Guess what…its raining in Edinburgh again, so we are v envious of Chardon’s own Mr Jetsetter, David Ralph who is currently in Val d’Isere frolicking with the marmottes in the hazy sunshine.  His summery photos have inspired us to cheer ourselves up by creating our own Summer Chardon cocktail, the Chardon Cherry Mojito.  We are heading out to buy the ingredients now, and we will be mixing them up at lunchtime….so best not call us after about 2pm !

Here’s how you do it…..

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• Juice of 9 freshly squeezed limes
• 3 pounds juicy cherries
• 500ml black cherry or plain vodka
• 750ml sparkling water

Directions

1. Bring sugar and 1 1/4 cups water to a boil in a small saucepan, stirring until sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat; let cool completely. (Makes about 2 cups syrup.) Top tip: The syrup can be refrigerated in an airtight container up to 1 month
2. Put lime juice into a bowl. Halve and pit cherries; add to lime juice. Stir in syrup. Refrigerate at least 1 hour (or overnight).
3. Stir cherry mixture and vodka in a large serving bowl. Fill 12 glasses with ice. Spoon 1/2 cup cherry-vodka mixture into each glass. Top off with sparkling water. Serve immediately.                                                                                                            Or….if you are in Val d’Isere like our man, Dave…. Pop up to the glacier, pick yourself up some nice fresh ice, dash back to Le Chardon as quickly as possible, pop it in your cocktail glass, get the IPod dock out on the terrace and put your feet up on comfy terrace sofa and start sipping.

Not that we are at jealous of course!

Cocktail evenings at Le Chardon last season were a great hit.  If you have already booked for 2012/13, let the concierge team know what your favourite tipple is and we will do our best to have the cabinet well stocked!