In this post, we'll cover some of the long drinks and cocktails we make. Sometimes we adapt classics to highlight characteristics of our gins.
Gin and Tonic, disrupted
1 part Dyfi Original, Pollination Gin, Hibernation Gin or Navigation Gin*
1 part good quality plain tonic water
1 part soda water or fizzy mineral water
Lots of ice
Large goblet
Garnish
This makes a fairly ‘short’ G&T, but one where you get to really taste the gin, by not diluting heavily, and toning down the quinine and sugar content of the whole drink.
If you like the drink longer, try 1 part gin to 2 parts each of tonic and soda / fizzy mineral water. At a ration of 1 part gin to 4 parts mixer, its still half the dilution of a single pub measure to a small bottle of tonic! And play around with the ratio of tonic to soda to find the blend which suits your taste best.
Lots of ice means less dilution as it will not melt so much, and a G&T is diluted best only by the fizzy ingredient(s).
Which tonic water to use is personal. We prefer good quality plain ones, so its less disruptive to the gin flavours, but you might prefer something else. There’s no right or wrong.
Garnish choice is personal too, but we prefer things which deliver simple flavours. A basil leaf or two in Dyfi Original and Pollination seems quite enough. A Hibernation G&T is fun with a slice of apple and a couple of blackberries.
*Navigation Gin is about 25% stronger than the other ones we do, so you might want to adjust your Navigation G&T ratios accordingly.
Gin Ricky / Tom Collins / French 75
50ml Dyfi Original, Pollination, Hibernation Gin or Navigation Gin*25ml Sugar syrup (see below)
25ml fresh squeezed lime juice
Soda water to taste
Lots of ice
Cocktail stirrer
Highball glass
Cocktail cherry and slice of lemon to garnish
The Gin Ricky, and its close relative the TOM COLLINS (replacing lime juice with lemon juice) is a refreshing classic long drink, and a great alternative to a G&T, especially for those less fond of the quinine in tonic water.
Sugar syrup can be bought, but is easily made by covering the base of a small pan with water, and adding enough sugar to fully dissolve while stirring during gentle heating. Let it cool before using, and store any surplus in a bottle in the fridge.
Fill a glass with ice, add the gin, sugar syrup, lime juice and garnish, stir briefly, and add soda water to taste.
If you switch the lime for lemon (like TOM COLLINS), but omit the ice and garnish, and top with Champagne (rather than soda) into a Champagne Glass, you instead have made a FRENCH 75.
*Navigation Gin is about 25% stronger than the other ones we do, so you might want to adjust your Gin Ricky Navigation ratio accordingly.
Gin Fizz
50ml Dyfi Original, Pollination Gin, Hibernation Gin or Navigation Gin*25ml Sugar Syrup (see below)
25ml fresh squeezed lemon juice
15ml egg white (that’s about half of one egg white)
Soda water to taste
Lots of ice
Cocktail Shaker
Highball glass
The Gin Fizz is a classic long drink. You can’t make it unless you have a cocktail shaker, and you’re happy incorporating egg white into a drink (you can buy pasteurised egg white these days of course).
Sugar syrup can be bought, but is easily made by covering the base of a small pan with water, and adding enough sugar to fully dissolve while stirring during gentle heating. Let it cool before using.
Charge a shaker with plenty of ice, the gin, sugar syrup, lemon juice and egg white. This needs shaking hard. Really hard. This is easier with full tin shaker (rather than the ones which combine a tin base with a glass mixing glass). An alternative method is to shake these ingredients 'dry' (without the ice) first, then add ice towards the end of the shake to chill the drink.
Place a few ice cubes in the glass, strain in the contents of the shaker, and gently and slowly top up with soda, to create the ’meringue’ effect on top.
*Navigation Gin is about 25% stronger than the other ones we do, so you might want to adjust your Navigation Fizz ratio accordingly.
