For my first cocktail I decided to tweak an old favourite of mine. It’s a blend of gin, lime, basil and cucumber. This is pretty much the ultimate summer cocktail as it’s refreshing and extremely versatile. It’s more of a spritzer than a cooler, but I like alliteration. The name comes from Final Fantasy X’s Auron who always sort of remains calm in high pressure situations. It might seem like a stretch, but since his character is sort of a Kurosawa-esque samurai I should probably make a version of this with sake.
This cocktail is best with a mid-range gin, since the other ingredients will mask any bluntness in mediocre gin, but will also make the subtleties in a really nice gin go unnoticed. I recommend Bombay Sapphire, at 15 pounds it’s not too expensive and the slightly higher sweetness of Bombay blends nicely into the flavour. I used Whatever I Found in the Liquor Cabinet brand gin.
The reason I called the cocktail versatile is because you can make lots of little changes to suit your palate. This just happens to be the way I prefer it. You can substitute vodka for gin, though I’d recommend increasing the simple syrup ratio to compensate for the loss of sweetness. You can use rosemary instead of basil for your simple syrup. Soda water can be swapped out for tonic water or left out entirely and served straight up if you’re anything like the guests at my barbecue.
Ingredients:
Ice
50ml Gin
20ml Basil Simple Syrup (Recipe below)
25ml Cucumber Essence (Recipe below)
10ml Fresh lime juice
Soda water or tonic water to top
Sprig of basil to garnish
Combine all ingredients except for soda and sprig in shaker. This is a dry shake so don’t use any ice. Strain contents over a short class full of ice, top with soda or tonic. Give it one final stir with the sprig of basil to make sure it is fully combined.
Basil Simple Syrup
50g white sugar
120ml water
10-15 fresh basil leaves
Bring water to a boil and stir in sugar and basil leaves. Once the sugar dissolves remove from the heat and let cool. Once it’s cool strain the basil leaves out and the syrup is finished. It will keep in an airtight bottle for about a month.
Cucumber Essence
1/2 English cucumber
150ml water
Peel half an English cucumber and cut into chunks. Put into blender with the water. Blend until the cucumber is fully pulped. Strain the liquid into a container and discard the pulp. The essence will last for a couple of days in the fridge.
I was going to end every post with a joke. But I’m skipping the first week because every cucumber related joke I found was disgusting,
What Ales Ya? 