Gin
Spirits · usually a base spirit · in 14 cocktails here
What it is
A neutral spirit redistilled with botanicals, always including juniper. London Dry is the dry, juniper-forward style most cocktails assume.
Typically about £18 a bottle in the UK.
What it tastes like
Juniper first — piney and resinous — then citrus peel, coriander seed and a dry, faintly earthy finish from angelica root. London Dry is bracing rather than sweet.
What it does in a drink
Base spirit. Its botanicals do work no other clear spirit does — a gin sour needs no extra flavouring because the gin supplies it.
Cocktails with gin
Unlocks 14 recipes on Drinki.
Best known
- Dry Martini IBA Two ingredients, nowhere to hide. Get everything painfully cold.
- Aviation IBA Violette turns it sky-grey. Skip it and the drink still flies.
- Bee’s Knees IBA Prohibition-era cover-up for bad gin. Excellent with good gin.
- Negroni IBA Equal parts, bitter and beautiful. The one you learn first and drink forever.
- White Lady IBA A sidecar in gin, with a silk collar of egg white.
- Bramble IBA Dick Bradsell, London, 1980s. Drizzle the liqueur so it bleeds down the ice.
- French 75 IBA Named after a field gun. It hits about that hard.
- Last Word IBA Four equal parts that should not work together, and absolutely do.
- Southside IBA A mojito that went to a nicer school.
- Long Island Iced Tea IBA Five spirits and no tea. Proceed with respect.
- Gin & Tonic More ice than you think. Warm tonic is the enemy.
- Gimlet Sharper and colder than you remember.
- Corpse Reviver #2 A breakfast drink, historically. Use your judgement.
- Tom Collins A gin sour, stretched long with soda.
What it pairs with
The ingredients that turn up alongside gin far more often than chance would predict.
Substitutes
Nothing substitutes for gin convincingly.