Last month I had a lot of fun at the Disaronno Mixing Star casting in Milan, with my cocktail Mr. Wolf, unfortunately I didn’t make to the Amsterdam Final, but it was a great experience nonetheless, and a great honor to be selected among the 40 Italian finalists. I had the chance to meet many talented professionals, tasted great drinks, and I was relieved to see that almost all the participants were following international mixology trends and techniques. I wish I could make time to visit all these great guys, but unfortunately, although Italy is a rather small country, travelling trough it can be expensive and tedious. Hopefully by the end of this year I’ll manage to check out one or two cool bars, and I will make sure to keep you readers posted.
Now to the subject of todays’ post: I have recently discovered that Beefeater is holding a worldwide competition for their Beefeater 24 gin, and to keep my new year resolution in check, I am going to submit a drink and try to get to the final.

HONEYFRUIT



Ingredients:
1.50 oz. Beefeater 24
0.75 oz. Carpano Antica Formula
0.25 oz. Peach eau-de-vie
0.75 oz. Grapefruit juice
0.75 oz. Honey syrup
0.25 oz. Lime juice
Pinch of pink Himalayan salt.

Garnish:
Grapefruit zest.

Prep:
Pour all the ingredients in a shaker and shake briefly but vigorously. Double strain into a chilled coupe.

I am a fan of Beefeater 24. I found it a great gin to work with and to mix, also its delicate flavor makes it suitable to create drinks for people who normally dislike gin.
For this comp I wanted to create something refreshing, pre-dinner, but with a bit of a kick to it. The deadline will be around the end of September, so I also wanted to make something that would remind summer, in all of its freshness and colors.
Grapefruit and honey is a good combo in my opinion and it does work well with this particular gin, although I had to include salt, to tone down the bitterness of grapefruit and to highlight the sweet notes of vanilla from Antica Formula. The peach eau-de-vie leaves a great fruity aftertaste, in contrast from the tea, honey and citrus that you get in the sip and swallow. The aroma is dominated by grapefruit oils but you can detect a hint of honey in there. Overall this drink is a mighty refreshing one, hopefully a winning one, but it is not finished in reality, as I want to add a dash or two of Dr. Elmegirab bitters, and I am thinking about the Teapot Bitters, so I will keep you all posted in the coming weeks as soon as my Amazon orders arrive. In the meantime, salute to you all and have a great summer!!!