Tag: Gin

Cocktails

Bronx Cocktail

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bronxThe Bronx Cocktail is basically a perfect martini with orange juice added.
Legend has it it was created by the bartender Johnnie Solon after a waiter named Traverson challenged him to create a new cocktail. It’s named after the Bronx Zoo which Solon visited a day or two before making the cocktail.
It’s similar to another popular drink of the time, The Duplex, which is composed of equal parts sweet and dry Vermouth and two dashes of orange bitters.

I quite liked The Bronx Cocktail. It reminded me a little bit of The Aviation but with orange instead of lemon. The orange adds a freshness and a little bit of sweetness that is nicely balanced by the sharp dry gin. The vermouths add a bit off a spicy note and the orange bitters a bitter, orange zesty note that adds another dimension. All in all a nice, refreshing, easy to like cocktail.

Ingredients for one Martini glass:
60 ml gin (I used Plymouth)
30 ml fresh orange juice
8 ml sweet vermouth (I used Martini & Rossi Rosso)
8 ml dry vermouth (I used Martini & Rossi Bianco)
Dashes of orange bitters to taste (I used Angostura Orange bitters)

How to make it:
Fill your Martini glasses with ice. Fill your shaker with ice and add all the spirits to it. Shake for around 30 seconds. Discard the ice from the Martini glass, rub the edge of the glass with the cut end of an orange peel then strain your cocktail into the glass.
Garnish the edge of the glass with a twisted orange peel.

Cocktails

Negroni

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negroniI continue my cocktail adventures with the Negroni cocktail.
Legend has it that the Negroni was invented when Count Negroni asked for gin instead of club soda in his Americano somewhere in Italy circa 1919.

This cocktail was quite a surprise for me.
Being a relative Campari virgin I was not quite prepared for the very, very bitter taste of the Campari. However somewhere in between all the bitterness was a quite nice cocktail but I think that Campari and Negroni is quite an acquired taste that you have to work your way up to.
I have to try it some more times to build up a fondness for the bitter Campari in this cocktail.

Ingredients for one old-fashioned glass:
45 ml Campari
45 ml Gin (I used Plymouth)
45 ml Martini Rosso

How to make it:
Pour the spirits in any order into an ice filled old-fashioned glass. Stir for a bit. Garnish with a quarter of an orange slice.

Cocktails

Martinez

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martinezMy cocktail adventures continues with the Martinez. It was probably invented in the 1880s and the recipe I used was adapted from Jerry Thomas’s 1887 book The Bar-Tender’s Guide.
The drink came after the Manhattan (basically change the whiskey to gin) and is the father or so to the Dry Gin Martini.

So what about the taste? Wow… quite powerful!
Having this drink on a balmy early autumn night in London was not quite right. This cocktail reminds me of the cold of winter and more especially Christmas. Quite smooth at first but then something of a spice explosion from the gin, vermouth and bitter with the Luxardo rounding of the flavors somewhat.
Think orange, molasses, Christmas cake…
However, at the right time (coming in after a long winter walk and sitting in front of the fire) I suspect this would be a very nice cocktail indeed. I will have to wait until Christmas to try it again and see if I am right.

Ingredients for two Martini glasses:
60 ml Gin (I used Plymouth)
30 ml Martini Rosso
8 (or so) ml Luxardo Maraschino liqueur
Dashes of Angostura bitter to taste

How to make it:
Fill your Martini glasses with ice. Fill a large glass (or your shaker) with ice and add all the spirits to this glass. Stir slowly (stirring fast will “bruise” the spirits and make your cocktail cloudy) with a bar spoon for around 20 seconds. Discard the ice from the Martini glass, rub the edge of the glass with the cut end of an lemon peel then strain your Martinez into the glass.
Garnish the edge of the glass with a twisted lemon peel.

Cocktails

The Aviation (Modern)

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aviation2Inspired by the great Ruhlman I decided to mix up The Aviation after a wonderful dinner at home. I loved this cocktail, perfect mix between the sour lemon juice, the vegetable notes from the gin and the sweetness of the Luxardo Maraschino liqueur. I omitted the Creme de Violette so it was actually a Modern The Aviation.

Ingredients for two Martini glasses:
120 ml gin (I used Hendrick’s)
30 ml Luxardo Maraschino
30 ml lemon juice (about 2 small lemons)

How to make it:
Fill your Martini glasses with ice. Fill your cocktail shaker with ice as well and add the spirits and lemon juice.
Shake well and strain into the glasses (discard the ice in the glasses first). Garnish with a bit of lemon peel if you want.

aviation1

UPDATE:
Since this post I also tried Modern The Aviation with Plymouth London Dry Gin. Personally I think Hendrick’s Gin makes a smoother Aviation less heavy on the typical gin flavours. Some people would say the total opposite though, that the smooth subtle flavors of the Hendrick’s get lost in a cocktail like this. It doesn’t really make sense that Hendrick’s would work in a The Aviation since the makers of Hendrick’s themselves advocate using a slice of cucumber for a Hendrick’s G&T instead of the ubiquitous wedge of lime but there you go.
In the end it’s like so many things in life – totally up to personal preference. When I get a bottle of Tanqueray No 10 I will try the Aviation again with this gin.