Published by Matt November 12th, 2006
in recipes, gin, cocktails and liqueur.
Today’s recipe is for Mixology Monday, hosted this time around by a dash of bitters. For me, straight forward bitterness is an acquired taste and I’m confident that some of my compadres around the cocktail blogsphere will happily offer up more daring, bitter drinks. My offering has a strong bitter component provided by Campari that is tempered somewhat by orange liqueur. The cocktail gets a kick of dryness from dry vermouth and gin. It all adds up to a tart, bitter, lip-smacking aperitif. The drink has a beautiful color provided by the Campari and is sure to impress your friends before sitting down to a nice dinner. I hope you enjoy.
The Gloria cocktail is:
1 ounce of dry gin
1 ounce of dry vermouth
1/4 ounce of Cointreau or orange liqueur
1/4 ounce of Campari
Combine ingredients in a shaker with ice and stir. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and enjoy.
Recommended listening for the bitter Gloria cocktail…Alanis Morissette(kidding!), how about something smoother:
Published by Matt September 17th, 2006
in recipes, vodka, gin and cocktails.
Although summer is officially over and fall has begun, down here in sunny Florida we still need drinks that are nice, cool, and easy to make all year round. It doesn’t get much simplier than the mighty Gimlet.Thought to have been created by the British Royal Navy sometime around 1876 when England required that its sailors received lime juice everyday to ward off scurvy, some British genius decided it would be much easier to get their recommended daily allowance if the lime juice was mixed with gin. Other trivia about the drink include that it was drunk by fictional hard-boiled detective Phillip Marlowe and Ernest Hemmingway immortalized the drink in his story “Francis Macomber.”
I do hold to the notion that if a cocktail recipe calls for juice, then if at all possible the juice should be freshly squeezed. (For me, this also applies to flavored vodkas. For example, instead of lemon-infused vodka, I’d much rather use straight vodka and fresh lemon juice. It just makes the drink taste so much better and it really doesn’t take much to juice a lemon or lime.) However, the Gimlet is the rare exception to the rule. From all sources I’ve consulted, not only does the recipes call specifically for Rose’s Sweetened Lime Juice, some actually warn against using fresh lime juice because it turns the drink too tart. In fact, along with the lime juice, the recipe calls for simple syrup. (To make the syrup, just use a 1:1 ratio, sugar to water. Heat over a medium high heat until the sugar is dissolved (it won’t take long).)
So here’s the recipe for this ultra-simple and refreshing drink:
2 oz gin
1/2 oz Rose’s lime juice
1/4 to 1/2 oz simple syrup
Shake the concoction in a shaker with ice. Strain into a cocktail glass and garnish with a lime wedge or serve it on the rocks. One more thing, many people out there make the Gimlet with vodka. To me, that takes away some of the subtle complexity that gin brings but to each their own.
Published by Matt August 10th, 2006
in recipes, gin and cocktails.
What better way to kick off the cocktail recipes than with the gin martini? My wife isn’t a fan of gin. She prefers vodka’s cleaner taste over gin’s juniper overtones. As for me, gin is a bit of all right. I like its distinctive flavor combined with dry vermouth. And no, I don’t subscribe to Winston Churchill’s take on vermouth. His method was to glance at the bottle of vermouth while pouring the gin. The right mix for me is below. Also, be sure and note that the olive goes in the glass before the drink is poured. That’s an important part of the recipe and effects the quality of your martini. Call me crazy, but I never understand why people pour coffee in a mug and then add sugar. Why not let the coffee do some of the mixing work for you? Same applies here. Adding the olive first allows the gin and vermouth to mix better with the olive juice. Yum!
1/2 ounce of dry vermouth
2 1/2 ounces of gin
0live(s)
Pour the dry vermouth over ice in your cocktail shaker. Swirl the vermouth in the shaker or stir. Just make sure you coat the ice well. Then pour the vermouth out with a strainer. Next add the gin. Stir the gin rapidly. Before pouring, be sure and place the olive (or olives, I like three) into the martini glass. Then strain gin into glass and enjoy!
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