If you’re lucky, you’re still on holiday. If not, we encourage you to do all you can to keep that holiday feeling going: wear loose, floaty dresses, go for as many swims as possible, and wherever you are, enjoy a cocktail in the sunshine.
If you’ve managed to stock up on gin over the break and still have some left, this cocktail recipe from Heather Garland of Auckland bar Caretaker might become a new go-to.
“One of our favourite summer drinks is an East bound, which is a refreshing concoction inspired by the Queen’s Park Swizzle - a famous holiday cocktail from the 1920s,” she explains. “It's the perfect cocktail for a hot summer afternoon in the sunshine.”
Should you find yourself all out of gin or keen to try something new, we blind tasted and ranked nine gins and the findings may surprise you - or perhaps confirm what you have always known.
Ingredients
3 slices of cucumber
A small handful of mint
3/4 oz fresh lemon juice
3/4 oz sugar syrup
2 oz gin
4 dashes of Angostura bitters
Method
1. Put the mint, then cucumber and sugar in a cocktail shaker, gently muddle being careful not to shred the mint too much.
2. Add the lemon and gin. Give the mixture a quick whip with a few pieces of small ice or crushed ice. Dump into a glass and top with crushed ice until 3/4 full.
3. Dash Angostura around the edges of the glass and give a quick swizzle.
4. Top to the brim with crushed ice creating a nice snow cone. Garnish with mint and cucumber.
This also works well with added berries or summer fruits if you have any on hand.
