There are an awful lot of strange cocktail fads making the rounds these days. There are some that I really have no desire to try (looking at you, Parmesan Espresso Martini), but others have me pretty intrigued. And one of these… is rice.
I think the rice trend originated with Leanne Favre of Leyenda in Brooklyn. She was inspired to add rice to her Negroni de Nubes when she thought about about the starchy texture of horchata and how she might translate it into a spirit-forward cocktail. She achieved the effect by stirring the Negroni with uncooked rice. Once the rice is strained out, it leaves behind a silky, creamy texture in the drink.
Zig Payton of Kingfisher in North Carolina took the rice idea one step further in his Toasted Rice Daiquiri, the inspiration for this gimlet. He toasts his rice until golden brown, and then uses it both to infuse his rum and to make a syrup. I wanted to keep this gimlet a bit simpler and minimize prep time, so here I shake toasted rice with the rest of the drink. The textural difference is more subtle in a shaken cocktail, but the toasty, nutty flavor of the rice is unmistakable. It’s a small addition with a big impact!
I created this cocktail in partnership with 135 East Hyogo Dry Gin to celebrate World Gin Day (June 10). 135 East is made in Japan, and it’s infused with local Japanese botanicals like yuzu, shiso, sencha tea, ume, and sansho pepper. This gives it a very unique flavor profile that I love to blend with other Japanese ingredients, like the sake syrup, yuzu bitters, and sushi rice I used here.
Toasted Rice Gimlet
2 oz. gin (135 East)
3/4 oz. lime juice
1/2 oz. sake syrup*
1 dash yuzu bitters (Miracle Mile)
3/4 oz. toasted sushi rice**
In a shaker, combine gin, lime juice, sake syrup, bitters, and toasted rice. Add ice and shake until chilled. Double strain into a coupe glass.
*For sake syrup, combine equal parts sake and sugar in a saucepan and simmer until sugar is dissolved. Let cool fully before using.
**For toasted sushi rice, heat a saucepan to medium-low on the stove. Add uncooked sushi rice and toast slowly, stirring or shaking the pan constantly, until golden brown. Let cool before using.
This post is sponsored by Marussia Beverages. All opinions are my own.