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The classic gin and tonic cocktail is drunk both in port taverns and at social events. However, this is far from the only way to consume “London dry” (English version) and genever (slightly sweet Dutch kind). We will consider what connoisseurs drink gin with. There are several drinks and snacks that complement and reveal the recognizable juniper flavor.
How to dilute gin
Soft drinks:
1. Earl Grey. In a 0.7 liter bottle of gin, drop four tea bags with bergamot (Earl Gray), leave at room temperature for at least 2 hours. Then discard the tea, and drink the gin with ice or tonic.
If you don’t have time to wait for the liquor to soak in the tea aroma, simply pour cold Earl Gray into a glass of gin.
Replace bergamot tea with chamomile tea. A slightly more sophisticated recipe includes dried chamomile flowers (use the same as the tea bags from the previous version), honey and freshly squeezed lemon juice.
2. Mix gin with Coca-Cola (1:1 ratio). Drink with ice.
3. Dilute the alcohol with lemon juice, add sugar to the drink. There is no strict ratio, be guided by your taste.
4. Make a gin cocktail with freshly squeezed orange juice. Citrus and juniper go well together.
5. Add grapefruit lemonade to the gin, the optimal ratio is 50/50.
Gin can be mixed with any juice. The recommended (but not mandatory) ratio is 1:4.
6. Connoisseurs of “pure” taste, who want to slightly reduce the fortress, dilute the gin with non-carbonated drinking water or mineral water.
7. Add a couple of teaspoons of juniper to hot coffee (it is better to use not London dry, but genever).
Alcohol:
1. Aristocratic option – gin + sparkling wine (champagne).
2. Take 2 parts of vermouth, add one part of gin – get a “homemade” martini.
3. Gin is part of alcoholic cocktails: popular ones like the White Lady, Negroni or Bronx, as well as little-known ones. Juniper is mixed with vodka, Triple Sec liqueur and other spirits. The number of combinations is virtually endless, since each bartender has a couple of recipes of his own invention.
Wherever clear proportions are not indicated, the ratio of ingredients is determined “by eye” and depends primarily on the preferences of the taster.
What to eat gin
Like any other strong alcohol, gin is best combined with meat and hearty dishes. However, the British can snack on their London dry jam (in some sources the word “marmalade” occurs, but this is just a translation error). The British also serve sweet toast with gin, and the most adventurous make a cocktail with jam in a shaker.
More familiar snacks for gin for a Russian person:
1. Unsweetened pastries. It sounds strange, but juniper goes well with flour products.
2. Cucumber sandwiches. The fresh taste of cucumber sets off the herbal aroma well. Some bartenders even garnish their gin cocktails with a cucumber wedge instead of an orange or cherry.
3. Shrimps (on toast or in the form of shrimp salad).
4. Fried fish and chips (traditional English dish – fish & chips).
5. Soft blue cheese – often served with Dutch jenever, but the cheese goes well with London dry.
6. In Belgium, “juniper vodka” is served with salmon, seafood, and hard cheeses. In the rest of Europe, they like to eat gin with olives, pickled onions, limes, sometimes cakes, dark chocolate, and desserts.
