Best ways to drink gin ?

Gin is an alcohol whose main ingredient is juniper berry. It is often flavoured with other aromatic plants or citrus fruits. You can drink it pure or with ice cubes, add other ingredients or mix it with other drinks to make cocktails. The 2 best known gin cocktails are gin and tonic and dry martini, but there are many other ways to enjoy this alcohol.

1. Drink neat gin

Gin does not necessarily need to be mixed with other ingredients to drink it. You can drink neat gin. However if you like to try to drink neat gin, you should choose a high-end artisanal gin, like Mistello. Most standard gins have will taste like Vodka.

 Gin does not necessarily need to be mixed with other ingredients to drink it. You can drink pure gin. However, if you want to drink pure gin, you must choose a high-end artisanal gin, such as Mistello. Most standard gins have a very basic taste, similar to vodka.

This means that  gin is not served cold, nor accompanied by ice or mixed with other drinks.

 To drink your gin straight, pour a shot of gin (4cl) into a whisky glass. Sip the drink slowly by taking small sips to discover and savour all the flavours.

Our Mistello gin is the perfect gin to drink neat because of its aromatic complexity. You will find delicate floral notes associated with a fresh juniper followed by lemon verbena and finally the rich, authentic taste of sage and thyme. Absinthe brings a slight fennel flavour.

Drink cold gin / straight gin

You can drink it cold, but without ice cubes. Pour your dose of gin into a shaker with ice cubes. Shake it vigorously to mix the liquid well with the ice cubes. Filter the gin into a glass and enjoy it slowly to savour all its aromas.

You can also put the bottle of gin in the fridge for a few hours. By warming up in the glass, the gin will release its flavours and you can enjoy its aromas more easily.

Gin on the rocks

It is a fairly popular and appreciated method. Put a few ice cubes in a gin glass and pour a shot of gin on it. Turn the liquid in the glass to increase the contact of the gin with the ice. Slowly sip the gin to appreciate its aromatic palette.

You can replace ice cubes with fake stone or steel ice cubes. As these fake ice cubes do not melt, you avoid any dilution of the gin.

2. Best Flavour Pairings With Gin

 Gin is a fairly versatile drink that lends itself well to mixing with different flavours. It’s rather easy to create a great a good drink as long as you know what ingredients to mix.

The most popular way to drink gin is to mix it with a tonic. The addition of the tonic with its slightly bitter taste enhances and reveals the flavours of the gin; it is important to choose a quality gin to obtain a quality cocktail.

 Add a tonic

The tonic is a sweet sparkling drink that contains quinine and aromatic herbs that give it a slightly bitter taste.

Prepare a classic gin and tonic

This drink was developed in the British colonies as a way to fight malaria; English officers mixed quinine with gin and tonic water to mask the the taste of the medicine. This cocktail based on three ingredients is very easy to make even without experience.

To prepare a classic gin and tonic, mix the following ingredients: Ice cubes, 4cl of gin, 7cl of cold tonic, a  lemon wedge as a garnish

 Adding sparkling water 

Gin is an alcoholic drink with a fairly high alcohol content. It is often drunk diluted. The sparkling water is perfect for lengthening the gin and making it less strong. The quantity of sparkling water to add depends on your taste. 

You can choose a flavoured sparkling water to bring out more flavours. The choice of flavoured sparkling water is very wide and you can easily find the one that will best match your gin.

For our Mistello gin, we recommend that you choose a sparkling lemony water.

Adding citrus fruits or summer berries

Gin is made from natural botanicals and strong aromatics, you could try combining it with summer and spring fruits or citrus as the flavours of these fruits match perfectly with the base notes of gin.

 You can try to garnish the glass with a lemon or orange zest, a lemon wedge, a strawberry, blueberries. The options are almost unlimited.

One of the simplest cocktails is a mixture of gin with lemon or gin with strawberries.

Add aromatics herbs

This solution is ideal for gins with herbaceous notes or floral notes. Try to find an aromatic herb that either complements or contrasts with the flavours of your gin.

You can add: a sprig of fresh rosemary or thyme, fresh mint leaves, fresh basil leaves, fresh sage leaves, etc.

Our Mistello gin goes very well with rosemary or  sage.

3. Making cocktails

The possibilities of gin-based cocktails are endless. You can always choose to strengthen the flavours already present in the gin: lemony with lemon. It is often better to look for flavours that will complement or contrast.

A floral gin often does not need more flowers but perhaps a herbaceous or lemony touch would enhance it more.

Prepare a gin martini

One of the best known gin-based cocktails and an absolute classic is a gin martini: a cocktail famous and appreciated by both Churchill and James Bond.

You prepare a shot of gin with a dose of vermouth, mixed with a spoon or shaker and served with an olive or lemon peel.

 The amount of vermouth you add determines whether the drink is dry (less vermouth) or wet (more vermouth). A martini should be served  cold in a chilled martini glass.

Prepare a Vesper

Another cocktail that James Bond likes is the Vesper. It was created by author Ian Fleming in his bestselling book “Casino Royale” in 1953.

The recipe is as follows:

3 measures of gin, 1 measure of vodka, 1/2 measure of white Lillet

Originally the Vesper was prepared with Kina Lillet made with quinine but Lillet stopped the production of kina Lillet.