Ok, admittedly Scotland doesn’t have enough long, lazy sunny days but that’s not going to stop us creating some cocktails with these artisan gins. So I’ve chosen just 3 from some of my favourite locations in Scotland: the soulful Isle of Harris; the very special Secret Herb Garden just South of Edinburgh and of course Edinburgh itself.
Secret Herb Garden Lemon Verbena Gimlet Cocktail
The Secret Herb Garden is a very special place that I somehow only discovered last year. It has 71/2 acres of land with a wonderful herb nursery of over 600 varieties of herbs, all naturally grown and completely chemical-free and the most special cafe housed in a glasshouse whose roof is covered in vines and grapes, and where you'll find rows of peach trees and fragrant fig trees. When you brush past the walls of herbs you get the most uplifting scent of lemon and herbs. Order from their wee cafe and then sit at an old wooden table nestled in amongst the herbs with the dappled sun streaming in-it’s pretty special. On their acres of land and using their glorious natural ingredients they’ve created the Old Curiosity Gin Distillery where they hand harvest all the herbs, then dry all the botanicals to ensure they don’t lose their healing properties or vibrant colours; then distil, bottle and label all by hand and everything is done on site. Here’s my take on a delicious summery cocktail:
INGREDIENTS
Old Curiosity Lemon Verbena Gin
Sugar syrup
Soda, chilled
Juice of 2 limes
Lime slices
LET’S MAKE IT:
Cool a martini glass and dip rim in sugar.
Combine sugar syrup, gin, soda and juice.
Garnish with lime slices.
Harris Gin Cucumber and Mint cocktail
A couple of summers back we took a road trip with our tent up to the Isle of Skye and from there onto the Outer Hebridean Island of Harris. It’s one of those truly special places that just touches your soul and you can’t explain why. It feels remote, the road signs are in Gaellic and the way the sky melts into the sea is nothing short of magical. We visited the very special Isle of Harris Gin Distillery and of course picked up a bottle of now iconic Harris Gin with its turquoise rippled glass bottle and cork stopper that is inspired by the sea and a set of beautiful rippled hand-blown glasses. The gin is infused with local Sugar Kelp seaweed. I like to keep it simple, clean and crisp with Harris gin so here’s something simple I like to do with it:
INGREDIENTS
50ml Harris Gin
Fever Tree Cucumber Tonic Water
Fresh sprigs of mint
Ice
LET’S MAKE IT:
Fill your glass to the brim with fresh crushed ice.
Pour over a generous 50ml measure of Harris Gin
Slowly add in your Cucumber Tonic Water
Garnish with fresh mint and a slice of cucumber.
Edinburgh Gin Petal Passion Cocktail
So this one is unashamedly girly but I just couldn’t leave it out. It’s made with world-famous Edinburgh Gin from its atmospheric city centre location and is one of my favourites.
INGREDIENTS
50ml Orange Blossom and Mandarin Gin Liqueur
25ml passion fruit liqueur
25ml sugar syrup
squeeze of lemon juice
LET’S MAKE IT:
Shake all ingredients over ice.
Pour into a glass filled with crushed ice
Garnish with petals or flowers (daisies used here)
Hope you enjoy trying out one or two of these and please let me know in the comments if you have any of your own favourite recipes-I'd love to give them a go! Slainte!!
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