TALK about shaken, not stirred! At the Cocktail World Cup this year the recipe was very definitely two parts excitement to one part adrenalin, all dished up on the rocks, of course!The competition venue was Queenstown, New Zealand, where bartenders from all around the globe gathered to dazzle their audience with their mixing skills and indulge their love of some of the area’s famed extreme sports.

Challenges they faced included racing down ski slopes in rubber tubes, dangling from helicopters and shooting down rivers in jetboats.

And all without spilling a drop! An arduous task when plummeting from a bridge on a bungee rope at around 50mph.

And following the extreme sports team building exercise, the bartenders got down to what they really do best — coming up with lip-smacking original cocktails.

But if all of this proves just a little bit too dangerous for you, then you can still join in the thrills and spills and help recreate that special party atmosphere this Christmas by creating your very own mind-blowing homemade cocktails with our definitive guide.

It is now even easier to find cocktail liqueurs and ingredients at local stores, which stock a wide and varied range of cocktail liqueurs, spirits and mixers.

Look out for De Kuyper cocktail liqueurs that are great quality and key to a number of the delicious cocktail recipes featured in our guide.

So, without further a do, let’s get straight down to business and create a “Bikini Martini”.<$>

This is an easy to make dry tasting cocktail served in a martini glass and garnished with orange zest. For best results use Premium Dry Gin and shake all the ingredients with ice and strain into the glass.

Alcohol by volume is 30 per cent

One and a half shots of Gin

One teaspoon of Peach Schnapps

One and a half shots of De Kuyper Blue Curacao

After that there’s only one thing to be done and that’s brain-out with a head-banging ‘B52’.<$>

Served in a shot glass, this is a creamy flavoured cocktail and you will need to layer the ingredients over the back of a spoon in exactly the order that they appear below:

Alcohol by volume is 27.8 per cent

Half a shot of Grand Marnier

Half a shot of Kahlua

Half a shot of Amarula Cream

From here you could move on to an “Apple Martini” (American version).

Garnished with a slice of apple this is a tall elegant, easy to make fruity cocktail served in a traditional martini glass.

Shake all the ingredients together in a cocktail shaker with ice then strain into a chilled glass.

Alcohol by volume is 27.3 per cent

Two shots Stolichnova Red Vodka

One and a half shots Sour Apple Liqueur

Quarter of a shot of Lime Cordial

And then there’s really only one thing to go for after that and that’s for “Sex On the Beach”.<$>

Served in a high-ball glass and garnished with a wedge of lime this is an easy to make fruity flavoured cocktail with the ingredients built over ice.

Alcohol by volume is 11.4 per cent

Two shots of Stolichnova Red Vodka

One shot of Peach Schnapps

Three shots of Orange Juice

Three shots of Cranberry Juice

Following hard on the heels of your Sex On the Beach should be “A Screaming Orgasm”.<$>

Again this is an easy to create, creamy flavoured cocktail served in a wine glass. Blend all the ingredients together with crushed ice.

Alcohol by volume is 18.6 per cent

One shot of Stolichnova Red Vodka

One shot of Disaronno Amaretto

One shot of Amarula Cream

One shot of cream

One shot of milk

And after your Screaming Orgasm the next thing you should experience will be “An Avalanche”.<$>

Blend all the ingredients with crushed ice to create this amazing fruit flavoured cocktail served in a high-ball glass and garnished with a banana slice and a mint sprig.

One shot of Stolichnova Red Vodka

Half a shot of Disaronno Amaretto

One shot of De Kuyper Cr|0xe8|me de Cacao - white

One shot of De Kuyper Cr|0xe8|me De Bananes

Two shots of cream

Half a banana

Bottoms up and a very merry Christmas!