You don’t need to break the bank to make a nice cocktail

At just 19 years old, Ben Davies is already shaking up the UK cocktail scene.

Now head bartender at The Ivy in Bournemouth, Ben recently beat bar managers and supervisors, some with over a decade of experience, to win a national cocktail competition. He was also the youngest person in the room.

“I didn’t even know how to react,” he laughs.

“It didn’t really hit me until my bar manager tackled me to the floor.”

Ben’s journey into mixology didn’t start with luxury spirits or Instagram-worthy bars. It began behind the scenes, cleaning glasses and asking endless questions.

“There was one bartender I worked with who knew everything,” he says. “Whenever it was quiet, I’d just point at bottles and ask what they were.”

That curiosity quickly turned into a passion for cocktails, not just as drinks, but as experiences. “Cocktails are interesting because everything’s blended into one glass,” Ben explains.

“So you have to break it up using different senses: smell, taste, even how the glass feels.”

Despite working in a restaurant often associated with high prices, Ben is keen to challenge the idea that good cocktails have to be expensive.

In fact, he says some of the biggest upgrades can be done at home for free.

Here are some of Ben’s Top budget cocktail hacks:

Use citrus peels, not juice “An orange peel can completely transform a drink,” Ben says. Expressing the oils over a glass or rubbing the peel around the rim adds aroma without diluting the drink or buying extra ingredients.
Toast or flame your peel. For those feeling adventurous, lightly toasting or flaming an orange peel releases deeper, caramelised scents. “It instantly makes the drink feel more ‘grown up’,” he adds. Smell matters more than people think “Getting your nose into the glass is a big part of enjoying a drink,” Ben explains.
Smoking the glass or adding aromatic bitters can elevate even the simplest cocktail. Upgrade the classics, Ben recommends starting with drinks like an Old Fashioned. “It’s just whisky, sugar, and bitters,” he says. “But add an orange peel, and suddenly it feels special.”

His own favourite cocktail is the Singapore Sling, a complex blend of cherry liqueur, gin, pineapple juice, and herbal notes. “It’s got so many layers,” he says.

“When it’s balanced properly, it’s unbeatable.”

Winning the cocktail competition meant creating both a classic and contemporary martini.

Ben twisted tradition by swapping olives for liquorice and citrus flavours, and reinvented a lemon drop using basil and yuzu.

“I wanted something fresher and less sweet,” he explains.

For Ben, cocktails aren’t about exclusivity or showing off. They’re about creativity, curiosity, and making people feel welcome, whether behind a bar or at home with a £20 spirits shelf.

“You don’t need the most expensive bottle,” he says. “You just need to know how to use what you’ve got.”