The Outlander actor has published a new book called The Cocktail Diaries and he reveals the ‘signature serves’ that would work best with each of the core members of Clan Fraser

Actor and author Sam Heughan attends a photocall during the 2025 Edinburgh International Book Festival(Image: Roberto Ricciuti/Getty Images)

Sam Heughan has paired his Outlander co-stars with cocktails matching their personalities in an interview to promote his new book The Cocktail Diaries.

The 45-year-old actor was at the Edinburgh International Book Festival at the weekend, with his event the first to sell out from the entire festival programme.

He also spoke to Access Hollywood where he described the new book as a “passion project” with cocktail recipes, features on cool bars and anecdotes from his time as a spirits producer.

Heughan, who plays Highland warrior Jamie Fraser, was asked to pair each of his co-stars – Caitriona Balfe, Sophie Skelton and Richard Rankin, who play Claire Fraser, Briana Fraser MacKenzie and Roger MacKenzie respectively – with a cocktail.

He replied: “Oh wow, Caitriona, she’s a spicy margarita fan. It’s pretty simple, I wouldn’t say basic, but it’s a damn good cocktail. But I’m going to give her a mescal spicy mess margarita.

“Let’s mix it up a little bit. Um, Sophie loves champagne, so I would give her the Bat Sam cocktail. It’s basically a champagne cocktail. Really simple. I first had it in Las Vegas when I was playing Batman in the live show.

Sam Heughan and Caitriona Balfe attend an Outlander screening in Hollywood in 2022(Image: Getty Images for STARZ)

“And Richard loves a Negroni, so let’s give him the spagliato. As you said before, it’s a mistake, you know, that they put um sparkling wine prosecco in it, but it’s a great cocktail. So yeah, those are their signature serves.”

The Scot also opened up about his “favourite part” of his character’s on-screen relationship with Balfe, the 45-year-old Dubliner who’s played his time-travelling wife for the past decade or more.

He joked that they “both love a drink”, before hastily adding: That’s not the truth. But they do. We always had a joke that Claire’s a bit of a messy drunk. She does love a tipple and Jamie obviously makes his own whisky. So I think I’d get on with him quite well!

Richard Rankin as Roger Wakefield MacKenzie and Sophie Skelton as Brianna Randall Fraser(Image: STARZ)

“I don’t know. My favourite part of the relationship is that it’s grown. It’s developed. You know, it’s a grown-up relationship. We’ve seen them go from being, you know, very impulsive, very hotheaded and clashing a lot, but also they’ve always been there for each other.

And I think by the end of this final season, you know, you see two people that know what they’ve got to lose that they’ve been through so much together. [They are] pretty codependent by now, because they know that it’s not worth living without the other partner.

“So, yeah, it’s beautiful. It’s a beautiful relationship and one I guess we should all aspire to or would like to aspire to.”