The 7 Best Gin Cocktails
Contributed by on Mar 22, 2019
Three readers love this post.
I compiled a list of 25+ of the most popular gin cocktails and asked subscribers on YouTube as well as Redditors and Facebook fans to vote for their personal favourite. There were over 500 respondents to the survey resulting in the Best Gin Cocktails list! Given the number of responses received, I decided to create a mini-series for The Best Gin Cocktails. Here are the top 7 gin cocktails based on these votes.
Watch the Video:
7 MOST POPULAR GIN COCKTAILS
1. AVIATION
The most searched cocktail on the internet back in 2013. The Aviation has been printed in numerous cocktail books – many of which excluded the Creme de Violette, as this liqueur was largely unavailable in the states until recent years.
INGREDIENTS
- 60mL London Dry Gin (2 oz)
- 22.5mL Fresh Lemon Juice (¾ oz)
- 15mL Maraschino Liqueur (½ oz)
- 1 Barspoon Crème de Violette
2. COLLINS
The Tom Collins would be one of the most well known of the Collins’, made using a sweeter style, Old Tom gin. The collins cocktail is a great base to create variations by adding complimentary components and flavours such as elderflower, lychee and other fruit flavours in the form of fresh fruit, syrups and liqueurs. Some collins’ recipes call for a dash or two of bitters but I usually omit this.
INGREDIENTS
- 60mL Old Tom Gin (2 oz)
- 22.5mL Fresh Lemon Juice (¾ oz)
- 15mL Simple Syrup (1:1) (½ oz)
- Soda
3. BASIL SMASH
In the mid 2000s a German bartender create the Basil Smash – a herbaceous gin sour recipe.
INGREDIENTS
- 60mL Gin (2 oz)
- 22.5mL Fresh Lemon Juice (¾ oz)
- 22.5mL Simple Syrup (1:1) (¾ oz)
- 2-3 Sprigs of Fresh Basil
4. BRAMBLE
In 1984, London Bartender, Dick bradsell tweaked a classic gin sour by adding Creme de Mure (blackberry liqueur). Use crushed ice so that the Creme de Mure cascades down making a nice visual effect whilst adding a great balance of sweet, tart and fruitiness. Feel free to tweak this by adding a jam whether it be blackberry, raspberry, strawberry or what ever you have on hand.
INGREDIENTS
- 45mL Gin (1½ oz)
- 22.5mL Fresh Lemon Juice (¾ oz)
- 15mL Simple Syrup (½ oz)
- 22.5mL Crème de Mure (¾ oz)
5. CLOVER CLUB
A pre-prohibition cocktail that was named after a Philadelphia men’s group consisting of business professionals. First published in 1901 in the New York Press. It fell out of fashion by the 1950s and became more of a ladies drink. Traditionally served with no garnish but you can utilise a lemon twist or skewered raspberry if you like. This particular recipe was published in Jeffrey Morgenthaler’s The Bar Book.
The Clover Club bar in NY have created a popular variation with the addition of 15mL of Dry Vermouth.
INGREDIENTS
- 45mL Gin (1½ oz)
- 22.5mL Fresh Lemon Juice (¾ oz)
- 22.5mL Raspberry Syrup (¾ oz)
- Fresh Egg White (half a small egg)
6. GIN FIZZ
A fizz is a sour lengthened with soda water. It differs from a collins as it’s shaken and has the addition of egg white – you can omit this if you prefer not use egg in your drinks.
INGREDIENTS
- 60mL Gin (2 oz)
- 22.5mL Fresh Lemon Juice (¾ oz)
- 22.5mL Simple Syrup (¾ oz)
- Fresh Egg White (half a small egg)
- Soda Water
7. FRENCH 75
The original version of the French 75 calls for cognac – but gin is the more common choice nowadays. It has a similar framework to a collins with the substitution of champagne or sparkling wine instead of soda.
INGREDIENTS
- 30mL Gin (1 oz)
- 30mL Simple Syrup (1:1) (1 oz)
- 22.5mL Fresh Lemon Juice (¾ oz)
- 90mL Champagne or other sparkling wine (3 oz)
