Gin Advent Calendar 2020 Part 3 – The perfect tonic for brightening dark days
As we get further into December and the days start getting really short, I’ve been keeping myself warm with some delicious drinks from my self-assembled Gin Advent Calendar. These particular gins have tended to work well with bubbles, be they from an interesting tonic or when pushing the boat out with some Brut to celebrate a special occasion.
Here are gins 13 to 18, which have proved to be a rather mixed bag of styles and tastes. Part 1 and Part 2 of my Gin Advent Calendar are available if you want to catch up on the gins I’ve enjoyed so far, as well as the cocktails and drinks I have made with them.
Gin Advent Calendar Part 3
December 13th – La Distillerie de Monaco
Back in May, the Gin of the Month from Craft Gin Club was an amazing bottle of liquid sunshine from Monaco. The first flavours were sumptuous lemon, orange and grapefruit with a warming hint of ginger. To me it honestly tasted like a slab of rich citrus parkin.
This one I served as a Champagne Marguerite Cocktail, but I left out the sugar syrup. This really brought the citrus notes of both the gin and Brut to the fore.
December 14th – Topaz Blue London Dry Gin
Not all good quality gins have to be expensive. I always have a couple of bottles of what I term “mixer” gins for when I feel like having a gin cocktail but nothing too complicated. I decided to include this particular gin from Aldi in my Gin Advent Calendar as it is one of the nicest tasting mixer gins I’ve had.
It is a typical London Dry gin with a good amount of juniper that is balanced nicely by other botanicals with a citrus notes. I have been known to have this neat over ice as well as mix it in to a Long Island Ice Tea, but this time I had it as a Gin and Tonic garnished with lime. It was just what was needed and the perfect way to serve this gin.
December 15th – Plymouth Gin
No Gin Advent Calendar would be complete without Plymouth Gin. Dating back to the 1790s, this is about the best all-round gin I have come across. I have yet to find a cocktail that this doesn’t work well in, although I would probably draw the line at any drink that has more than three spirits in.
This time, I served this up as a classic Martini with a lemon zest, but it is also perfect as a classic Negroni or G&T with your favourite premium tonic and preferred garnish.
December 16th – Gin 77
This is another London Dry gin, although this time it hales from Bristol. I think that this is very much a winter gin as it is bursting with warming ginger, peppercorns and a zing from grapefruit.
Drinking this as a G&T with London Essence Pomelo and Pink Peppercorn tonic added an extra layer of citrus to the flavour whilst also enhancing the gentle warmth from the pink peppercorns in the gin. This is definitely my perfect serve for this particular gin.
December 17th – Whitby Gin Demeter Edition
This gin was courtesy of the Craft Gin Club back in October. The last time I have this gin, I mixed myself a Vampire Bat cocktail, which was a delicious blood red fruity number.
Whilst I could easily have shaken myself another one of these, this time I had it in an equally spooky but delicious cocktail called the Elder Witch Martini from the Craft Gin Club. This seemed rather appropriate as we are heading towards the shortest day as well as being another cocktail made with this specific gin. I will confess that I did reduce the amount vermouth and elderflower liqueur. This is a cocktail for those who like their martini’s a little more vermouth forward and sweet.
December 18th – Whittakers Original Gin
Whittaker’s Gin has a lot to answer for in my book. If it wasn’t for being tempted into a taste testing at a local wine store and waxing lyrical about this particular gin, I wouldn’t have been set on my gin swilling, cocktail making odyssey. It is for this reason amongst many others that this sumptuous juniper-forward, fruity gin that tastes of my beloved North Yorkshire Moors made it into my Gin Advent Calendar.
This is a gin that I love to have neat over ice, or as a very dry Martini, but this time I made myself a pre-dinner Negroni with 1.5 measures gin, 1 measure Campari and 1 measure Dubonnet. What a treat that served to remind me just why I love this gin and always try to keep a bottle of it in my cupboard.
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The final six drinks from my Gin Advent Calendar will be coming soon, so make sure you come back to find out how I am finishing off my Gin Advent Calendar.
