With none of those languid sunny days in busy beer gardens on the cards this year, it’s time to take the summer drinks menu into your own hands. Rather than turning to the Pimms for another year running, embrace your inner mixologist and snazz up your family BBQ with these delicious gin cocktails, as recommended by London’s most passionate gin distillers, Sipsmith.
Refreshing, crisp and exquisitely simple, the gin and tonic done well is nothing short of alchemic perfection. Fill a thin-rimmed highball glass with ice cubes, top your Sipsmith gin with Fever-Tree Indian Tonic and garnish with a single lime wedge. There is a reason that we all keep coming back to this clean and cool classic.
Ingredients
50ml Sipsmith London Dry Gin
Fever-Tree Indian Tonic
Wedge of lime (to garnish)
Instructions
1. Fill a highball glass with ice
2. Pour in 1 part Sipsmith London Dry gin
3. Top off with premium tonic (we use Fever Tree)
4. Garnish with a wedge of fresh lime
Inspired by traditional ‘cups’ or punches popular in London in the 19th century, the London Cup blends Sipsmith’s London Dry Gin with Earl Grey tea, lemon verbena, borage and a myriad of other botanicals. This citrusy, herbaceous tipple is delicious served like this with lemonade and lots of fruit. Or, try with tonic, or even ginger beer, angostura and lime juice for a twist on a classic Moscow Mule.
Ingredients
50ml Sipsmith London Cup
Lemonade
Your favourite summer fruits
Instructions
1. Add Sipsmith London Cup to a large ice-filled wine glass
2. Top with lemonade
3. Garnish with your favourite summer fruits (we suggest cucumber, mint, orange, lemon and strawberry)
4. Garnish with an lemon twist
Channel your inner Gatsby with a favourite that has its roots in Prohibition America. At a time when bootleg booze was illicitly brewed, low quality and rather unpleasant, sippers would sweeten their spirits with anything they could. One of the most timeless cocktail recipes to have come out of the Prohibition era is the Bee’s Knees, which is perfection through simplicity. Its three ingredients – honey, lemon juice and gin – effortlessly blend to create a fragrantly sweet yet complex cocktail.
Ingredients
50ml Sipsmith London Dry Gin
2 barspoons of honey
20ml lemon juice
20ml orange juice
Orange twist (to garnish)
Instructions
1. Combine the gin and honey in a cocktail shaker and stir well to dissolve the honey
2. Add the citrus juices and fill the shaker with ice
3. Shake well
4. Double strain into a chilled glass
On a searing summer day, there are few cocktails as refreshing as the Gin Basil Smash, a modern classic created by Jörg Meyer from Le Lion Bar de Paris in Hamburg. Refreshing is an understatement – punchy, aromatic and irresistibly green, this muddle of lemon, basil and gin is always a masterpiece.
Ingredients
50ml Sipsmith London Dry Gin
15ml lemon juice
10ml sugar syrup
6-12 basil leaves
Instructions
1. Muddle basil leaves in a cocktail shaker
2. Add ice and other ingredients
3. Shake well
4. Double strain into an ice filled glass
5. Garnish with a basil leaf
For more gin cocktail inspiration and recipes from Sipsmith, click here.
Looks like you haven't made a choice yet.
