The weekend is still a few days away, but if you're in the mood for a drink, we bring you four whiskey cocktails.

You can also begin your Friday night prep early and get all the ingredients needed to make these homemade concoctions in.

Once you have the whiskey on hand, all you need are some basic ingredients easily available in the kitchen.

The better the quality whiskey the better the cocktail, although Scotch would be too fine a whiskey to use.

Ginger Highball

Serves: 1

Ingredients

• 60 ml whiskey
• 15 ml lemon juice
• 16 ml ginger syrup
• 12 ml sugar syrup
• 30-60 ml soda
• Ice
• Dehydrated orange wedge or peel
• Highball glass

Method

• Mix the ginger syrup with just enough water to help it dissolve.
  Add the sugar syrup and stir to mix.
  Ensure that the ginger to sugar ratio is 4:3.
  Combine the ginger-sugar mixture with the lemon juice and the Scotch in a highball glass.
  Fill it with ice and stir till chilled.
  Top off with more ice and soda.
  Garnish with a dehydrated orange wedge or peel.
  Serve.

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Green Tea Highball

Serves: 1

Ingredients

• 60 ml whiskey
• 5 ml lemon juice
• 10 ml sugar syrup
• 60 ml green tea or 12 green tea bags 
• 500 ml hot water
• Pudina or mint leaves, to garnish
• A slice of lime, to garnish
• Ice
• Highball glass

Method

• Add the green tea/tea bags to the hot water.
  Let it steep in the hot water for not more than 30 seconds.
  Strain, cool and chill.
  Add the chilled green tea, whiskey, lemon juice, sugar syrup in a highball glass.
  Fill with ice and stir till chilled.
  Top it off with more ice.
  Garnish with mint leaves and the slice of lime.
  Serve.

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Tropical Highball

Serves: 1

Ingredients

• 60 ml whiskey
• 15 ml lemon juice
• 15 ml chilly-cinnamon syrup (please see the recipe below)
• 30 ml pineapple juice
• Soda
• Ice
• Highball glass

For the chilly-cinnamon syrup

• 2 red Kashmiri chillies
• 2 small dalcheeni or cinnamon sticks 
• 500 ml sugar syrup

Method

For the chilly-cinnamon syrup

• In a kadhai or frying pan, toast the red chillies and the sticks of cinnamon over low heat for a few minutes.
  Take off heat, cool, blend in a mixer/blender along with the sugar syrup.
  Strain and keep aside.

For the cocktail

• In a highball glass, combine 15 ml of the chilly-cinnamon syrup with the lemon juice, pineapple juice, whiskey.
  Fill with ice and stir till chilled. 
  Top it off with more ice and soda.
  Serve. 

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Beekeeper's Highball

Serves: 1

Ingredients

• 45 ml whiskey
• 15 ml lemon juice
• 15 ml honey-cinnamon syrup (please check the recipe below)
• 30 ml soda
• Ice
• A slice of lemon, to garnish
• Highball glass

For the honey-cinnamon syrup

• 500 ml honey
• 4 dalcheeni or cinnamon sticks, toasted
• Water

Method

For the honey-cinnamon syrup

• Mix the honey with the water in a 5:4 ratio.
  Add this solution along with the toasted cinnamon sticks into a blender.
  Blend until the cinnamon stick is well-combined.
  Strain and keep aside.

For the cocktail

• Combine whiskey and the lemon juice with 15 ml or a few tsp of the honey-cinnamon syrup in a highball glass.
  Fill it with ice and stir till chilled.
  Add more ice and top up with soda.
  Garnish with the sliced lemon. 
  Serve.

Recipes courtesy Dewar's, Bacardi.