Christmas G&T (RECIPE)
“A little bit of what you fancy does you good” as the old song goes. That’s a statement we can definitely get behind, especially during the festive season. And right around cocktail hour a gin and tonic wouldn’t go amiss. In general, we like our gin straight from the freezer with a good glug of tonic and perhaps a slice of lemon, but as it’s December we’ve gone a bit crazy and concocted a more flamboyant version …
There’s no shortage of mandarin or cranberries at the moment. They’ve been shipped over in their tonnes and their shiny orange and red skins reflect brightly like Christmas baubles. When we found ourselves with more of this fruit than we knew what to do with, the solution proved to be a matter of simple arithmetic: a dash of gin, a splash tonic and suddenly this cocktail came to life!
Measurements per cocktail:
- 1 shot glass ice-cold gin
- ½ shot glass unsweetened cranberry juice (recipe below)
- juice of half a mandarin
- 2-3 strips of mandarin peel
- Tonic water
- 2 whole cranberries
To make the cranberry juice take a small saucepan and add 1 ½ parts water to 2 parts cranberries. Bring to the boil then cover the pan and simmer on a low heat for 15 minutes until the berries start to burst. Remove from the flame and let it steep for a further 15 minutes. By now the berries should have popped open, using a wooden spoon pulverize them some more in order to release all of their juice. Strain the liquid through a sieve or cheesecloth and allow to cool.
For the cocktail combine the gin, cranberry juice, mandarin juice and mandarin peel in a cocktail shaker. Cover and shake for 20-30 seconds. Strain into a tumbler and top with tonic water. Serve with a garnish of skewered cranberries.
Merry Christmas!
Notes