In the heat of summer, the last thing any party host wants to be doing is making elaborate, time-consuming cocktails. Blended drinks - such as frozen daiquiris and margaritas - and 'built' drinks (where ingredients are poured straight into the glass without mixing or shaking beforehand) are the best options.

At Dickens Bar in Causeway Bay, current trends for foams, grilled fruits and molecular mixology are given short shrift in favour of classics and simpler fruity mixes. 'We're more of a traditional pub than a trendy bar so we focus on easier-to-make classic and fruity cocktails,' says bar manager Matthew Hill. 'Drinks like the Sea Breeze and our own Punch and Judy are ideal coolers on a hot summer's day.'

For blended drinks such as the Punch and Judy it's often convenient to mix plentiful stocks in advance and store them in the fridge. To make enough fruit mix for four long drinks you will need about a litre. For a Punch and Judy, that means blending about a dozen each of fresh raspberries, strawberries and blueberries (frozen berries will work well if thawed slightly) with half a sliced peach, a couple of pineapple slices, 300ml to 360ml of orange juice and a couple of scoops of ice. The mixture can then be blended with vodka and Drambuie - or your favoured liquor - in the glass, or mixed again in the blender with the liquor just before serving.