We all love a good G&T right? They seem to be the perfect, refreshing balance of sweet and bitter, making them very approachable. But after so many drinks, we've finally decided to find out what else we can do with this beautiful spirit.
With that said, we start our search off simply by swapping out tonic for other mixers. We'd heard that soda is popular for those wanting to put the flavour of the Gin front and centre in the drink and with a delicately flavourful gin like Hendricks, this turns out to be a great option. We garnished our with a couple of fresh raspberries for an extra little spark of flavour.
Before moving into the world of cocktails, we had to take Snoop's advice and try out a Gin and Juice. We ended up going going for Pineapple, but have heard of people using everything from orange to cherry juice. Shaken and served ice cold, we loved this drink for the crisp, sweet flavour bomb it is, although this might not be the time to open any of your fancy craft gins, an ol' reliable like Gordons really does the trick here.
Time to pull out your tuxedo for this next one. The classic Martini is not only one of the beloved and sophisticated gin cocktails ever, its also one of the simplest. At heart, the Martini is essentially a glass of thoroughly chilled gin touched up with a bit of vermouth and, optionally, a dash of bitters, stirred (not shaken) to perfection. But with that simplicity comes a lot of room for experimentation and variation. We've seen a recent trend of people preferring their Martinis dryer with little to no vermouth, however to my mind this undersells the value that the vermouth brings to this drink, and I whole heartedly encourage you to try a couple different ratios. There's also a lot to be said for getting dirty, with a dash of olive brine and a few skewered olives if you're feeling feisty.
This heavily gin-driven cocktail deserves you're best gin. We were impressed with the nuanced flavours we got from both Four Pillars Spice Trade and The Botanist.
We've just seen the tip of the iceberg with these drinks, but we reckon these three drinks are a great starting point before we leap into some more involved cocktails. Stay tuned for more drink ideas soon.
Photos by Mae Mu, Stanislav Ivanitskiy and Jiwon Kim