Gin is not just one of the most well-known spirits across the globe, it has quite the illustrious history. The first confirmed date for the production of gin is the 17th century. It is a clear spirit distilled from grains or malts, flavoured with juniper berries. And all gin concoctions include juniper and other botanicals such as coriander, lemon peel, cinnamon, nutmeg, orange peel, angelica, cardamom among many others. Typically, fine gin consists of six to eightbotanicals.
Everyone is familiar with the classic gin and tonic, where gin and tonic water is simply poured over ice, but other drinks with the ingredients are Tom Collins, Pink lady, Gimlet and Negroni.
Tom Collins is a great cocktail to make. Take a shaker and fill half of it with ice cubes. Put in approximately 60 ml of gin and 30 ml of limejuice, along with one teaspoon of sugar. Once combined, shake well, and the concoction should be strained and poured over a few cubes of ice into a glass. Add 90 ml club soda after stirring well, and garnish with maraschino cherries and a slice of orange.
For Pink Lady, one needs to take a shaker and add 45 ml gin, one teaspoon of grenadine syrup, a teaspoon of light cream and one of eggwhite to it. Shake well. Strain the mix into a martini glass and garnish it with an orange slice. As for gimlet, one need to grab a mixing glass, pour in 40 ml of gin and 30 ml of limejuice over cubes of ice. Once stirred well, the drink must be put into a martini glass and garnished with a lime wedge.
Finally, for the Negroni, mix and stir 30 ml of gin, 30 ml of sweet vermouth and 30 ml of Campari bitters with ice. Strain it into a chilled cocktail glass, 3/4th filled with crushed ice. One can add a splash of soda water and garnish with half a slice of orange.
Gin, being such a versatile spirit when mixed with botanicals, is known to be an organoleptic spirit, derived from agricultural origin. Simply because gin is the base ingredient, one can twist or tweak these cocktails with various ingredients such as carrot, cucumber, black pepper, different chillies, sweet and sour mix, and more.
Among these cocktails, one can definitely experiment by combining gin with fresh cucumber, and crushed black pepper along with a splash of tonic water. Another concoction that can work is where gin, a flamed cinnamon stick, flamed rosemary, and sweet and sour are mixed along with crushed ice.
Additionally, one can make a drink where gin, a mixture of fresh berries and fresh pineapple juice can be put together with crushed ice. And finally, a simple one, where gin, soda, freshly crushed carrot and kafir lime can be muddled together. Cheers!
Binny is the founder, CEO and CCO of Flaming Trio, and Drinq Barmen and Academy
