Old style Dutch gin, fresh squeezed lemon juice, ginger syrup and orange flower water over ice with a twist.
When entertaining, I like to have a specialty cocktail or two ready to offer guests when they arrive. As I explained in the previous post, I designed my most recent menu around the Stella & Dot Autumn jewelry collection. As guests arrived, I debuted my new Ginger Gin Cocktails!
The creative director of Stella & Dot reported that when designing this fall’s collection, she was inspired by the words bold, extraordinary and style makers. When contemplating this sipping concoction, I decided on autumn colors and flavors that felt warm and cozy for the season with bold flavors and a feminine touch.
Instead of using more traditional gin, I used a bottle of Oude Genever that we have had on our bar for awhile. In fitting with the designer’s themes, it felt like a more bold choice than the usual liquors used in girly drinks. Genever is a traditional Dutch gin that is made in the old (oude) or young (jonge) style. Old genever is also caramel colored, which fit the gold and warm toned jewelry, and has more of a whiskey-type flavor than a juniper aroma. If you can’t find genever, you may want to use whiskey in this cocktail over a highly aromatic gin like Bombay Sapphire. I tried it and there were too many aromas with the citrus, ginger and floral-y juniper.
Sweet ginger syrup brings warmth to the drink while the fresh citrus adds some acid to balance the sweet. The orange flower water felt like an understated feminine touch. Guests were complimentary of my elixir and quickly drank through the entire pitcher! I was pleased as this is one of my first forays into cocktail concocting.
Pictured Above: The Pegasus Necklace. If you are interested in splurging on any jewelry, you can click on the link and buy it from my pal, Jodi. You may be prompted to choose a “trunk show” and you will see my name (Caroline).
Ginger Gin Cocktail
5 ounces Oude Dutch Genever
1 1/2 ounces fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 1/2 ounces ginger syrup (recipe below)
1/2 teaspoon orange flower water
Orange twists for garnish
Ice
Combine all ingredients and pour over ice. Garnish with orange twist. You may also double or quadruple the recipe and have it in a pitcher to pour over ice as guests arrive.
To make ginger syrup:
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup water
3 inch piece of ginger peeled and sliced
Combined sugar and water in a sauce pan and heat until sugar is dissolved. Add ginger and simmer for 15 minutes. Turn off heat and cover and let stand longer for stronger flavor. Strain out ginger. May be made ahead and kept in refrigerator for a number of days.