FIELD FAVOURITES

Some of the Field team and friends reveal their favourite tipples to make at home and the best over-the-counter medicine

JONATHAN YOUNG, EDITOR, THE FIELD Homemade: JY’S Ginger Thing; take one bottle of French brandy, add jar of stem ginger and the syrup. Leave for 10 days.

Strain through muslin.

Off the shelf: Bols Apricot Brandy (4)

ALEXANDRA HENTON, DEPUTY

EDITOR, THE FIELD Homemade: I’m not sure I can claim bullshot, as pouring vodka into tinned consommé seems a bit of a cheat, although

it is delicious. Other than that my (or largely my mother’s) hedgerow gin is a complete delight. Not as one dimensional as pure sloe gin, we use sloes, elderberries, brambles, haws and anything else the home hedgerows can

provide, and steep in gin. The exact combination remains a closely

guarded secret.

Off the shelf: Grant’s Morella Cherry Brandy Liqueur (1). A friend once bought this for me as a present and it has been a firm favourite ever since. Sweet, fruity and

chronically quaffable. JONATHAN IRBY, HEAD OF SALES,

JAMES PURDEY & SONS Homemade: My personal favourite is a tipple I add to any consommé: chilli sherry. Take a suitable, well made, dry sherry. Sip the top inch from the bottle. Now, with the point of a sharp knife, prick half-a-dozen hot chillies before dropping them into the bottle of sherry. Leave the sherry to brew. You now have a delightful, spicy additive that will add zip, zim and vigour to any soup

or, for that matter, Bloody Mary.

Off the shelf: I have to confess to being quite a fan of Chase Oak Aged Sloe &

Mulberry Gin (3).

POLLY PORTWIN, CAMPAIGN MANAGER, COUNTRYSIDE ALLIANCE Homemade: My favourite home brew is strawberry vodka, which is deliciously sweet to keep the sugar levels up and barely

tastes alcoholic.

Off the shelf: As a teenager I was allowed a mini hip flask of De Kuypers Cherry Brandy (2), so I’m always filled with nostalgia when I drink it and still consider it my favourite

“off the shelf” for that reason. MAJOR HARRY WALLACE, COMMANDING OFFICER OF THE KING’S TROOP ROYAL HORSE ARTILLERY Homemade: I am on the homemade plum vodka. This autumn I will be experimenting with the hedgerow vodka, which is blackberries, sloes,

rosehips and hawthorne.

Off the shelf: The Percy Special –

whisky (5) and cherry brandy.

SERENA WILLIAMS, PURDEY AMBASSADOR

AND GIRL FRIDAY AT

HOOK NORTON BREWERY Homemade: My homemade hip-flask staple is a little number I like to call “Black Beauty”, which is a

sumptuous mixture of sweet blackberries hand-picked from the hedgerows and whisky, which adds a fiery flash to the throat on its way to

warming your cockles.

Off the shelf: Grant’s Morella Cherry Brandy Liqueur (1), the hunting staple

of choice.