I am well and truely an island girl and do love my rum cocktails, but the fact that I was born in the UK (well Channel Islands) means that I, like every good Brit, have a penchant for gin. The classic and much loved G&T is certainly not one to be messed with, however here are a few tropical alternatives which will get your tastebuds dancing to a different beat.
We all have our favourite go-to gins (mine is Tanqueray 10 and Hendricks), so will leave the gin selection completely up to you in the cocktail recipes below. Let us know which recipe is your favourite via our social media pages and be sure to share with friends and family.
So without further ado…. let’s beGIN…
“Kiwi and Mint Tom Collins”
Ingredients:
- 1 cup of ice
- 2 oz of Gin
- 1 oz simple syrup*
- Juice of one lime
- 1 whole kiwi peeled and diced
- 1-2 mint leaves
- Club soda to top it off
Directions:
1. Muddle kiwi and mint leaves together in the bottom of your glass then top with ice.
2. In a shaker, shake gin, simple (sugar) syrup and lime juice together before pouring over ice.
3. Top off with soda water, give a small stir and enjoy!
“Aperol Gin Sour”
Ingredients:
- 1.5 ounces of Aperol
- 1.5 ounces of Gin
- juice of half a lemon
- 1 egg white
- 1 teaspoon of agave
- 1 cup of ice
- Edible flower to garnish
Directions:
1. Add Aperol, Gin, lemon juice, egg white and agave to a cocktail shaker and shake for 20 seconds.
2. Top cocktail shaker with ice and shake mixture again for a further 20 seconds.
3. Strain mixture into a serving glass and garnish with an edible flower or orange slice.
“Grapefruit and Cucumber Gin Delight”
Ingredients:
- 1.5 ounces of Gin
- ½ grapefruit, juiced
- 1-2 teaspoons of agave
- ¼ cup of shredded cucumber
- ½ lime, juiced
- Club soda to top it off
- 1/2 cup of ice
- Shredded cucumber and grapefruit slice to garnish
Directions:
1. Add gin, grapefruit juice, lime juice, shredded cucumber, agave and ice to a cocktail shaker.
2. Shake for 20 seconds.
3. Pour mixture into serving glass, top off with club soda, and garnish with cucumber and grapefruit.
“Spicy Chilli Martini”
- 1 small chilli to muddle (add more to suit heat preference)
- 0.5 ounce simple (sugar) syrup*
- 1.5 ounces Gin
- 2 ounces of juice (either peach or pineapple juice)
- 1 small chilli to garnish
Directions:
1. Clean the chilli and remove the seeds before adding whole to cocktail shaker.
2. In the shaker, muddle the chilli with the simple (sugar) syrup.
3. Add gin, ice and your preferred juice to the shaker and shake for 20 seconds.
4. Strain into a sugar rimmed cocktail glass and garnish with a chilli
P.S. A basic simple (sugar) syrup is a 1:1 ratio of sugar dissolved in water. We recommend you make a large batch and keep on hand in the fridge for when you fancy a sneaky cocktail.