I carry no phone An aspiring Luddite In a wired world. Mastodon Verification Link	Jeff Berry is an early adopter of the Internet and the Web, was a late adopter of Twitter and left when it turned fascist, and always declined to adopt Facebook. He was a fairly early adventurer into the Fediverse. He admins a medievalist Mastodon instance. He hates cell-phones.

Lockdown during a global pandemic prevents one from doing a lot of things. It doesn't prevent one from having a cocktail. So we did. Over the year or so where we really didn't get out much, I invented a couple of cocktails which have gone into regular rotation at our place. Both are variations on what I think of as the classic 'sour' formulation:1-2-4 - sweet then sour then hard. That is to say, one part of your sweet ingredient, two parts of your sour ingredient, and four parts of your booze. The amounts can be whatever you like, the ratio is the important bit.

One of the things we did in the last year, was binge the tv series Fleabag, which I highly recommend doing. My wife read somewhere that Phoebe Waller-Bridge's favourite cocktail was a vodka gimlet, and that's basically what this is, only with added bitters.

• 1 part simple syrup
• 2 parts lime juice
• 4 parts vodka
• some bitters. I use Angostura, and if I'm measuring with a shot glass, I'll give three or four hearty dashes. We like bitters.

A tweet a few weeks ago from @RageMichelle included the phrase, 'you can make the tequila chuckle.' I quipped that I didn't know how to make a Tequila Chuckle.

Now I do.

• 1 part simple syrup
• 2 parts lemon juice
• 2 parts gin
• 2 parts tequila

For both cocktails, but especially the Tequila Chuckle, it is vitally important that you do not use fresh-squeezed juice. If you are keeping lemons and limes around in case you need them for cocktails, these are probably not the cocktails for you.

To make simple syrup, heat equal parts of granulated sugar and water until the sugar is completely dissolved. Simple, as advertised.