Despite the UK’s wholly unreliable weather patterns, there’s a handful of rituals that fall squarely inside the end-of-May-till-beginning-of-September window – picnics in the park, barbecues and cocktails that are 75 percent fruit salad.

Whether you’re hosting a barbecue, sports-tournament party or summer birthday bash, you’ll want to make bartending duties as easy and time-efficient as possible.

Because they lean heavily on large quantities of ice and a mechanical means of blending it, frozen cocktails are very much a twentieth-century invention. Here are our top 5 super-cooled favourites.

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.

A brilliant cocktail standard with a unique and herbal flavour profile that’s particularly well suited to fruity, zesty combinations. Here are a few of our favourite tequila-based cocktails.

In an era where the concept of luxury is constantly being redefined through extravagant high-end cars, watches, hotels and couture, champagne remains a reassuringly authentic indulgence.