Best Gin Cocktails

Gin is one of those drinks that you either love or hate, I always thought.  A friend of mine was a gin fanatic, never drank anything else and I even bought her one of those ‘Gin o’clock’ glasses for her to enjoy her favourite drink.  But then I discovered the joys of gin in cocktails and found a new appreciation of the drink.

What is gin?

Gin is a spirit made mainly from juniper berries and was originally created in the Middle Ages when it was an herbal medicine.  It was brought to England when William of Orange, leader of the Dutch Republic, took control of the thrones of Scotland and England with his wife Mary.

The original gin drink was gin and tonic and this came about when the British had colonies in tropical areas of the world.  A substance called quinine was used as an anti-malaria compound but had a bitter taste so it was dissolved into carbonated water to create tonic water and mixed with gin to help with the taste.

There are now lots of different types of gin including flavours and variations but all have to have juniper as their base to be allowed to be called gin.  One such example is Sloe Gin, made by infusing sloes, the berries of the blackthorn bush, in gin to create a liqueur.

Classic cocktails

The Gimlet is one of the classics of the gin cocktail range and dates from the 1920s.  It is a simple drink made from gin and lime juice with soda, though the Raymond Chandler novel The Long Goodbye said that the Gimlet should only consist of half gin and half lime juice, maybe for those who can handle the tang of the lime!  For those with a gentler taste, four parts gin to one part lime is used in a cocktail glass, though can be topped up with soda into a bigger glass for a longer drink.

The Singapore Sling is a long drink that did originate in South-East Asia.  It was created in the 1910’s by a cocktail bartender working in the Raffles Hotel Singapore.  There are many different variations now but all use a Hi Ball glass.  The official IBA recipe is:

• 3 cl gin
• 1.5 cl cherry brandy
• 0.75 cl Cointreau
• 0.75 cl Benedictine
• 1 cl Grenadine
• 12cl pineapple juice
• 1.5 cl lime juice
• Dash of Angostura bitters

Famous cocktails

Martini cocktails are amongst the most famous in the world, with the Vodka Martini being favoured by a certain spy while the Dry Martini remaining one of the simplest and classiest gin cocktails.  It is stirred but never shaken and uses ½ measure gin to 3 measures of dry vermouth and has a single green olive on a cocktail stick for garnish.

Colourful cocktails

Just because gin is clear, doesn’t mean it can’t be made into funky coloured cocktails.  One example is the Juliana Blue cocktail.  This involves putting crushed ice, 1 measure of gin, ½ measure Cointreau, ½ measure blue Curacao, 2 measures of pineapple juice, ½ measure lime juice and 1 measure of cream of coconut into a blender.  Once the mixture is like slush, add some ice cubes to a martini glass and pour the mixture over them.  Garnish with a slice of pineapple and a cocktail cherry for a beautiful blue drink.