Getting to know Gin - cocktail making & cocktail emergencies

I like a good cocktail, I'm not a beer drinker and being as I have sweet tooth a cocktail is the best alcoholic drink in my opinion. I've been getting in to cocktail making thanks to Aoife's blog and recently tried my hand at rhubarb vodka, which was so easy to make and works well with a number of cocktails.

Gin was always something I avoided and being as it is in a lot of cocktails this is a bit of a bother to me.  But I think I've not really given it a chance. Sainsbury's came to the rescue (ok it's not an emergency but you know...) and offered to send me a bottle of Blackfriars London Dry Gin to test out with some cocktail recipes.

I really like the cocktail posts on Domestic Sluttery so I scoured them for gin cocktails, pinning a few along the way.

The first one I really liked the look of was called ' The Business' - gin, honey and lime juice over ice. The recipe says to loosen the honey by putting it in the microwave, I don't have one so I added a tiny bit of hot water - you could also gently heat the honey in a pan.

The Sainsbury's Blackfriars gin was really nice, not too medicinal and you could taste the 'botanicals' in it - orange, juniper and lemon is what I tasted - it is also made with coriander seeds and angelica root. It won best gin at the International Spirit Challenge in 2011, which from my quick research seems to be pretty good for a gin you can pick up in the supermarket!

The next cocktail I tried was because of a cocktail emergency (a term coined by Aoife I believe). It was a very hot today, we didn't have any wine and I'd had (another) long day. This one was just a shot of gin and then apple & mango juice and lots of ice. Very refreshing and very simple.

There are a few more I want to try out including 'The Eastside'  (gin, cucumber, syrup, mint) and Rhubarb Fizz. You can also add fizz to The Business cocktail which is very interesting to me.


Thank you to Sainsbury's for sending me the gin to try.