This is  my personal favorite drink.  I doubled down on the bitterness by adding bitters and the flamed orange zest.  I serve it in a double old fashioned with an ice sphere.

• 1 1/2 oz. Plymouth Gin
• 1 1/2 oz. Campari
• 1 1/2 oz. Sweet Vermouth
• 2 Dashes Angostura Orange Bitters
• 2 Dashes Regan’s Orange Bitters
• Fat Orange Zest

1. Chill an old fashioned glass with ice and water
2. Combine all ingredients, except the zest, in a mixing glass and stir with ice
3. Strain over fresh ice in chilled glass
4. Flame the fat orange zest over the drink and drop it in.

Where the dirty martini meets the Cajun martini: Hendrick’s Gin, dry vermouth and pickled jalapeno juice. Guaranteed to tickle your tongue.

• 2 oz. Hendrick’s Gin
• ½ oz. dry vermouth
• ¼ oz. pickled jalapeno juice
• 1/2 – 1 dash Doc Elliott’s Olive Bitters to taste

1. Chill cocktail glass with ice and water
2. Add all ingredients to shaker
3. Shake well with ice 10 – 15 sec.
4. Strain into chilled glass
5. Garnish with jalapeno stuffed olive or jalapeno spear

Cheers!

For a complete discussion of homemade tonic water click here.  Tonic syrups are easy to make and create an amazing cocktail.  You can also go the Gin Tonic route and really spruce up your drinks!  Either way you go, there are few better sippers than the venerable G&T.

• 2 oz. 209 Gin
• ¾ oz. Quinine Syrup
• 2 oz. soda water

1. Chill an old fashioned glass with ice and water
2. Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass and stir with ice
3. Strain over fresh ice in chilled glass
4. Garnish with lime twist

From the middle of the last century, the martini became basically gin or vodka on the rocks.  The vermouth that originally was prominent, became a splash or even a wash.  This is how to make that cocktail.

• 1 1/2 oz. Dry London gin such as Bombay Sapphire or Vodka
• Fresh Dry Vermouth
• An olive for garnish

1. Chill a martini glass with ice and water
2. Fill a mixing glass with ice and add a splash of dry vermouth and swirl the glass.
3. emtpty the vermouth but retain the ice.
4. Add the Gin or Vodka and stir to chill.
5. Strain into the chilled glass and drop in the olive.

A classic, pre-prohibition cocktail, created to honor the brand new heroes of aviation.  It was invented by Hugo Ensslin, head bartender at the Hotel Wallick in New York sometime in the early 1900’s.  He included it in his 1916 book Recipes for Mixed Drinks.  I have changed this recipe to conform to his original.  I also found that, depending on the sweetness of the lemon juice, 2 – 3 drops of lemon bitters works well.

• 2 oz. Plymouth Gin
• 1 oz. lemon juice
• ½ oz. Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur
• ½ oz. Crème de Violette**
• 2-3 drops of lemon bitters – optional

1. Chill cocktail glass with ice and water
2. Add all ingredients to shaker
3. Shake well with ice 10 – 15 sec.
4. Strain into chilled glass

** Not Creme Yvette, which is purple but tastes different

I decided to play with my Dry Martini.  Using the St George Botanivore Gin, I substituted Lillet Blanc for the vermouth.  The result is a very pleasant drink.  Goes well with our Olive Poppers.

Olive Poppers

• 2 oz. St. George Botanivore Gin
• 1 oz. Lillet Blanc
• 1-2 drops Doc Elliott’s Actually Bitter Orange Bitters
• Lemon Zest

Dry Martini with Lillet

1. Chill a martini glass with ice and water
2. Add all ingredients, except the Lemon Zest, to a mixing glass and stir with ice
3. Strain into chilled glass and garnish with the lemon zest

Cheers!

I ran out of sweet vermouth so I looked around the cabinet for another vermouth type fortified wine and spotted the Lillet Rouge.  Somewhere I have seen a “Negroni” made with Aperol and Lillet Branc so I figured “why not.”  Anyway, it is a bit darker and has a slightly heavier flavor.  I prefer a Negroni with sweet vermouth, but this isn’t bad!

• 1.5 oz. Plymouth Gin
• 1.5 oz. Campari
• 1.5 oz. Lillet Rouge
• 2 dashes orange bitters – Suggest Regans or Angostura

1. Chill an old fashioned glass with ice and water
2. Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass and stir with ice
3. Strain over fresh ice in chilled glass
4. Garnish with orange zest flame and drop flamed zest into drink