1. Home
2. Recipes
3. Vegetarian recipes
4. Seasonal Food
5. Features & guides
   1. Drinks
   2. Healthy eating
   3. Wellbeing
   4. Hungry traveller
   5. Books
   6. Kitchens and kit
   7. Food directories
6. Know How
7. Promotions
8. Magazine
9. Subscribe
10. Baking

1. Features & guides
2. Drinks

That’s the spirit: premium gin

We love it. And so does our drinks expert Susy Atkins. Here are some tips.

• The low-down: Made from a neutral grain spirit, gin is flavoured with ‘botanicals’, the most famous of which is juniper; others may include citrus peel, angelica and coriander.

• Mix it up: For a gin and tonic, use Fever-Tree’s classy natural tonic. The best gin cocktails include the gin fizz – gin, lemon juice, sugar syrup, egg white and soda water – and the martini, pictured.

• My favourite martini recipe: calls for a large dash of French dry vermouth and 50ml gin stirred with lots of ice in a cocktail shaker. Strain into a glass and garnish with a strip of lemon peel.

• Why go premium? Cheap gins tend to be bland, lacking the bite of the botanical ingredients. It takes a strong spirit – and a master blender – to create a compelling gin.

• We love: Tanqueray, Plymouth Gin, Martin Miller’s, Hendrick’s and Bombay Sapphire.

• Other spirits: Caribbean rum; premium vodka.

Gin and tonic jellies

Britain's favourite pre-dinner drink is transformed into a party jelly in this clever recipe.

Blackberry gin

If you've got a load of spare blackberries then blackberry gin is the answer.

Negroni cocktail

This sexy gin cocktail goes well with naughty but nice nibbles such as Glazed lamb cutlets with Moroccan carrot and tahini purée.

Comments

(You have to be registered and signed-in to make a comment)

• Register