Great British Summer – Wimbledon, Strawberries and Bombay Sapphire

As part of a sponsored shoppertunity with Collective Bias, I was asked to go British and enjoy those typically summer activities…Wimbledon, strawberries, along with Bombay Sapphire.  I’m a big tennis fan having played a lot when I was younger, and of course strawberries are synonymous with Wimbledon.

As for Bombay Sapphire, it brings back a few great memories.  Years ago, my mum and I went to London to Vinopolis for wine tasting, but we made sure we had some cocktails in the Bombay Sapphire cocktail lounge which were delicious.   Then at a work conference where the evening celebrations were always fancy dress, our department opted for the theme of Iconic Drinks Brands – I went dressed symbolising Bombay Sapphire.

This weekend had no fancy dress thankfully.  There was a family 40^th birthday party with lots of friends round (how was I going to wangle getting Bombay Sapphire on the drinks agenda when usually Pimms would be at front of mind?), meaning we’d need to be nipping in the house every so often to catch Laura Robson’s tennis match.  My thought was that I might be able to provide G&T as an option on the bar, but I decided that as N would likely need his usual 3 hour Sunday nap the next day, that I’d take some time to chill out and try some cocktails while I had some time to myself.

Although I rarely drink nowadays, I’m a big cocktail fan so went straight to the Bombay Sapphire website to check out some of their suggestions.  The Peach & Elderflower cocktail looked like a different twist, and as a fall back Tom Collins was pretty adaptable for anything I wanted to add to a simple base.

I also checked out my elegant Savoy Hotel cocktail book that I’d been given when I stayed at the Savoy as a competition prize years ago.

There’s so many choices for cocktails it’s hard to choose, but in the end I thought simple was better.  A trip to the supermarket did curtail the idea of the peach & elderflower cocktail as I couldn’t find peach syrup or ripe peaches, and ended up with sparkling elderflower in case I wanted to add that.  A bit of spontaneity can’t be a bad thing.  You can see my shop here.

Party day

Of course, once the OH had taken over the bar, it meant Bombay Sapphire was request only.  At our wedding 9 years ago, I discovered afterwards that gin had been added to the Pimms, but they decided this time to keep it straight.  The usual G&T drinkers were designated drivers, although a couple of the men did add a touch of the Bombay Sapphire to their drink for the extra kick.  I’m not convinced it’s the best way to drink either drink, but they seem to like it.

I kept popping inside sporadically to check on the tennis dragging N with me, but after seeing Laura Robson reach 5-3 down in the second set decided it was a foregone conclusion she was going out, so gave up on the tennis…of course I then missed the turnaround and her win.  N does enjoy watching it though, so much so that the next day he kept asking to watch tennis…couldn’t help him with that as hasn’t recorded any of the matches and there wasn’t any on at the time.  I’d love for him to be into tennis as when he’s older I might have someone to play tennis with!

Although the Bombay Sapphire faded into the background, we did have mounds of strawberries, cream and ice cream to wade through.  Everyone seems to love strawberries and it’s the perfect dessert for a summer’s day.

Needless to say after food and drink, the children managed to get the adults up for some ball games.  No tennis was played, instead it was a football game, followed by rounders, that other quintessentially British game.  I was astounded that some people said they’d never played before (How?  Surely all primary schools play?) but it was lovely to see lots of people joining in.

Me time

After the madness of Saturday’s party, N definitely needed his mammoth Sunday nap.  I’d done boring housework in the morning, and the clearing up from the party had been done, so it meant I could have a relax and some time out to myself.  It does feel a bit decadent having alcohol on your own (in the afternoon!), but it was a beautiful day so it was a chance to sit out and make the most of the peace and quiet.

What I love about Bombay Sapphire is the colour of the bottles (ok so I’m a girl) – it does make it stand out so much more than other bottles, and seems so much more intriguing, although it’s a bit disappointing that the actual drink is clear and not also blue.  I’d never noticed (although I had read about them on the website), that the side of the bottle is engraved with the key ingredients.  On Pinterest I spotted some stunning pendants made out of Bombay Sapphire bottles – really pretty hues of blue.

I got together my various mixers, and my citrus fruits (crucial in my opinion to have either lime or lemon in your drinks).

First up I tried a Singapore Sling ( ¼ tsp caster sugar dissolved in water, 1 gin, 1 lump of ice.  Shake, pour, then topped up with soda water).  Bit boring, not really a fan of that.  Shame as they always sound exotic due to the name.

Onto the Tom Collins.  This was more like it.

¼ tbsp. caster sugar, dissolved in juice of ½ lemon, 1 gin, shake, pour, add a lump of ice and top with soda water.  In a long glass, this was perfect for a summer afternoon and fizzed up nicely.

I had fancied also trying a cocktail with Limoncello, but the drinks cupboard was bare and the supermarket had only stocked a huge bottle which I was never going to use otherwise.  But I still had the elderflower sparkling juice, so I decided to add a bit of that to the Tom Collins.  It was delicious – you could still taste the gin and the lemon, but the hint of elderflower came through softly which was a bit different.

I sat outside for a bit to make the most of the sun while I drank it.  Post N, there’s little chance to sit out in the sun and read a book or chill out, so it was nice to have some time out and not really do anything.  It was great while it lasted…it just needed some friends to chat to.

We did get some tennis in the afternoon.  N had a new ‘tennis’ set, probably meant for the beach.  He loved bashing the ball on the bat (it makes  an unexpected noise when bashed) and running round with it.  Maybe I have got a future tennis player on my hands?

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Disclaimer: I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias and their client.