Category Archives: gin

Kris Von Dopek’s favorite Simple Cocktail

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Kris Von Dopek

Recently, I had the chance to sit down with Hendrick’s Gin Brand Ambassador Kris Von Dopek to talk about his role at Hendrick’s, and craft cocktails at home.

Kris, who’s from Chicago but grew up in London, has professionally bartended for over a decade. We spent our time together talking about home bartending, though. He said “In the 60’s everybody had a cocktail set at home and you made a Martini for your guests when they came over. The 70’s kind of killed the cocktail.”

We also talked about the outlook for home bartenders now that craft cocktails have really taken off. Kris told me “You know, companies (Hendrick’s included) are now spending a lot more time and money to educate consumers directly. From social media campaigns to cocktails on cooking shows, people have more information now and they can make better choices about the cocktails they make at home. ”

I asked Kris what his favorite simple cocktail is, and he told me a White Martinez. The Martinez is believed to be the cocktail that led to the Martini’s invention, so it’s certainly a recipe to know. Here it is:

white martinez with hendricks

White Martinez

  • 1 oz Hendrick’s Gin
  • 2 oz sweet white vermouth (I used Dolin Blanc)
  • 1 dash of bitters (I used orange bitters so it wouldn’t affect the color)
  • 2 dashes of maraschino liqueur (I used Maraska)
  • stir the ingredients in a mixing glass with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass
  • garnish with a lemon peel

We make a White Martinez on the Simple Cocktails Podcast. Listen here.

photo of Kris Von Dopek courtesy Jill Tiongco Photography

Gin and Milk

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gin and milk cocktail

Alright.

I’ve had the book Old Man Drinks for over a year, and it took me this long to get up the nerve to make one the the signature cocktails in that book: Gin and Milk.

Being a simple cocktail, Gin and Milk is totally qualified to be a featured recipe on this blog, but frankly, I’m not much of a milk guy. I don’t even drink my cereal milk after my bowl is through – I just dump it down the sink.

Being a gin lover, though, this cocktail interested me. It seems like it’d really work as we approach fall and winter, the nutmeg on top is a great addition to the flavor, but I’ll just tell you: it tastes like a moderately boozy glass of cold milk. But that’s ok, right?

Gin and Milk (from Old Man Drinks)

  • in a shaker, combine:
  • 2 oz gin
  • 1 cup milk
  • fill with ice and shake until very cold
  • pour into a chilled Collins glass
  • top with a shake of nutmeg

Kingston Cocktail

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kingston cocktail

The Kingston is a bit of a clash between styles – it’s both tropical and royal in one sip. Mostly a rum-based drink, the Kingston is jazzed up with a bit of gin, which adds some flavor, which works pretty well. It certainly drys out a drink that would be pretty sweet based on ingredients alone. Try out the Kingston and let me know what you think:

Kingston

  • combine the following in a shaker:
  • 1 1/2 oz Jamaican rum (author Stuart Walton says, “it would be inappropriate to use rum for any other location.”)
  • 3/4 oz gin
  • juice of half a lime (which is about 1/2-3/4 oz)
  • 1/4 oz grenadine (I used Jack Rudy)
  • fill with ice and shake well
  • strain into a chilled cocktail glass and garnish with a lime wedge

 

Beefeater Gin

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Beefeater and Beefeater 24

I can’t believe I haven’t tried Beefeater yet. I had a gin Old Fashioned with it at a bar in Seattle like 2 years ago, but that was the only time I had it until recently. What a shame!

Beefeater is a standard for London Dry gins, with it’s recipe dating back to 1820 (that date is stamped on the bottle). Beefeater 24 is a new premium-braded version of the classic recipe.

Since they’re relatively close in creation and location, I assumed Beefeater would taste like Tanqueray. While it’s certainly a classic London Dry gin, its flavor is pretty distinct. Beefeater has 9 botanicals, standards that you see in most London Drys, but one ingredient in the list really takes the lead: lemon peel. Beefeater is lemony and tart, which works well in lots of popular gin drinks like a Tom Collins or a Gin and Tonic, I can see why it’s often chosen as the well gin at bars.

For the premium Beefeater 24, the distillery adds more citrus and some rare asian teas to the distillate. Because Beefeater already has that lemon tang to it, 24 tends to lean more toward a faint tea and tart orange in it’s taste.

50-50 Martini

There’s a Martini variant that I occasionally drink, and Beefeater is a great fit for the 50/50:

50/50 Martini

  • 2 oz gin
  • 2 oz of a quality dry vermouth
  • 1 dash of orange bitters
  • stir vigorously with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass*
  • garnish with a lemon twist

*I used an RSVP Stainless Steel Cocktail Glass in this photo.

 

Tanqueray Old Tom Gin

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tanqueray old tme gin

Tanqueray’s gotten really good at building on founder Charles Tanqueray’s legendary recipe book, which can only be seen by current distiller Tom Nichol. Last year the company released (well, re-released) Tanqueray Malacca for a 100,000 bottle limited run, and this year, it’s a brand new (but still limited edition) product: Tanqueray Old Tom Gin.

Old Tom is a pretty ancient form of gin, the precursor to the familiar London Dry style. Old Tom is sweeter than London Dry, and I’ve found in the ones I’ve tasted that they are as bitey, but usually less piney than London Drys.

In the case of Tanqueray’s Old Tom, the bite is from the botanicals that usually sit in the background behind juniper, like clove or cinnamon spice, a sweet licorice taste on the tongue. This is a sweeter gin than you’ve probably tried, but I wouldn’t describe it as “sweet” (I realize that’s a bit contradictory). It’s sippable for sure, and a perfect fit in what might be a cocktail that’s named after it, the Tom Collins:

tanqueray old tom collins

 Tom Collins

  • in a Collins glass filled with ice, add:
  • 1 1/2 oz gin
  • 1/2 oz simple syrup
  • 1 oz lemon juice
  • stir, then top with club soda
  • stir again and serve with a straw
  • garnish with a lemon wedge and cherry

Owl’s Brew (A Tea Crafted for Cocktails)

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owl's brew bottles

A couple of weeks ago, my friend Vijay gave me a report from the Fancy Food Show, and told me “there were two interesting cocktail phenomenons there: tea infused everything and lots of unique cocktail syrups.” After some brief investigation, I ended up with 3 bottles of Owl’s Brew on my doorstep. 

Owl’s Brew is a natural, slightly sweetened, tea cocktail mixer with simple mixing instructions: “2 parts Brew with 1 part booze.” Packed in cool, matte black apothecary bottles, Owl’s Brew will run you $10 for a 8 oz bottle or $17 for a 32 oz, and it’s available at many retail locations nationally and online.

The three flavors of Owl’s Brew are:

  • Classic is English Breakfast tea, lemon, lime, and agave. This one has a very familiar tea flavor with a lemony tang that you’re already familiar with. There are many liquors you can mix with this one, but we like gin or whiskey the best.
  • Coco-Lada is black tea with chai spices, coconut, and pineapple juice. As with the Classic, there are lots of ways to mix this one, but spiced rum seemed to be a perfect fit. Our Coco-Lada bottle was drained the day we opened it.
  • Pink & Black is the fruitier tea of the bunch, with darjeeling, hibiscus, lemon and strawberry juice. We mixed this one with whiskey and gin, and gin seemed to be the best fit, though I imagine a splash of Pink & Black in your champagne would be incredible as well.

owl's brew cocktails

There are lots of good recipes listed at the Owl’s Brew site, but we stuck with their motto recipe of “2 parts Brew and 1 part booze,” and made these two drinks:

Owl’s Pina (pictured top left)

Gin and Tea (pictured top right)

The Owl’s Pina is so good that our 8 oz bottle of Coco-Lada was gone before we could blink (8 oz is enough for 3-4 cocktails). Gin and Tea is a great cocktail, too, and a tea lover will really enjoy having a bottle of the Classic on hand. Classic would also taste great mixed 1-to-2 (reverse the usual ratio) with a wheat beer.

While tea in cocktails isn’t a new concept by any means, Owl’s Brew introduces your cocktails to tea in the simplest way possible. Natural ingredients and a great combination of flavors make their black bottles an excellent addition to the hit-or-miss world of premade cocktail mixers.

Club Cocktail

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club cocktail

I suppose that a couple of centuries ago, cocktail names were pretty easy to get confused. In a world where you couldn’t use the internet to look up ingredients, many recipes traveled by word of mouth, and I imagine that some morphed into different recipes entirely. Take, for instance, the Martinez cocktail, which some believe developed into the Martini (trust me, they’re very different drinks). And in this case, the Club Cocktail, which is almost nothing like the more popular Clover Club.

The Club is very much like the Obituary Cocktail: a gin martini with the addition of an herbal flavor modifier. In the case of the Obituary, it’s Absinthe, and here, it’s Yellow Chartreuse. Let me know how you like the Club Cocktail:

Club Cocktail

  • in a stirring glass add:
  • 2 oz gin
  • 1 oz white (dry) vermouth
  • a dash of Yellow Chartreuse
  • stir with lots of ice until very cold
  • strain into a chilled cocktail glass

Income Tax Cocktail

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income tax cocktail

Here’s another great cocktail from The Savoy Cocktail Book. One thing I’ve noticed about these early-1900s cocktail books is that they often post their citrus measurements by size and not ounce, like “1/4 of a lime,” or “juice of one lemon.” It’s a quick guide, sure, but an argument against it is that citrus varies in size and juiciness based on where you are in the world.

Measurements aside, let’s just enjoy a drink! This cocktail looks awesomely orange and tastes great.

Income Tax Cocktail

  • in a shaker, combine:
  • 1 dash bitters
  • juice of 1/4 of an orange
  • 3/4 oz white (dry) vermouth
  • 3/4 oz red (sweet) vermouth
  • 1 1/2 oz gin
  • shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass

Russian Cocktail

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russian cocktail

Here’s a 2-ounce cocktail that’s ghostly white and is a really accessible recipe for most people. I found this one in Gary Regan’s Bartender’s Bible and it’s pretty different from it’s popular brother, the White Russian.

Remember that the general rule of thumb is if a drink is all spirits (liquors, liqueurs, vermouth), you should stir it, and if a cocktail has citrus or cream, you should shake it. Freeze a cordial glass to get it nice an cold, then stir this drink with as much ice as you can for as long as you can. You’ll end up with a nice, cold, chocolaty drink:

Russian Cocktail

  • 1 oz vodka
  • 1/2 oz white creme de cacao
  • 1/2 oz gin
  • stir with lots of ice and serve in a chilled cordial glass

G’Vine Gin

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g'vine gin, southside cocktail

There are some pretty common subcategories popping up in the gin world, though it seems the most dominant ones are the traditional London Drys (like Tanqueray or Beefeater) and the “softer” gins (like Hendrick’s or Aviation). Most gins share common botanical elements, and the way those botanicals taste will likely help you choose a gin for your cocktails.

G’Vine Gin is distilled from grapes in Cognac, France. It’s flavor is primarily licorice, which has a bit of a bite at the end of your sip. It’s a little bit sweet, too, and while the flavors are clear and pronounced, they’re also pretty mild, giving you a subtle cocktail ingredient that’s somewhere between vodka and the bolder London Drys.

I found a great cocktail for G’Vine. The Southside Fizz is growing in popularity, and to the unfamiliar, it’s really a “Gin Mojito.” You can also serve this without the soda and ice in a cocktail glass (just called a Southside then). Here’s the recipe:

Southside Fizz

  • in the bottom of a Collins glass, muddle mint leaves in:
  • 1 oz simple syrup
  • 1 oz lime juice
  • fill the glass with ice and add 2 oz gin
  • top with club soda and stir well