – wine, fruit, sugar and ice – and is incredibly flexible. You can use whatever wine you like or substitute the wine with your choice of spirit.

Despite our national obsession with tea, its more chilled sibling, iced tea, keeps a fairly low profile on most British drinks menus, being much more closely associated with the US, particularly in the humid southern states.

There’s nothing more perfect for a party than a big bowl of punch, although it’s sadly fallen out of favour in recent years, only occasionally being pressed into service as a welcome drink at a Christmas gathering.

If there’s one stand-out perk of summer, it’s the joy of pimping your standard spirit-and-juice combo with a metric tonne of fruit salad and calling it a cocktail.

The early-nineteenth-century fusion of spirit, sugar and water known as a ‘sling’ laid the foundations for the rainbow of cocktails we drink today.

For every bottle of unwanted Metaxa in the understairs cupboard, there’s a cocktail that has the ability to transport you to a sunnier, happier state of mind.

The evolution of modern-day tequila is an interesting story. Its origins lie in a sticky, kombucha-style, ceremonial ‘pulque’ made from raw agave sap in pre-Hispanic Mexico and thought to be a gift from the gods.