At Destination2, we know a thing or two about the importance of getting into the holiday spirit. So, inspired by Maldives holidays, we've created some tropical cocktails that are easy-to-make at home. Get that island feeling started from your sofa, and start dreaming of afternoons of white sand beaches with Indian Ocean holidays...
IMAGE CREDIT Armin Lotfi (Unsplash)
The Espresso Martini is one of the UK's favourite tipples, so we've added a little toasted coconut syrup for a Maldivian twist that brings the beach to you.
Liqueur
IMAGE CREDIT Francesca Petroni (Unsplash)
Stylish, chic and photogenic (tagged over 1,892,000 times on Instagram), the Aperol Spritz is the perfect holiday drink. Here's our tropical island-inspired version...
Prosecco
IMAGE CREDIT Shenggeng Lin (Unsplash)
Named after the Dhivehi word for coral, our twist on the beloved mojito adds a little bit of tropical island flavour in the form of fresh passionfruit. One sip, and you bring the Maldives to you...
RUM
The Piña Colada is firmly established as one of the UK's favourite cocktails with over 60k monthly online searches. While the traditional Piña Colada recipe is already quite tropical, we've added a little extra island spirit here.
RUM
IMAGE CREDIT The Nix Company (Unsplash)
The cosmopolitan is sophisticated, sweet and a little sharp. Everything about island life in the Maldives is laid-back and relaxed, so we've renamed our take on a cosmo 'The Island Hopper'!
VODKA
IMAGE CREDIT Olha Tatdot (Unsplash)
One of the most Instagrammed cocktails - with almost 8 million #margarita posts at the time of writing - margaritas are already pretty great, but adding a tropical flavour, named in honour of the Maldivian capital, makes them even better...
TEQUILA
IMAGE CREDIT Abishek Hajare (Unsplash)
Strawberry daiquris are incredibly popular, particularly as the summer months finally reach us here in the UK. In case you're not immediately able to jet off to the Maldives, bring the island vibes to you with our island-inspired tropical daiquiri recipe...
RUM
IMAGE CREDIT Shayna Douglas (Unsplash)
Maldives honeymoons are a classic for a reason, as is the sex on the beach cocktail! We've combined the tropical flavours of the Maldives with this top tipple for a refreshing summer drink.
VODKA
IMAGE CREDIT Whitney Wright (Unsplash)
The Maldives is an Indian Ocean country, so of course tea is incredibly popular! Here we've combined tea with the classic Mai Tai for a refreshing, fruity drink that will help you get that holiday feeling.
RUM
The team at Destination2 looked at search volume and Instagram hashtag data to find the UK's most popular cocktails, correct as of May 2022. We then created recipes for each original cocktail with a tropical, Maldives holiday-inspired twist. Use this page as inspiration for holding your own holiday-from-home cocktail party to get in the island spirit.
These Maldives-inspired cocktails were researched and put together by the team at Destination2.
Make a syrup of 500ml water with 500g sugar and bring to the boil. Once the sugar dissolves, add in 275-300g toasted desiccated coconut and a generous pinch of salt. Stir on the heat before straining and chilling in the fridge. Add 15ml syrup to a cocktail shaker with 50ml espresso, 45ml rum, 15ml coffee liqueur. Shake, strain it twice and serve. Dip the rim of the glass in more desiccated coconut for an island vibe.
Fill a glass with ice, and pour in 60ml aperol, 30ml passionfruit juice, 20ml lime juice and 30ml soda or sparkling water. Slowly pour in 70-90ml prosecco or sparkling rosé, and garnish the glass with a few slices of fruit - lemon, orange, or perhaps a pineapple wedge!
For one cocktail, spoon out the flesh of a passionfruit and add to a tall glass, with a tablespoon of light brown sugar, a few fresh mint leaves and 30ml rum. Mix (muddle) the ingredients together with the end of a spoon. Add crushed ice on top, and top up with a few splashes of soda water.
To a blender, add 140g frozen pineapple, 60ml coconut cream, 30ml simple syrup (sugar dissolved in water) and 20ml lime juice. Blend until thick, then pour into a tall glass garnished with a pineapple wedge.
To a cocktail shaker filled with ice, add 60ml pineapple vodka (either bought, or infuse plain vodka with pineapple chunks in the fridge for about 3 days), 30ml cranberry juice and a squeeze of lime juice. Shake together and strain into a prepared glass - you could sugar the rim so it looks like a perfect white sand Maldivian beach!
Blend about ¼ of a pineapple, ½ a mango and a few tablespoons of passionfruit pulp with a squeeze of lime juice and a few spoonfuls of honey, agave or sugar together until smooth. Add about 60ml tequila and 20ml of orange liqueur and a few scoops of ice to the blender, and blend until smooth.
For two cocktails, to a blender, add about a cup and a half of frozen mango chunks, 80ml rum, 40ml tropical juice and crushed ice. Blend until smooth, and serve immediately - cocktail umbrellas highly recommended.
Mix 100ml cranberry juice, 50ml pineapple juice, 30ml vodka, 20ml peach schnapps and 40-50ml coconut cream together with ice. Garnish your glass of choice with plenty of fruit slices - we like pineapple, orange and strawberries.
To make a pitcher, mix together about a litre of iced tea (flavoured is fine - lemon or peach goes well!), 240ml orange juice, 60ml spiced rum, 60ml gold rum, 60ml grenadine and a splash of lemon or lime juice. Pour the cocktails over ice, with lemon slices or pineapple wedges for garnish.
