Maybe You Want To Go With A Gin & Tonic Or Even Gin & Coke
Across the pond in England, gin expert David T. Smith and The Craft of Gin with co-author Aaron Knoll) has spent years studying hundreds of gins and how they pair with different tonics. Yes, a quality tonic makes a difference. But he also says, The tonic should always be chilled. … If the tonic is warm, the whole mix will taste sweeter and will be less fizzy.
He also vouches for mixing it up: Read tonic labels and look for the flavor profile. For example, if theres rosemary tonic, you can look for gins that might work with rosemary. Or choose a classic London dry gin that mixes well with a range of tonics. There are a lot of other sodas that work well with gin, like soda water and San Pellegrino citrus sodas, or if you want to be bit controversial, cola works well with gin. Smith goes on to quote The Whos song Substitute: Substitute me for him / Substitute my coke for gin. So if its good enough for The Who …
The Jack Rudy Cocktail Co Tonic Trio Is The Top Pick
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What do you get a gin lover other than more gin? laughs Crystal Chasse, the beverage director of Talk Story Rooftop at the McCarren Hotel. Glassware is always a go-to gift that I like to give. I typically like to gift either beautiful vintage glassware that I’ve found or a really unique modern variety, depending on the recipient. Unique vermouths are another top-notch gift!
There are gin books, infusion kits and bitters, all perfect for die-hard gin fans. And if all else fails, Jessica Balts, a bartender at FireLake Grill House & Cocktail Bar, recommends a gibson-themed gift basket. I believe a gift basket with a bottle of gin, Bordiga Dry vermouth, and a jar of Sable and Rosenfelds Tipsy Onions would be a divine gift. The tonic syrups in Jack Rudy Cocktail Co.s Tonic Trio allow any gin enthusiast to customize their cocktails, which is why it tops our gift list.
That said, “Nothing is going to make a gin lover happier than sharing good gin with good people, says Jeremy Allen, the beverage director of MiniBar Hollywood. Below, find the best gin-themed gifts that bartenders love.
Try Gin In Cocktails Preferably A Martini
One of the great temples to gin in the country is San Franciscos Whitechapel, a transporting space offering more than 600 different kinds of gin , modeled after a Victorian era gin palace, distilling room and now-defunct London tube stop, depending on which area of the bar youre sitting in. Whitechapels resident ginnoisseur, Keli Rivers , knows a thing or two about drinking gin and offers some advice on finding your gin: Try each gin in a or a somewhat neutral drink to highlight botanicals and see what the gin can do. … Gin is made for cocktailsit marries, carries and elevates a cocktail with range and nuance.
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Muskmelon Tanqueray & Tonic
The Muskmelon Tanqueray & Tonic is an ideal summer sipper. It is refreshing and unexpected and something you can sip on by the side of a pool, by the beach, or just at home with friends. Ezra Star, bar consultant and cocktail educator
Ingredients:
1.5 oz. Tanqueray No. Ten
0.5 oz. lemon juice
0.5 oz. honey or honeydew honey*
2 oz. tonic water
Method: Build ingredients in an ice-filled wine glass and top with tonic water. Stir to combine and garnish with a slide of melon.
*For the Optional Honeydew Honey: Blend 23 slices of honeydew in a blender and strain to retain the juice. Add equal parts light honey and stir until dissolved into the mixture.
Alanna Hale
When You Drink Gin Every Night This Is What Happens To Your Body
Whether you drink gin every night in a martini or mix it with tonic water, you may be wondering what this alcohol does to your body. First, it’s important to know what gin even is. While straight gin may not taste overly flavorful, it is flavored. Sam Carter, senior brand ambassador for gin distillery Bombay Sapphire, explained to Good Housekeeping that gin is made from and flavored by juniper. While gin can contain other natural ingredients, such as wheat and rye, juniper must be the plant predominately used. Otherwise, it’s not gin.
There are different types of gin on the market, but, according to Carter, London Dry Gin is of the highest quality. “It’s kind of gin in its purest form,” he explained. In order to be classified as London Dry Gin, the distillery “can’t add any artificial flavourings or additives after distillation.” You can also buy “distilled” gin. Like London Dry Gin, this gin is, of course, distilled. It differs from it’s superior cousin, though, because flavorings are permitted after it’s distilled.
So, now that you’ve aced Gin 101, let’s move on to the health portion. When you drink gin every night, this is what happens to your body.
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Best For Dirty Martini: Dirty Sue Premium Olive Juice
Courtesy of Amazon
Region: Louisiana | ABV: 0% | Tasting Notes: Salt, Brine, Sweet
At Jones, were in a unique situation in that we make a ton of dirty martinis, and we also serve a discerning customer base that wants the best of everything, says bartender Eric Oley.
Enter Dirty Sue, which was actually created specifically for use in cocktails by long-time Jones bar manager Eric ET Tecosky. Its a higher-quality, three-times filtered brine made from the best olives grown around the world. Try it in a Dirty Martini FDR style: 3 oz. of your favorite gin, stirred ice cold with a half-ounce of Dirty Sue Premium Olive Juice.
You Could Gain Weight If You Drink This Kind Of Gin Every Night
Gin may be the base for some delicious low-calorie cocktail concoctions, but you’re going to want to pay attention to what kind of gin you’re ordering especially if you’re looking to maintain or lose weight. If your go-to drink is a sloe gin fizz, well, you may be in for a surprise.
It’s easy to mistake sloe gin or, as it sounds to the ears, slow gin as a method of preparation, à la James Bond‘s famous “shaken, not stirred” martini. As it happens, though, sloe gin isn’t even technically considered gin. It’s a liqueur, Sam Carter, senior brand ambassador for Bombay Sapphire, explained to Good Housekeeping, and it gets its name because it’s made from gin and sloe berries .
Regular ole gin is 37.5 percent alcohol by volume , whereas sloe gin is anywhere between 20 and 25 percent ABV. “Plus,” Carter explained, “there’s a lot more sugar in it than a regular gin.” And, as we all know, consuming sugar is pretty much the easiest way to pack on the pounds. So, if you want to drink gin every night, at least avoid sloe gin drinks.
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Best Kit: 1pt Gin Lover Cocktail Infusion Kit
Piero Procida, food & beverage director of The London West Hollywood at Beverly Hills, recommends the Gin Lover Cocktail Infusion Kit from 1pt. “Its ideal for making craft cocktails at home and learning to infuse different botanicals.”
With this easy-to-use kit, gin lovers can infuse their own cocktails with a rainbow of herbs and spices. Follow the step-by-step instructions and add gin to the 17-ounce glass infusion bottle and add your preferred botanicals. Flavor blends include floral, ginger and elderflower, and lime . Each flavor packet is enough to infuse half a standard bottle of gin. The kit also includes cocktail recipes and a tasting straw.
Best Overall: Q Sparkling Grapefruit
Courtesy of Amazon
Region: USA | ABV: 0% | Tasting Notes: Grapefruit, Sugar, Bitter
There are many options to choose from when looking for a gin mixer, but this grapefruit-flavored soda from Q Mixers is one of the best. Its flavored with Florida grapefruit and has a nice balance of tart, sweet, and sugara combination of flavors that works well with any gin you choose, from dry to floral, sweet to spicy, and everything in between. Just fill up a highball glass with ice, add a couple of ounces of gin, top off with this mixer, and enjoy.
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Use Plenty Of Quality Ice
Whenever youre making a highball, you want to use a LOT of ice. Yes, fill the glass with ice. Contrary to popular belief, more ice will actually mean that your drink is less watered down, rather than more. It will also be colder quicker and stay colder longer.
If possible, use large pieces of ice in your drinks. Visit my craft ice guide for more about how to make the best ice for cocktails.
What To Actually Do With Liqueur
An alternative to, uh, just drinking it.
The best, most enduring cocktails are almost always simple things, with no more than two or three core ingredients. Gin and dry vermouth whiskey, sugar, and bitters rye, sweet vermouth, and bitters white rum, sugar, and lime juice tequila, Cointreau, and lime juice cognac and white crème de menthe . Made with care and quality ingredients, they are delicious 100 percent of the time, day in, day out, world without end. And yet. After 100 perfect old-fashioneds, that perfection doesn’t stop us from wondering if just this once it could be a little different. Back in the 19th century, in the first golden age of the cocktail, bartenders remedied the situation by keeping the drink exactly the same except for the addition of a barspoona mere quarter ounce, as the spoons were at the timeof some interesting liqueur or cordial. Not enough to throw the concoction out of whack, but just enough to show it in a new light, like when your life partner suddenly displays a previously hidden aptitude for the tango.
The best all-arounder is the Bigallet China-China Amer . A classic 19th-century bitter-orange-flavored French digestif, the Bigallet gives the daiquiri a lovely, bitter edge without overpowering it, but it is still intense enough to make its presence known in a manhattan, adding depth to both the vermouth and the bitters.
A barspoon’s worth goes a long way.
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When Making Gin Cocktails Complement And Contrast
The possibilities with gin cocktails are endless. For example, if you go with St. George Terroir gin with its herbaceous Douglas fir and coastal sage botanicals or Oakland Spirits Sea-Gin, you will want to show off those briny or green notes appropriately. While some bartenders might mix like with like , Rivers encourages complementing and contrasting. A citrus-forward gin doesnt need more citrus, so think about what would highlight the citrus and compliment it? The same goes if a gin is floral. Everybody loves to mix patterns in clothes. Why not in drinks?
The cocktail menu at Whitechapel is extensive with drinks like the Narc Angel painting on the canvas of a more classic London dry profilein this case, Fords gin, which plays nicely with maraschino liqueur, orange curaçao, the bitter-sweet of Campari and bright tones of ginger, mint and lemon.
If You Drink Gin Every Night Will You Look Younger
The fountain of youth is full of gin, y’all. Well, sort of. Cleverly named brand Anti-aGin promised consumers a younger appearance upon drinking their gin. According to a statement by the U.K. brand , Anti-aGin is distilled with collagen and other “anti-aging botanicals” in order to “help people look younger whilst having fun” .
Anti-aGin continued, “The ingredients were specifically chosen due to their revitalising qualities, including healing sun damage, being rich in minerals, inhibiting scar formation and to help smooth cellulite.” The gin also contains “aromas of chamomile and tea tree, with a spicy hit formed of nettle, witch-hazel and gotu kola complementing a classic base of juniper, coriander and Angelica root” with a “cardamom finish.” Well, it sounds interesting enough.
While this brand does add some look-good, feel-good ingredients to its gin, all gin contains juniper berries and juniper berries have been scientifically proven to have “anti-aging potential.” So maybe deciding to drink gin every night could keep you looking youthful though we wouldn’t base your whole skincare regimen on this and we’d definitely recommend avoiding skincare mistakes that make you look older.
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Best Drinks To Mix With Gin
While there are plenty of liquors you can pick up knowing they’re super versatile and likely to work with almost anything that’s in the fridge and yes, we’re looking at you, vodka gin generally isn’t one of those. There’s a gin and tonic, and … what else?
Admittedly, gin can be tough. It has a distinctive flavor profile that can be described as anything from “botanical” to “Christmas tree,” and everything in between those two. Gin, says MasterClass, is defined in part by the use of juniper berries in the distillation process, and it’s those berries that give this popular liquor that pine-tree, evergreen taste.
For those who might skip the gin because they’re not fans of a gin and tonic, we have good news: There are a ton of other drinks you can use as a base for some truly incredible gin cocktails. Some probably have a permanent spot in the fridge already, and if some are the sort of thing you pick up on occasion, let’s be honest: These ideas are reason enough to spring for that nice bottle of gin.
Ratio Of Gin To Tonic
My preferred ratio is 1:3, or 2 ounces of gin to 5-6 ounces of tonic water. Brands like Fever-Tree typically come in 6 oz bottles and I find this to be the perfect amount. Some prefer a bit less tonic water with a ratio of 1:2. This makes for a stronger cocktail and its a bit less balanced in my opinion.
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Craft Easy Great Drinks With Gin
When thinking of drinks with Gin, most people think of awfully dry cocktails that burn your throat and taste like pine needles.
Well, while some of that may be true, Gin can actually be one of the most versatile of base alcohol’s on the planet.
In this list you’ll find 27 of the best drink with gin that you can make easily in your own home.
From fruity concoctions to instant classics and perfectly dry cocktails, this list will have you covered no matter your tastes.
Drinks these days are too complicated and often overdone. We’re here to change that, and make it easy for anyone to craft a 5-star cocktail in the comfort of their own home.
Without further ado, here is our list of the 27 best drinks with gin you’ll ever make!
With A Bottle Of Gin And A Few Groceries You’re Well On Your Way To Making These 15 Simple Gin Cocktails
There are a number of ways to stock a bar: you can go out and buy one of everything , you can go out and buy what you need for your one or two favorite cocktails , or you can wait and hope that a well stocked bar magically appears in your living room . If you’ve tended toward the last method, your bar might be looking a little bleak. But if you’ve got just one bottle, you can make drinks.
Today, we’ll focus on the cocktails you can make with a bottle of gin. You don’t need liqueurs, vermouth, or any other spirits. The rest of the ingredients can be gathered at your local grocery store or farmers’ marketthis list should be handy as warm-weather produce starts appearing again, but there’s plenty to get you started even if you can still see snow out your window.
Some of these cocktails call for a specific type of ginthe cucumbery, floral Hendrick’s, for example, or robustly juniper-flavored London Dryand those gins will make delicious versions of these drinks. But the world won’t end if you swap ’em for whatever you have on hand.
Let’s get to drinking! We’ve left out the gin and tonicyou guys can figure out how to make that one, right?
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Best For Gimlet: Nellie & Joe’s Famous Key West Lime Juice
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Region: USA | ABV: 0% | Tasting Notes: Lime, Sweet, Acid
A gimlet is a simple and refreshing cocktail that is extremely easy to make. The only ingredients required are gin, lime juice, and simple syrup, but you might not always have fresh limes on hand to squeeze. If that happens, make sure you have a bottle of Nellie & Joes in your pantry to use instead. Its made from key limes instead of regular limes, adding a bit of sharpness to the palate, it has almost no pulp and really provides a flavor thats as close to fresh as you can get.
Tod & Vixens Six Seeds
Tod & Vixens Dry Gin 1651 is a unique gin because its so versatile it tastes as if it was made specifically for any style, including a flavorful, aromatic, and effervescent sour like the Six Seeds. Ali Martin, bartender at The Up & Up
Ingredients:
1 oz. Tod & Vixen’s Dry Gin 1651
0.75 oz. grapefruit Juice
0.5 oz. Grenadine
2 Dash Peychauds
Method: Shake with two orange peels. Strain into a coupe and top with dry sparkling wine.
Beam Suntory
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