Wednesday, 27 November 2013

Bar on hold: Pink Gin and the Monk

We’ve expanded the bar quite a bit by now. It’s interesting to make do with what we’ve got at this moment and see which other recipes are out there.
So here’s a true classic and an obscure one.


Pink Gin


How simple can a cocktail be? Just gin and bitters. Quite a lot of bitters, actually.
Very British and linked to the Royal Navy. It remained the officers’ signature drink for a long time, until the Horse’s Neck finally took over in the 1960’s.
It is historically made with Plymouth gin. I very much recommend doing the same.
If you’re up for the full maritime Pink Gin experience, don’t chill the drink but serve at room temperature.


Plymouth gin (about 6 cl)
4 dashes Angostura bitters


glass:  cocktail (or other)

Stir with ice and strain into the glass.




As you can see, if you’re drinking a truly pink drink you’re not drinking Pink Gin.
This is another cocktail that begs for a small glass, as it is not much more than a dose of base spirits. As stated above, other kinds of glasses are not unheard of, so take one that fits the proper amount. An Old Fashioned glass will always work, striking a cool pose even when the liquid is low.


Monk


Gin and lemon with maraschino makes an Aviation. With Cointreau you’ll get a White Lady. So what about Bénédictine? Well, that ends up as a Monk.
Each gin/lemon-cocktail has its own specific ratio… for the Monk I like to stick to the recipe from the Café Royal Cocktail Book.


2 parts gin
1 part Bénédictine
1 part lemon juice

glass:  cocktail

Shake with ice and strain into the glass.





It’s great to try out the differences between the various liqueurs in this configuration. Each variant deserves its own place.

No comments:

Post a Comment