Gin’s rich history and cultural impact has graced us with many memorable quotes. Here is a collection of my favorites, best enjoyed with an Upside Down Martini, in memory of Julia Child.

[My longevity is because of] .. red meat and gin. - Julia Child

A good heavy book holds you down. It’s an anchor that keeps you from getting up and having another gin and tonic. – Roy Blount Jr.

A perfect martini should be made by filling a glass with gin then waving it in the general direction of Italy. – Noel Coward

The proper union of gin and vermouth is a great and sudden glory; it is one of the happiest marriages on earth, and one of the shortest lived. – Bernard DeVoto

The only time I ever enjoyed ironing was the day I accidentally got gin in the steam iron. – Phyllis Diller

Zen martini:  A martini with no vermouth at all.  And no gin, either. – P.J. O’Rourke

I’ll stick with gin.  Champagne is just ginger ale that knows somebody. - Alan Alda as Hawkeye in M*A*S*H, episode “Ceasefire”

And the sooner the tea’s out of the way, the sooner we can get out the gin, eh? - Henry Reed

[Gin has produced] … a drunken ungovernable set of people. – Thomas Wilson

Gin was mother’s milk to her. - George Bernard Shaw

Gin by pailfuls, wine in rivers, Dash the window-glass to shivers! For three wild lads were we, brave boys, And three wild lads were we; Thou on the land, and I on the sand, And Jack on the gallows-tree! - Sir Walter Scott

I exercise strong self control. I never drink anything stronger than gin before breakfast. – W.C. Fields

I don’t know what reception I’m at, but for God’s sake give me a gin and tonic. - Denis Thatcher

Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine. – Humphrey Bogart as Rick in Casablanca

If you have any other quotes about gin that you think we’re missing, please pass them along! Thanks!

Traditional gins are best for for your holiday gin cocktails, including Tanquaray, Beefeater and even Gordons. For an extra holiday jolt, use Junipero gin.

Our five favorite gin drinks for this time of year are:

1. Negroni

A frequently-mentioned favorite here at Wired Gin, Campari and sweet vermouth impart a festive red color to the Negroni, making it the perfect gin cocktail for the holiday season:

1 oz gin
1 oz sweet vermouth
1 oz Campari

Fill a cocktail shaker two-thirds full of ice and add the ingredients. Shake for approximately 15 seconds, strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a slice of orange.

2. Emerald Isle

While the Negroni provides a gorgeous red color, the Emerald Isle cocktail provides a subtle green tint along with a winter-crisp flavor that fits the season:

1 oz gin
2 tsp Creme de Menthe liquor
2 dashes of bitters

Fill a cocktail shaker two-thirds full of ice and add the ingredients. Shake briefly, strain into a chilled cocktail glass, and garnish with a mint leaf or a maraschino cherry “ornament”.

3. Gin Toddy

Warm your cockles this Christmas with a hot gin toddy. It is simple to make, and it will certainly make you feel better if you catch a cold while doing all your holiday visiting. Here’s a great recipe:

2 oz gin
½ teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon sugar
8 oz boiling water

In a coffee mug, dissolve sugar into boiling water and add lemon juice and gin. Optionally, add a dash of bitters for a more exotic flavor. Garnish with a lemon twist.

4. French 75

Nothing says “New Year’s Eve” like a glass of champagne. But to give the evening more zing, the perfect New Year’s cocktail is the French 75, rumored to have been named after named after a 75 millimeter French artillery shell used in World War I. Caution: as much as a French 75 might seem quaff like friendly fire, it carries quite an impact.

1 oz gin
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon sugar
Dry Champagne or dry sparkling wine

Put sugar, lemon juice, gin and ice in a cocktail shaker filled two-thirds with ice. Shake with enthusiasm and pour into a champagne glass. Fill remainder of glass with champagne and garnish with a lemon twist. Happy New Year!

5. Best Gin Cocktail for the Holidays: Martini

Surprised?  I hope not.  Elegance and grace flow from a well-crafted martini made from a foundation of quality gin. Don’t get it wrong by forgetting the importance of vermouth!

2 oz gin
1 oz dry vermouth

Pick your gin wisely based on your audience. Gin aficionados will appreciate Junipero or Oxley, but casual drinkers may prefer a lighter, more frivolous gin like Hendricks or Leopold’s. With reverence, pour your selected gin into a cocktail shaker two-thirds filled with ice. add dry vermouth and shake while thinking festive holiday thoughts. (Frosty the Snowman, perhaps?)  Pour into a chilled martini glass, slide a lemon wedge over the rim of the glass and garnish with it. Perfect.

Enjoy the gin cocktails – in moderation – this holiday season, and best wishes for a fabulous new year!

Encouragement for the Cocktail Beginner

Many potential bartenders are just starting to explore the possibilities, but without proper equipment to deliver the flourish and flavor. These people crave the Oggi Pro Stainless-Steel 10-Piece Cocktail Shaker and Bar Tool Set. It’s everything you need to produce brilliant cocktails in one elegant package.

A Cocktail Party Gift for People on the Go

For the cocktail lover on the go, the perfect bar gift idea is the Picnic Time Manhattan Portable Cocktail Party. It features everything you need for cocktails for two on the go, including space for two bottles of your favorite spirits. We’d recommend a high quality gin along with some Noilly Prat vermouth.

Bar Gifts to Equip the Talented and the Hopeful

The WMF Loft Boston Cocktail Shaker is the perfect choice for both the beginner and the advanced mixologist. The Boston style allows for theatrical and efficient mixing. It is perfectly designed for at-home use and will certainly bring delight as a gift to a cocktail enthusiast.

A Brainy Bartender Gift Idea

For those looking for a bar gifts that make you think, consider a good book.  To start, don’t miss Martini, Straight Up: The Classic American Cocktail, from Lowell Edmunds. It provides an in-depth and very readable history of the martini’s power to advance civilization from someone who clearly knows the subject. For those with a perspective beyond gin, check out Jason Wilson’s Boozehound: On the Trail of the Rare, the Obscure, and the Overrated in Spirits that wanders through the most esoteric and wonderful spirits you’ve never known. Also, don’t miss Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails: From the Alamagoozlum to the Zombie 100 Rediscovered Recipes and the Stories Behind Them. Although the recipes are a bit on the sweet side, they provide a brilliant insight into the cocktails of today.

The Best Bar Gifts are the Best Bar Supplies

Finally, despite some hesitation in today’s puritan times, a bottle of gin is always an excellent bar gift idea for bartenders with good taste. Choose unique premium gins like Oxley Gin or interesting locally-produced unique gins like Greylock or CapRock.

Finally, and the best gin gift of all from our perspective is the bartender’s GIN compendium. Of all bar gifts, there’s none better to understand gin and why it is the foundation for so many brilliant cocktails.

One of the more popular examples among fans of mainstream gin is Hendrick’s. A traditional gin in most respects, Hendrick’s subtracts nothing noticeable from the blend of botanicals we’ve come to expect — but it adds cucumber and rose, and the cucumber in particular isn’t a background note like the grains of paradise used in Bombay Sapphire. It’s a pronounced, distinctive flavor — hardly as much as if it were cucumber schnapps we were talking about, or dill pickle vodka, but the cucumber is very much alive on the palate. Hendrick’s recommends that it be served with cucumber slices as garnish in place of the usual olive in the martini.

Another new gin that is a little further from the mainstream is Junipero, from the same part of the country responsible for the new century’s predilection for extreme IPAs. Anchor Steam Distillery — based in San Francisco — boosts the juniper in Junipero, making it the most Christmas tree smelling liquor you can imagine — a gin for gin-lovers who want strong flavors without cloaking that traditional blend. A gin to drink with cigars, perhaps, kicking brandy out of the back room, at least for the evening. San Francisco is also home to No. 209, a subtly herbal and spicy gin that diminishes the juniper considerably.

209 and many of the newer gins — especially the new gins that gin drinkers mean when they talk about “these modern gins” — are sweeter than the norm, which can make for an odd martini but should appeal to vodka drinkers accustomed to the sweeteners added to their flavored vodkas. One of the world’s best and most popular gin producers, Tanqueray, recently unveiled their latest gin: Tanqueray Rangpur is infused with rangpurs (a lime-like mandarin orange from India), floral and citrusy and electric green, and is sweet and smooth enough to drink straight or on the rocks. You may find it out of place in a martini, but it makes a good gimlet or gin and tonic.

Two French gins that have entered the market are less extreme than the new Americans. G’Vine is distilled from grapes (like the French vodka Ciroc) and includes grape blossoms in its botanicals; Citadelle has more citrus in the botanical blend than most gins. Citadelle, though, has considerably more juniper than its sweeter and mellower countryman.

In England, Whitley Neill is one of the more exotic gins around, using South African botanicals — baobab and Cape gooseberries — in a sort of “this could have been developed in the nineteenth century, but it wasn’t” blend. The usual botanicals are all still present, but the additions along with the diminishing of the juniper create something orangey and spicy — if you do make a martini with it, be sure and add a dash of orange bitters. Less spicy, despite the name, is Bulldog gin, which uses the longan (or dragon eye, as the company calls it, a relative of the more familiar lychee fruit), a fruit that does go especially well with gin. This is a gin that could easily be lost in a cocktail with too many ingredients — in a martini or a gin and tonic, it would be good garnished with a fresh longan or lychee, to emphasize that slightly fruity tropical note that has replaced some of the pine nose. It’s also excellent with grapefruit juice, in a Greyhound or Salty Dog. New gins can be quite good gins.

The martini is the most obvious, of course; while a martini was for decades a gin drink and only ever a gin drink, by James Bond’s time vodka had begun to appear, and by the age of the three-martini lunch, one or two of those tax-deductible martinis were probably vodka spritzed with the breath of vermouth and floating a plastic-sword-speared olive.  The gin and tonic, thankfully, has gin right in the blessed name, so at least people who want vodka have to order a vodka tonic.

But order a rickey or a gimlet and you just might get vodka and lime.  Even the Tom Collins has been to a great degree displaced by its vodka cousin, the lemon drop.  Had the trend continued unabated, might we not soon see the Ramos Vodka Fizz, or a French 75 made with Ciroc?  It is, luckily, very easy to fight back — by replacing the vodka in traditional vodka drinks with gin.

A Cosmopolitan is, to its credit, one of the better vodka drinks.  The combination of cranberry juice, vodka, triple sec, and lime juice is built to proper cocktail proportions — this is a far cry from the vodka and Diet Coke concoctions that put drinkers up in arms.  But use 2 parts gin to 2 parts cranberry juice and 1 part each of fresh lime juice and triple sec, and you’re dealing with an even more well-rounded drink — the dryness of the cranberry and tartness of the lime play against the flavor notes of the gin beautifully without being overshadowed, and given the piney nose of gin’s juniper, what more festive pairing than cranberry?

Then there’s the Greyhound and the Salty Dog (which is just a Greyhound in a glass with a salted rim).  So often made with vodka these days, both vodka and gin are attested in older cocktail guides.  The bitterness of grapefruit juice is a good complement to gin — and without the gin, well, it’s just a glass of juice that’ll get you tipsy.  Where’s the pleasure in that?  Combine three parts grapefruit juice to one part gin, on rocks or with soda, and enjoy.

One of the drinks that put vodka on the map was the Moscow Mule — vodka and ginger beer.  Audrey Saunders, the bartender behind the Pegu Club in New York City (one of the epicenters of the modern cocktail scene), has come up with the Gin-Gin Mule, showing that the Moscow Mule was missing something all along.  To 1 1/2 ounces gin, add 1 ounce ginger beer, 1 ounce simple syrup, 3/4 ounce fresh lime juice; muddle mint in the glass before pouring the drink, serve over ice, and garnish with more mint.  Audrey insists on homemade non-carbonated ginger beer, which she makes in bulk: boil a gallon of water, blend a pound of ginger with two cups of it, return the ginger puree to the water, and let it stand for an hour with the juice of two limes; strain, pushing on ginger to extract as much juice as possible, and add 1/4 cup of brown sugar.

Of course, these drinks needn’t be used purely as revenge against vodka’s crimes — they’re also good introductions to gin for people familiar with the vodka versions.  None of these drinks hides gin’s flavor, but they pair it with familiar “safe” flavors — if you’re new to gin, it would be better to start here than with a Singapore Sling or an Aviation.

A Brief History of Pimm’s

According to Imbibe Magazine, Pimm’s cup was first concocted in 1823 by London oyster bar owner James Pimm as a “house cup” or punch to serve with shellfish. It was the custom of pubs to have a signature drink, and James Pimm’s gin-based house cup gained notoriety over all the others so that by 1851 it had become a favored drink throughout the city of London. The Wine Enthusiast Magazine says that Pimm’s Cup was first touted as a digestive aid and was served to customers in tankards that were called “No. 1 Cups.” By the late Victorian era Pimm’s Cup had become the toast of British officers for as far as the sun could rise over the British Empire.

How the Wimbledon Experts Make a Pimm’s Cup Cocktail

As we previously mentioned, Pimm’s No. 1 Cup in a tea-colored, gin-based  mixed drink, essentially a liquor. Dry gin is mixed with liqueur, fruit juices and spices in a proprietary recipe.  Of course, Pimm’s No. 1 is made in England. The exact ingredients of Pimm’s No. 1 are a closely held secret:  Only six people in the world know exactly what those ingredients are.

During a recent interview at a party on the grounds of Wimbledon, Martin Joyce, the director of operations at the official caterer of Wimbledon (FMC), gave the following instructions for how to make the best Pimm’s Cup cocktail:

Pour a measure of of Pimm’s No. 1 Cup (about 1/16th of a bottle) into a highball glass filled with lots of ice to the top, and you top it off with lemonade or 7-Up (more lemonade than 7-Up). Then, you finish it with half a strawberry, a little sprig of mint and a little bit of cucumber skin. Using the right garnish is key to the presentation of a Pimm’s Cup cocktail. Joyce added that normally FMC would add a sprig of borage (an herb with bright blue flowers), but at Wimbledon the quantity of Pimm’s Cups ordered is too high to keep sufficient stock of the herb: At least 10,000 to 15,000 Pimm’s cups are served daily at Wimbledon. At 50 proof, Pimm’s is just the right drink for staying fashionably cool in polite society.

Cucumber & Royale

Our friends at Hendricks revealed this delight of a drink:

1 oz Hendricks Gin
½ oz cucumber simple syrup (1 cucumber blended with 4 oz simple syrup)
rosé champagne

Pour ingredients in order into a champagne flute and stir gently. Garnish with cucumber slice and enjoy.

Tower of London

Bulldog Gin suggests this intriguing combination with an earthy green tea foundation and floral overtones:

2 oz Bulldog Gin
1½ oz St Germain Liqueur
2 oz green tea
1 oz simple syrup
0.5 oz sake

Shake well. Serve in a highball or collins glass over ice. Garnish with lychee.

French 75

Many people suggest the French 75 for a springtime cocktail, although we enjoy it year round. After all, a drink named after a World War I artillery shell should be enjoyed across the seasons. Nevertheless, the brightness of the champagne in this drink evokes summertime refreshment while the sweetness keeps the flavor profile grounded in spring. Plus the yellow pastel color matches the finest spring attire:

1½ oz gin
2 oz lemon juice
1 tsp quick-dissolving sugar
champagne

Fill a cocktail shaker two-thirds full of ice and add all the ingredients except champagne. Shake, then strain into a chilled champaign flute and top with a champagne. Garnish with a cherry.

Miller’s Pear-fection

This luscious cocktail from Martin Miller’s Gin also has a fabulous pastel color – orange – that certainly fits the season. The interplay between the gin, Pernod and Pear flavor is also plenty of fun!

2 oz Martin Miller’s Gin
4 oz pear nectar
½ oz Pernod Anise
1 oz simple syrup
0.5 oz sake

Shake well. Serve in a highball or collins glass over ice. Garnish with lychee.

There you have it. The best gin cocktails for spring from many different perspectives!

1. Stellar Gin Apple Cocktail

As we celebrate the onset of the fall apple-picking season, Stellar Gin recommends this seasonally appropriate version of Gin & Juice:

1½ ounces Stellar Gin
3 ounces apple juice
Squeeze of lemon juice
1 apple slice (red or green), for garnish

Fill a cocktail shaker two-thirds full of ice and add the ingredients. Shake for approximately 15 seconds, strain into a chilled cocktail glass, and add the garnish.

2. Satan’s Whiskers

Eric Felton recently extolled the virtues of Satan’s Whiskers in a recent Wall Street Journal column Halloween Cocktails Needn’t Be Frightful. Here’s his excellent recipe:

½ oz gin
½ oz dry vermouth
½ oz sweet vermouth
½ oz freshly squeezed orange juice (blood oranges preferred, of course)
½ oz Grand Marnier
1 dash orange bitters

Stir with ice until bitingly cold and then strain into a stemmed cocktail glass. Garnish with orange twist. For a variation, substitute Cointreau Noir for the Grand Marnier.

3. Negroni

With a reddish color to match autumn’s falling leaves, the Negroni is the classic cocktail of choice for the cool fall evenings:

1 oz gin
1 oz sweet vermouth
1 oz Campari

Fill a cocktail shaker two-thirds full of ice and add the ingredients. Shake for approximately 15 seconds, strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a slice of orange.

4. Maple Gin Fizz

As described earlier this year at SlashFood, Jason Neu created the Maple Gin Fizz, which feels like an invitation to winter with its robust amaretto and maple flavors.  A cockle-warming delight!

2 ounces gin
½ ounce amaretto
½ ounce cream
1 egg white
½ ounce pure maple syrup
1 ounce lemon juice
Seltzer

Shake all ingredients except seltzer with ice for at least one minute. Strain into a champagne flute and top with a splash of seltzer.

5. Thanksgiving Gin Cocktail

This recipe has many variations, but we believe this version is just the thing to get you in the turkey mood.

1 oz gin
½ ounce dry vermouth
½ ounce apricot brandy
½ teaspoon creme de cassis
½ teaspoon lemon juice

Fill a cocktail shaker two-thirds full of ice and add the ingredients. Shake for approximately 15 seconds, strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a cherry.

The Gin & Tonic has probably has the richest history of any gin beverage. Tonic water’s history in Europe dates back to the 1600′s, but it has been in use far longer by the Quechua Indians of Peru. The unique flavor of tonic water comes from quinine, which the Indians derived from the bark of the cinchona tree, or “quina”.  It has been used as medicinal “tonic” to relieve the symptoms of malaria and alleviate shivering in cold temperatures. Some believe it can help restless leg syndrome, leg cramps and other problems because it acts as a muscle relaxant.

Today’s commercial tonic water is only a distant, sweet “lite” version of the original. In the United States, this quinine-less flavor arises from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) limits for tonic water content to be less than 83 parts per million. That’s for good reason. Health benefits aside, quinine at medical concentrations has plenty of side effects, from cardiac arrhythmia, Cinchonism and other risks from overdose. Consult the FDA summary for more information. Therefore, if you dare to explore this “how to make tonic water” post, be careful that your concentration of quinine is not too strong and check with your friendly neighborhood chemist to confirm it. Legalese: Don’t blame us if you get sick.

Nevertheless, homemade tonic water is delightful – much more flavorful than the processed dreck that most purveyors sell (Q Tonic, Fentimans and John’s Premium Tonic Syrup are notable exceptions). Many interesting recipes on the web (such as here, here and here), include exotic ingredients like saffron, lemongrass and allspice that only distract from the taste of a gin – even though they may be fine beverages to help rescue a vodka and tonic from inadequacy. After skillful research, many catastrophes in the Wired Gin labs – as well as some delightful tastings – here is how to make the best homemade tonic water in the world:

The Ultimate Tonic Water

• A scant 1/4 cup of Cinchona Bark
• One quart (four cups) of water
• Juice and zest of two limes (or lemons if you want a brighter “right of the pond” taste)
• 1/4 cup of Citric Acid (also known as sour salt at some local grocers)
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 3/4 cups cane sugar
• Sparkling water, such as from a Sodastream, an iSi Soda Siphon or just club soda purchased from your local grocer

In a small pot, boil the water with the cinchona bark and lime juice at a low simmer for 30 to 45 minutes. Filter the resulting “tea” through a coffee filter to remove the debris from the cinchona bark and lime zest. While the liquid is still hot, add the sugar, salt and citric acid and stir vigorously. Cool the syrup in your refrigerator.

You’re almost there!

After the syrup has cooled, if you want to try plain tonic water,  add 1 part syrup to 2 to 3 parts sparkling water to taste. You’ve just created the most elegant, woodsy and deep-flavored tonic water. Ever. But, as British officers knew 150 years ago, this beverage needs gin! Experience this version, then move on to the recipe below.

To make the perfect homemade gin & tonic, start with a hearty gin such as Junipero or Tanquaray Classic. Into your favorite gin & tonic glass pour:

• 2 parts gin
• 1 part tonic water syrup
• 3-4 parts sparkling water

Drop a few ice cubes into your glass, admire the unique amber color of your beverage and quaff with delight.

Many insightful people have posted tonic water recipes with far more exotic ingredients (here, here and here), including saffron, lemongrass and coriander. Ugh. These only cover up the creativity of the gin maker! Gin has so many botanicals, so why pollute its flavor?  If you buy bad gin (or even worse, vodka), these recipes may be helpful. However, try this recipe with a good gin and your taste buds will fly!

Please comment if you’ve had a chance to make this tonic and have ideas to bring it closer to gin perfection!

In the recent article Gin Time, Cheers Magazine reports on the increasing popularity of gin, attributing it to a combination of classic cocktails and the rise of New Western gins like Bluecoat, Beefeater 24 and Aviation.  They have it half right. Classic cocktails are the foundation of gin’s rise in popularity. Interest in all the classics like the Negroni, Pimms Cup and, of course the martini, have all contributed to gin’s recent popularity.

However, excellent cocktails demand a flavorful gin, and the focus on New Western gins is misguided. A martini without the woodsy elegance of juniper is disappointing at the least, and evolves into flavored vodka at the worst. Juniper defines gin. Distillers can play with the botanicals around the juniper to create innovative new gins. However, the less juniper you have, the less gin you have. New Western gins can function as “starter gins” for the fearful. However, gin needs juniper and, as the article states, “juniper-forward gin brands continue to lead the gin category.”