Cocktail No 79 Gin Sling

A nice and simple sweet and sour. It's very easy to over do the lemon juice, so a light touch please. Using mineral water instead of soda makes a huge difference - much lighter and refreshing. One dash of Angostura bitters is usually a bit light for me, but in this it is right. It's not intrusive but is there and gives a hint of complexity to the drink. The gin itself is masked by the other flavours, so probably best with a cheaper brand than a premium gin, but as I have litres of the stuff, I went ahead and used Birkdale gin of course!

It is a lot nicer than I was expecting - well worth trying

Recipe

2-3 ice cubes
40 ml Birkdale gin
20 ml Lemon juice
2 teaspoons caster sugar
1 dash Angostura bitters
Mineral water

Put ice in a tumbler (Tiffany naturally) with gin, lemon juice, caster sugar and bitters. Stir until sugar dissolves and top up with mineral water (I used sparkling)

Cocktail No 78 Lady Brown

Wow this one is a keeper!

The gin comes through very strongly (maybe I had a heavy hand!) and in an extremely good way. The grand marnier and the mandarin orange juice (I cheated and used regular OJ) provide the sweetness, not not over the top, whilst the lemon juice cuts through this to give the sour compliment.

There is burnt caramel in there - heavens knows where from, but it is extremely pleasant and I don't have a sweet tooth, so its subtle and just balances against the lemon acidity. And relatively low in alcohol, which is an interesting concept in cocktails as the gin is diluted with almost equal volumes of low ABV GM and 0% lemon juice. Probably only 15-16%. I could work it out, but hey it is Easter Sunday on lockdown due to COVID-19

Recipe

Ice cubes
40 ml Birkdale gin
20 ml Grand Marnier (or Cointreau - its a bit sweeter)
20 ml Mandarin Orange Juice (or regular orange juice)
15 ml Lemon juice
2 Mandarin Orange segments

Crack Ice and put in shaker with the gin, Grand Marnier, mandarin orange juice and lemon juice. Shake well and strai into a cocktail glass. Garnish with the 2 mandarin segments and serve with a straw.

Cocktail No 77 John Collins

Another really simple one to make. Its another sweet & sour play balanced by the bicarb in the soda water. The gin is quite subtle - I was expecting it to be more dominant.

Its very refreshing and perfect for a sunny afternoon like today.

Happy Easter everyone.

Recipe

Ice cubes
25 ml Birkdale gin
15 ml lemon juice
2 teaspoons caster sugar
Soda water

Add gin, lemon juice and sugar to a tumbler. Stir until sugar has dissolved. Top up with soda water and add ice.

Cocktail No 76 Horse's Neck

When I do a gin course one of the questions I ask is "what is the most distinctive taste in almost every gin?" and it isn't Juniper. Its pepper, in my case coming from Grains of Paradise and Cubeb berries. Next time you drink a G&T look out for it - its a fire at the back of the throat. As soon as it is pointed out to them practically everyone can taste it.

But this isn't the only fiery botanical in gin. The other is Ginger. I use dried ginger as the aroma and the bite is so much stonger than fresh ginger.

The Horse's Neck is basically Gin & Ginger. It a perfect combination if you like it on the spicy side. The lemon tones it back a touch. Couldn't be simpler.

Recipe

Spiral of lemon peel
Ice Cubes
50 ml Birkdale Gin
Dry Ginger Ale

Place one end of the lemon peel over the edge of the tumbler, letting the remainder to curl inside. Anchor with two ice cubes. Add Birkdale gin and top up with ginger ale.

Cocktail No 75 - Gin Punch

Nice and simple for a warm sunny evening on Easter Saturday.

Its strong and sweet.The Maraschino and juice from the cocktail cherries is really pronounced, but the lemon juice cuts through and prevent it being too sweet. Really refreshing.

Recipe

Ice Cubes
40ml Birkdale Gin
15 lemon juice
2 teaspoons caster sugar
2 dashes Maraschino
Cocktail Cherries
Pineapple chunks (if you have them)

Crush Ice and add to a shallow tumbler. Add gin, lemon juice, sugar and Maraschino. Stir, then decorate with cherries and pineapple chunks.

Cocktail No 74 - The Bees Knees Cannabis cocktail (CBD)

A variation on the gin sour, but with a twist - its laced with Cannabis - or Cannabindiol (CBD) to be precise. This the safe form extracted from hemp that doesn't give a high, but its meant to help with all sorts of things. Its apparently the new wonder food supllement that everyone is experimenting with in food and drinks.

Its very sharp as a good sour should be. The honey makes an interesting alternative sweetener to sugar syrup and nicely rounds out the drink. The CBD is subtle adding an almost green tea flavour, which is quite pleasant.

Its quite expensive with the CBD extract costing £4.00 at retail prices.

Recipe

2 parts Birkdale gin
1 part pourable honey
1 part lemon juice
1 ml CBD oil extract (NB go for an extract in alcohol rather than an oil extract as the latter will not mix into the drink)

Shake vigourously on ice to ensure the honey is incorporated and serve in a coupé or Martini glass

Cocktail No 73 - Bleeding Heart Birkdale Gin Martini

Thinking ahead to Halloween and looking for ghoulish cocktails: enter the Bleeding Heart Birkdale Gin Martin - a classic dry martini, garnished with a pickled baby beet that "bleeds" from the wound caused by piercing it through with a cocktail spear.

The bleed develops with time and the drink gets increasingly blood red, assuming you take that long to drink it.

Birkdale Gin is an excellent base for a martini. Its clean and fresh and paired with the crispness and vitalising herbal brilliance of Noilly Prat, makes a perfect marriage. The pickled beet isn't noticeable until you get to the bottom of the glass where it comes through as an aftertaste. You can taste the beet, but not much of the vinigar used to pickle it, which is surprising. In the very last sip, the sweetness of the beet really came through, quite delightfully.

Here in the UK, Waitrose is the only place where I have found pickled baby beets on sale.

All good fun in the name of gore & horror.

Recipe

3 parts Birkdale Gin
1 part Dry Vermouth (preferably Noilly Prat).

Shake on ice until very cold, add to martini glass. Garnish with pickled baby beet, pierced through with a cocktail spear.