Nothing like a cool cocktail to help you chill out during the summer heat.

This fruity and refreshing cocktail, created by Beefeater London Dry Gin, is a great way to celebrate the season. Cheers!

Summer Gin Punch

2 parts gin
1/2 part maraschino liqueur
1/2 part water
1/4 part Gomme syrup
1/4 part fresh lemon juice
1/2 part fresh orange juice
1 lemon twist
1 orange twist
2 fresh raspberries
2 chunks of diced pineapple
1 part soda

Build all ingredients in a mixing glass over ice, then transfer contents into a punch cup.

More gin cocktails
Beefeater 24 gin
Photo courtesy of Beefeater Gin

Beefeater 24 gin inspired me to concoct this simple cocktail that plays with the tea and citrus notes of the liquor.

I think it accentuates the spirit’s flavor and is a good match for its smooth and rich nuanced character.

Using frozen fruit and berries as ice cubes is a new thing I’ve been doing lately.

Not only is it pretty, but it cuts down on the water that will be added to your drink if you’re not a fast drinker. Also it slowly imparts a bit of the fruit flavor for a subtle twist.

Top it off with a splash or two of club soda if you want to add a little bit of effervescence to your day.

The Bee’s Teas

1.5 oz Beefeater 24 Gin (actually a wee bit more than this)
1 oz. warm water
1 oz. honey
Juice from 1 lemon
1 Earl Grey tea bag
Frozen cranberries

Steep the tea bag in the gin for about 10-15 minutes (I overpoured a little bit, since some liquid will get lost in the process).  The resulting liquid should be the color of a dark cup of tea. Mix the honey into the warm water so it dissolves. Pour the gin-tea, honey-water and lemon juice over ice in a cocktail shaker and shake very gently. Pour into a rocks glass and add frozen cranberries. (Optional: top off with splash of club soda)

Beefeater 24 review
More gin cocktail recipes

more drink of the week cocktails

• Three Rivers (drinkoftheweek.com)
• Acai Grapefruit Cooler (drinkoftheweek.com)
• Ginger Rogers (drinkoftheweek.com)

Beefeater 24 is the London gin company’s fresh take on premium gin — and I like it.

It’s a smooth gin that is slightly sweeter and richer than its dry gin counterpart.

Beefeater 24 gets its name from the 24 hours it steeps in botanicals including Spanish grapefruit and Seville orange peel, bitter almond, orris root, green tea and Japanese Sencha tea.

The tea and citrus influence is very subtle but pleasing.

It’s not a flavored gin, but rather a nuanced take on classic gin with tea and citrus treated as part of the botanical mix.

I plan to play with it a little and see if I can come up with my own way to use this fun and fancy gin in a cocktail.

But Beefeater commissioned mixologists to come up with recipes. So in the meantime, here’s one of theirs I recommend that plays with the citrus notes.

Shifting Sands

1.5 parts Beefeater 24
1.5 parts fresh grapefruit juice
.25 part fresh lemon juice
2 bar spoons of Maraschino liqueur
club soda

Build ingredients into a high-ball filled with ice. Top with club soda and garnish with a twist.

Beefeater 24 (Limited release, so check when it is coming available in your town)

No Mother’s Day brunch is complete without a champagne cocktail! This blackberry champagne cocktail is beautiful and brightly colored, with fresh blackberries lending the purple hue. No matter what you serve, this refreshing cocktail will look great next to it.

Blackberry Champagne Cocktail

3/4 oz. blackberry simple syrup (recipe below)
1-1.5 oz. gin (depending on how strong Mom likes her drinks)
Sparkling wine
Fresh blackberries for garnish

Put two blackberries in a champagne flute. Pour in blackberry simple syrup and gin, then carefully top off with sparkling wine.

Blackberry Simple Syrup

1 cup water
1 cup sugar
1 basket of blackberries

Bring all ingredients to a boil. Strain into a container, pressing the blackberries to push juice through the stainer.

http://www.drinkoftheweek.com/blog/mothers-day-brunch-champagne-cocktail-recipes/

Now that Spring is in full bloom, it’s time to take advantage of all the fresh cocktail ingredients available to us!

In collaboration with Savvy Housekeeping, may I present a truly refreshing and beautiful Spring cocktail — made with herbs and fruit straight from the bountiful Savvy Housekeeping garden!

We used fresh lemons and lemon verbena along with Tru2 Organic Gin, which I highly recommend for this (and other cocktails for that matter).

Lemon verbena has a flavor that is like a mild mint with a lemony finish, so we thought it would be perfect for muddling and mixing. And we were right.

Lemon Verbena Spring Fling

1/2 cup fresh lemon verbena
1/2 a lemon
2 tbs. simple syrup
2-3 oz. gin (depending on how strong you like it)
club soda

Muddle the lemon verbena, fresh lemon juice and simple syrup at the bottom of a tall glass (collins glass). Then add the gin. Put crushed ice on top (this not only keeps it cold but also stops the leaves from getting in your mouth). Top off with club soda. Garnish with a slice of lemon.

NOTES:

We tried making lemon verbena simple syrup. It tasted like a high-end throat lozenge. Unless you want a Ricola cocktail, I don’t suggest it. Also, we tried it with another high-quality gin and found that it wasn’t as balanced as when made with Tru2 and we had to add some more lemon and simple syrup to balance the juniper flavor of the gin.

Is “lose weight” on your list of New Year’s resolutions? If so — or if you’re just trying to maintain your current weight — here are a few ways to cut calories without cutting out cocktails.

Skip the dessert in a glass

We all know that sweet drinks are higher in calories.

However, you might be surprised to find out just how many more calories they contain. A pina colada has nearly 400 calories, and a chocolate martini has nearly 500 calories. That’s four and five times the calories of a gin and tonic.

And, don’t even get me started on Long Island Iced Tea, which can have up to 700 calories in an 8-ounce serving.

Pay attention to the mixers and alcohol proof

Juices and sodas add flavor and calories to your drink. Even tonic water has 10 calories per serving. Try mixing with club soda, diet soda or Fresca. Also, the higher the alcohol proof, the higher the calorie count. Infused liquors can add flavor without adding calories, so you can cut down or eliminate the amount of juice or soda in your drink.
A jigger (1.5 oz.) of 80-proof vodka, gin or rum has 97 calories. The same quantity of 100-proof alcohol has 123 calories.
This helpful guide will tell you the calorie count for your favorite liqueurs, another source of hidden calories.

Consider low-calorie substitutions

Glamour magazine has some good recommendations for how to swap lower-calorie cocktails for higher-calorie favorites. For example, order a Mudslide instead of a White Russian and save 154 calories. Go for a Mojito instead of a Margarita and save 206 calories.

Baja Bob makes no-sugar mixers and Torini makes no-calorie flavored syrups — good ways to make your favorites at home in a lower-calorie way.

Recipes for cocktails under 170 calories:

Pomegranate Martini
Sour Apple Martini
Midori Lemonade, Midori Fizz, Zen Cooler and Zen Iced Tea
Diet Cuba Libre
Bloody Mary
Blueberry Lime Margarita
Low-Calorie Spring Cocktails

Photo credit: the prodigal untitled13

The New York Times reports of a new Gin from Oregon that tastes and smells like Christmas. Rouge Ales is now making artisinal spirits and they flavor their gin with essence of spruce trees. Writes the Times about Rogue Spruce Gin it, “evokes the wreaths and trees of the holiday season”.

Read the review:
Gin With the Scent of Christmas - NYTimes.com
Rouge Spruce Gin