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| A cocktail horizon! Get it? HAHAHAHAHA |
It is always a pleasure for me to assist someone in broadening their mixological horizons, and so I was delighted to receive the following inquiry (or ginquiry) from a friend of mine:
"In
duty free I bought a litre of vodka (Stoli) and a litre of gin
(Tanqueray Export) with the intention of pushing my cocktail knowledge a
little beyond the dry Martini and the White Russian. Which relatively
hassle-free cocktails do you suggest I start with?"
The first thing that occurred to me was that with only gin and vodka, the choices are quite limited without the purchase of at least one further alcoholic/specifically cocktail-oriented ingredient. That in turn sounds like a challenge, which I always enjoy, so let's see what I can come up with.
The following group of drinks require some or all of the following: carbonated mixer, citrus fruits, fruit or vegetable juices, sugar, Angostura bitters and of course plenty of ice.
Gin Fizz
1 1/2 measures london dry gin
1 measure fresh lemon juice (or about half an average lemon's worth of juice)
1/2 measure simple syrup*, or one to two teaspoons of caster sugar
Soda water
Shake with ice and strain into an old fashioned glass, which can be full of ice or just chilled. Top off with a bit of soda water to add effervescence and you're done! Garnish with a lemon twist or slice or wedge or other lemon part, although you'll scarcely have time to enjoy it before the drink is gone in all likelihood. This is a short, classic refreshing drink and incredibly straightforward to make. It's also easily customised...use more or less sugar depending on your preference, or if you're feeling adventurous try one of these eggy variations:
For a Silver Fizz, add egg white before shaking (and shake without ice first to combine the ingredients properly)
For a Golden Fizz, add egg yolk.
And for a Royal Fizz, add a whole egg!
While outside the scope of this hassle-free category, there's also the Green Fizz which has crรจme de menthe added, and the Diamond Fizz or French 75 which uses sparkling wine instead of soda water.
*Simple syrup is just a combination of sugar and water. I make mine by combining an equal volume of sugar and water and shaking until the sugar is dissolved, although this is only one method.
John/Tom Collins
Use the same recipe as above, but build in a collins glass with ice (build being cocktail parlance for 'pour all the stuff into the glass'). Or you can shake it and strain into the glass, or if you're of a rustic bent just pour unstrained into an empty glass. Once this is done, add a dash of Angostura bitters to the finished product, garnish with a lemon or orange wheel and maybe a cherry or something, and serve with a straw. I don't tend to serve fizzes with straws. They're such similar drinks that altering the drinking experience is the only way to justify the two remaining separate rather than being merged into a John Fizz or something.
Gin Rickey
2 measures london dry gin
Half a lime
Soda water
Squeeze the lime juice into a collins glass full of ice, add the gin, top up with soda. Some people add sugar but I'm with David Wondrich on this one, there's no need. This is a simple, very refreshing drink with no frills, and I commend it to you.
Salty Dog
This is such a simple drink that recipes for it vary, but it's pretty difficult to get wrong:
1 1/2 measures (ish) gin or vodka
Juice of half a grapefruit
Shake with ice and pour into a highball glass with a salted rim, sans ice. To salt the rim of the glass, place some good-quality salt into or onto a bowl or plate, then moisten the rim of the glass with the grapefruit half and rotate it in the salt until good coverage is achieved. You might want to wipe any excess off the inside edge of the glass as if there's too much it can fall into the drink and make an unpleasant salty mess.
Apparently without the salt this drink is called a Greyhound.
Sea Breeze
1 1/2 measures vodka
4 measures cranberry juice
1 measure grapefruit juice
According to some sources the drink known as the Sea Breeze has contained everything from grenadine to Galliano over the years, but the modern version is both simple and elegant. While I'm normally an advocate of fresh ingredients at all times I think juicing your own cranberries might be going a bit far.
Moscow Mule
2 measures vodka
Half a lime
Ginger beer
Squeeze the juice of the lime into a highball or collins glass and then throw in the lime shell for good measure. Add the vodka and some ice and top off with ginger beer.
I refer you once more to the excellent David Wondrich for an entertaining commentary on this drink.
Old Fashioned
As you may already be aware, the drink called the Old Fashioned is now mainly made with bourbon or rye, but its name derives from the original Cocktail after which all mixed drinks are named: any mixture of spirit, sugar, water and bitters. Accordingly, it's possible to make a drink in this style using any spirit and any bitters, with a bit of creativity and care.
I've written in the past on this subject, but to get the drink to work with gin or vodka it might be worth experimenting with different citrus peels and perhaps even garnishes to get enough interest and a good balance of flavours. While this classic formula should be treated with respect, it also provides a good platform for some subtle experimentation.
Bloody Mary
Here's a chance to really have some fun (unless you don't like tomatoes, in which case here's an opportunity to be all gloomy and sad). The Bloody Mary is a drink where you can alter the ingredients vastly while still retaining its basic essence: vodka and tomato juice.
Personally I find this drink benefits hugely from some kind of chilli, without which it's acidic and harsh and generally awful. The International Bartender's Association recipe is as follows:
4.5cl vodka (roughly 1 1/2 measures)
1.5cl lemon juice (juice of half a lemon or a bit less)
9cl tomato juice
To which they suggest you add worcester sauce, tabasco, celery salt and pepper, stir gently, and strain into a highball glass with ice, garnishing with celery and an optional lemon wedge. This is a perfectly nice drink, and good for waking your digestive system up sharply if for some reason it's gone to sleep. However, the very best Bloody Mary that I ever had was at the Covent Garden Hotel, with a recipe that included Chase potato vodka, PX sherry, apple juice, fresh basil, celery, and chilli, and it was tremendous, enough to convert even a hardened tomato juice hater to the cause. So collect together the contents of your fridge, bar and garden and get experimenting!
