With the weather warming up and Spring on the way, there’s no better time to sit outdoors and enjoy a cocktail or two. The ideal base spirit? Everyone’s favourite botanical tipple – gin. While going out to a bar may be off the cards for some, you can still enjoy drinks that are easy to assemble (and even easier to drink). To ensure your gin cocktails are the best in town, we’ve turned to bartender, cocktail aficionado, and Never Never Distilling Co co-founder Sean Baxter for advice. Here, Sean shares his 5 favourite classic gin cocktail recipes and tips for whipping up the perfect cocktail every time.
Related: The Best Luxury Gin Brands For Martinis, G&Ts & Beyond
Gin & Ginger
The Gin and Ginger is an often overlooked pairing, perfect for citrus-forward gin styles that are able to stand up to the intense spiciness of quality ginger beer. The botanicals used in our gin such as cinnamon and pepperberry perfectly compliment the spicy backbone of ginger beer with the mint and lime brightening the aromas off the nose.
As with any simple serve the quality of the ingredients is key to the success of the drink.
Ingredients
30ml Never Never Southern Strength Gin
100ml Quality ginger beer
Garnish: lime wedge, ginger slice and sprig of mint.
Directions
Add gin to empty glass, then pour the ginger beer in. Add ice cubes, garnish and serve.
Never Never Negroni
The Negroni is one of our favourite cocktails. It’s easy to remember, hard to stuff up and is always delicious. The history of the Negroni can be traced to Caffè Casoni in Florence. There’s no actual historical account (Italians never really wrote anything down), but it is generally believed that Count Camillo Negroni invented the drink when he ordered an Americano made with gin in place of the usual soda water (what a booze hound). It soon caught on and is now the go-to cocktail for bartender knock offs everywhere in the world.
Ingredients
30ml Never Never Triple Juniper Gin
30ml Campari
30ml Italian sweet vermouth
Garnish: Orange twist
Directions
Add all ingredients to a mixing glass, add ice and stir until the glass becomes frosted. Pour over a large chunk of ice in a fancy rocks glass. Add a twist of orange. Drink immediately.
Ginache Martinez
This twist on a classic Martinez is built using the classic recipe that utilised curacao. The Martinez was the precursor to the martini and was quite simply a twist on a classic Manhattan.
Ingredients
45ml Ginache
20ml Quality Sweet Vermouth
5ml Orange Curaçao Liqueur
1 dash of Angostura Bitter
Garnish: orange twist
Directions
Add all ingredients to a mixing glass. Add ice and stir. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and garnish with orange twist.
Triple Juniper Gin and Tonic
This signature serve is elegant in its simplicity but complex in character. Our Triple Juniper Gin was built for the perfect gin and tonic serve and is exquisitely complimented by the lemon and lemon thyme garnish.
Ingredients
30ml Never Never Triple Juniper Gin
100ml Fever Tree Tonic Water
Garnish: Lemon wheel and lemon thyme
Directions
Add gin to empty glass and top with 100ml of tonic water. Add ice cubes, garnish and serve.
Clover Club
The Clover Club is a classic gin cocktail, made famous by the club of the same name since the 1880s. It just goes to show, people have been loving pink drinks since day one.
Ingredients
60ml Never Never Triple Juniper Gin
20ml lemon juice
15ml sugar syrup
4 fresh raspberries
1 egg white (or substitute with aquafaba)
An extra raspberry to garnish
Directions
Add all the ingredients (except the garnish) to a cocktail strainer and shake hard (this is to emulsify the egg whites) for 10 seconds. Open up the shaker, add ice and then shake until the shaker frosts. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and garnish with a raspberry.
6 Expert Tips For Great Gin Cocktails
1. Pick a good gin!
Quality is always the most important thing. More flavour makes better gin and better gin makes better drinks. Pick a gin that is packed with as much flavour as you can find.
2. Good ice
Almost as important as the gin. Make sure you have enough and buy decent ice cube trays that make large cubes. Fresh is always good as well, the longer your ice is in the freezer the more it tastes like the frozen spag bol sitting next to it.
3. Quality ingredients
Both garnishes and mixers. Prep your garnishes before you mix your drinks; no one likes watery cocktails. Use mixers in small bottles or cans rather than buying massive ones so they don’t go flat in the fridge.
4. Measure, measure, measure
More gin doesn’t necessarily mean a better drink. Measuring will always result in the closest representations of the cocktails you’re making. If you don’t measure you’re going to end up with something unbalanced.
5. Equipment is important
But remember, any vessel can really work as a mixing glass and anything with a lid works as a cocktail shaker. Get creative. Use chopsticks as a stirrer, or mix your drinks in the base of a coffee plunger and use the plunger itself as your ice strainer.
6. Use resources that you trust
Not all cocktail recipes were made equal. Buy a good cocktail book and use that as your bible. I would recommend Regarding Cocktails by Sasha Petraske or A Spot at the Bar by Michael Madrusan and Zara Young. Also Difford’s Guide online is a good resource I use regularly. In terms of apps, Bartender is very easy to use and is worth the spend. It’s also important to have good company, great music and the perfect room temperature, but that’s certainly pushing it a bit!
Cocktail essentials
Triple Juniper G&T Flight Experience
Everything you need to craft the perfect gin cocktail or G&T, including Never Never Distilling Co’s award-winning Triple Juniper Gin, premium Fever Tree tonic waters, and garnishes.
In collaboration with Never Never Distilling Co.
