While the blog was under renovation, so to speak, I posted this recipe to Instagram and knew I needed to share it here as well when I got a chance. The Gin & Tonic is utterly classic and perfect for summertime, but I don’t usually play with the recipe much besides changing up the gin or the garnish. This cocktail made me wonder why not! I added a bit of Ancho Reyes Verde, a bright and vegetal version of the original chile liqueur, and Black Cloud Garden Party Bitters, which are flavored with cucumber, celery, and garden herbs. If you don’t have these, try adding a dash of celery bitters to your G&T, muddling in some cucumber or bell pepper, and/or garnishing it with fresh aromatic herbs. I really find that the savory notes make this drink even more refreshing than the original.
The garnish on this drink was inspired by Moody Mixologist, who created an event called #GarnishWeek where lots of folks on Instagram shared elaborately-garnished cocktails and talked about what makes a good garnish. In my post, I talked about an essay in Regarding Cocktails called “Consider the Peacock.” I love it because it combines two of my favorite things, cocktails and evolutionary biology. Basically, the peacock’s tail and other similar ornaments in the animal kingdom are very costly to produce and maintain. It takes a lot of energy and makes the male more vulnerable to predators. So when a peahen sees a peacock with a big, beautiful tail, she knows that he must be very fit and have good genes. A garnish, the essay argues, is the same for a cocktail. If a bartender puts a drink in front of you with a sad, wilted garnish, the chances are that the drink itself isn’t very well-made. But fresh citrus and herbs with careful presentation indicates that the same kind of care was taken with the drink. The garnish is an indicator of quality.
Of course, as someone pointed out, the desire to show off pretty cocktails on Instagram does skew things a bit. We’ve all seen gorgeous garnishes on drinks that don’t sound like they’d taste very good. But this exists in the animal kingdom as well – it’s called dishonest or unreliable signalling. Perhaps a second essay called “Consider the Fiddler Crab” is in order.
But I assure you, the garnish on this cocktail isn’t lying. It’s a good one.
Garden Party Gin & Tonic
1.5 oz. gin (I used Sipsmith)
1/4 oz. Ancho Reyes Verde
3.5 oz. tonic water (I used Fever Tree)
1 dash Black Cloud Garden Party Bitters
1 squeeze of lime juice
Combine all ingredients except tonic water in a rocks glass and stir briefly. Fill with ice and top with tonic. Garnish with fresh herbs and vegetables – I used cucumber, jalapeno, lime, mint, rosemary, and edible flowers.