Author: corrie.pennington

Gimlet
gin

Gimlet | A 2- or 3-Ingredient Classic Cocktail

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The Gimlet is a classic cocktail made with gin, lime juice, and sugar. It's light, crisp, and refreshing, making it the perfect spring-time drink.
Gimlet

Wow. Crazy times, right? We are experiencing something unprecedented as a country–no, as a planet– right now thanks to COVID-19. I hemmed and hawed about whether or not I should post cocktail recipes, because it all seems a little frivolous right now.

However, I’m thinking you’ve got some extra time on your hands. And since I’m assuming most people can’t go out, I’ve compiled a list of several classic cocktail recipes that have 3 ingredients you probably already have. I’ll be writing them over the next week or two. If you don’t have the right ingredients, make some modifications and call it a quarantine experiment. Everything is more fun when you call it an experiment, right?

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links. If you buy a product via my affiliate link, I will receive a commission. This is at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products I actually like! 

The Gimlet is a classic cocktail. Traditionally, it calls for lime cordial (the most common being Rose’s Lime Juice). However, I don’t have any lime cordial and I’m not about to brave the stores for something so… unessential. So I’m improvising by using fresh lime juice and sugar. It’s definitely different than what a Gimlet usually tastes like, so make sure to give both versions a fair try once grocery stores and online-orders are bit easier to deal with. One plus side to using fresh lime juice is the extra dose of vitamin C. Extra vitamin C in a time like this sounds like a good idea to me.

The Gimlet is a classic cocktail made with gin, lime juice, and sugar. It's light, crisp, and refreshing, making it the perfect spring-time drink.

If you have citric acid chillin’ in your pantry, though, you can make this homemade lime cordial. I really want to try this in the future so if any of y’all make it, let me know how it is!

If you have some leftover rose simple syrup, honey simple syrup, matcha simple syrup, or beet simple syrup from one of my other cocktails, you could always use that in place of the traditional simple syrup in this recipe. See? So many ways to experiment while you’re stuck at home! Also– if you’ve got a kid at home with you, make them a mocktail with lime juice, sparkling water, and simple syrup. It’ll basically be a DIY Sprite, with no artificial weird stuff.

I opted to make this cocktail outside, because why not? It took me all of 45 extra seconds to carry the ingredients outside. I can’t believe it’s the first time I’ve ever mixed a drink outdoors. It definitely won’t be my last. I actually made this Gimlet while wearing my baby in a ring sling. Baby-wearing, cocktail-slinging. I am Mama, hear me roar. Or something like that.

The Gimlet is a classic cocktail made with gin, lime juice, and sugar. It's light, crisp, and refreshing, making it the perfect spring-time drink.f

The Ingredients for a Traditional Gimlet

The Ingredients for a Do-What-You-Can-With-What-You-Have Gimlet

How to Make It

Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker with ice. Stir until the syrup is incorporated well. Or rebel against tradition since we’re already not using lime cordial and shake the dang thing. Strain into a coupe glass or martini glass. Sip on your porch or balcony to add some vitamin D to your vitamin C.

Gin recommendations for Gimlets (or other cocktails that put gin on full display)

I only had Opihr gin on-hand (a spiced gin) and while it was still definitely good, I would recommend gins that lean more clean-tasting, like:

  • Hendricks (distilled with cucumbers, so this would be complemented in a Gimlet)
  • Bombay Sapphire
  • Prairie (certified organic & gluten-free) **This has been my go-to gin for years. I love supporting small-scale distilleries and family-run farms. I love, love, love this company. No, this isn’t a sponsored post but, uh, Prairie Organics if you’re reading… hi 🙋🏻‍♀️
  • Beefeater (has a less-pronounced juniper taste & goes nicely with citrus)
  • Koval (a kosher and organic small-batch dry gin)

I’m personally just getting into the wide, wide world of gin. Honestly, prior to starting this cocktail blog and building relationships with other cocktail bloggers, I didn’t know gins could be SO diverse and distinct. We’re all learning here together at Girl & Tonic! If you’re interested in delving into gins more, or you’re just bored at home with nothing to read because your library’s closed, The Gin Observer is informative and has a ton of gin brands and cocktail recipes to explore.

vodka

Rub of the Green | An Unexpected St. Patrick’s Day Cocktail

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A “rub of the green” is a way to usher in good luck, particularly in sports, but I think we could all use some extra luck (or maybe common sense and courtesy) in these crazy times. I know everyone has been reading post after post about COVID-19/Coronavirus, so I won’t say much about it except to say it WAS my inspiration for this cocktail, in a way. But whether you normally like to go on out St. Patrick’s Day or not, chances are most people around the world will be staying in this year.

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links. If you buy a product via my affiliate link, I will receive a commission. This is at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products I actually like! 

The Rub of the Green is a nontraditional St. Patrick's Day cocktail made with matcha simple syrup.

To be honest, I’ve only really celebrated St. Patrick’s Day once. Unless wearing green on March 17th counts, I’ve never been a bit St. Patty’s celebrator. Don’t get me wrong– I think Saint Patrick himself was, well, a saint– but the thought of drinking dyed-green beer all day makes me want to turn green. I’m not a proponent of binge drinking and I feel that’s what St. Patrick’s Day has become, or has been. Hoards of drunk people being out and about? Ehh, no thanks. Then again, I’m not a fan of sober crowds either. Is my introverted side showing?

But while St. Patrick himself is still in this conversation, check out this short 2-minute history video:

Someone who willingly went back to his captors to tell them about the forgiveness and love afforded them in Jesus? Sounds like someone to be celebrated after all. Although I’m not sure downing beers beside a bright-green river would make him feel particularly honored. Perhaps we can just try to bestow a little more kindness and love to those who are different than us. I think he’d like that a little more. If you’re intrigued by St. Patrick, here’s a more detailed history.

As I mentioned earlier, COVID-19 served as a starting board for my St. Patty’s recipe. I wanted to make a green cocktail for this holiday but I was not about to brave the crazed aisles of my local grocery store again. So, I resorted to looking through my pantry for green things. Hm… limes… tonic… OH! MATCHA POWDER… honeydew milk tea powder… cardamom… Turns out mixing honeydew milk tea powder with vodka is not very good. Maybe I’ll take that challenge on another day. BUT I was really into the matcha idea.

The Rub of the Green is a nontraditional St. Patrick's Day cocktail made with matcha simple syrup.

And thus the matcha syrup was born. You can check out the full recipe here. It is delightful and I’m excited to see what else I can make with it. It’s earthy but obviously sweet, hence the “syrup”. I’ve half a mind to use it to sweeten my iced green tea for an extra boost.

If I could go to the store, I would get some lime sparkling water to use in place of the tonic water. Tonic is a bit overbearing for such a delicate flavor like matcha. But, it was still definitely tasty.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day, y’all!

The Ingredients

How to Make a Rub of the Green

Make your matcha simple syrup. Add matcha syrup, vodka, lime juice, and bitters to a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake. Pour into a lowball glass filled with ice and top off with sparkling water or tonic. Garnish with mint.

The Rub of the Green is a nontraditional St. Patrick's Day cocktail made with matcha simple syrup.
Matcha simple syrup is a great way to invigorate your iced tea, sparkling water, or a cocktail.
simple syrup

Matcha Simple Syrup

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Matcha simple syrup is an excellent way to add an extra boost to your iced green tea, invigorate your sparkling water, or incorporate an earthy flavor into cocktails.

Matcha simple syrup is an excellent way to add an extra boost to your iced green tea or to incorporate an earthy flavor into cocktails. Matcha is finely ground green tea leaves. It has a ton of health benefits:

  • boosts metabolism
  • detoxifies the body
  • calms and relaxes, despite the caffeine it also possesses
  • improves concentration
  • high in antioxidants (in fact, it has over 100x more antioxidants than regular green tea!)
  • lowers cholesterol
  • has several vitamins and minerals like vitamin C, zin, magnesium, selenium, and chromium
  • is said to have cancer-fighting abilities, thanks to its high quantity of a catechin called EGCG (epigallocatechin gallate)
Matcha simple syrup is an excellent way to add an extra boost to your iced green tea, invigorate your sparkling water, or incorporate an earthy flavor into cocktails.

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links. If you buy a product via my affiliate link, I will receive a commission. This is at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products I actually like! 

Now granted, I only use a little of matcha in this recipe, and its quite literally steeped in sugar. So who’s to say how much of these benefits you’ll get from the syrup. I would guess not much. BUT it will impart a beautiful earthy flavor and green tint to your cocktails. That’s benefit enough for me. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Not a cocktail drinker? (Hi Mom) You can add this to your iced green tea or sparkling water for an extra boost of flavor and maybe, like, one or two tiny health benefits.

Ingredients

  • 1/2 teaspoon matcha powder (it’s pricey but a little goes a long way, even if you’re using it for tea)
  • 1/4 cup sugar (you could use stevia, coconut sugar, or agave to make this much healthier, but the ratios will be different)
  • 1/4 cup water

How to Make Matcha Simple Syrup

Add the sugar and water to a small saucepan and bring to a boil, or until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and add the matcha powder. It will clump so whisk well. I whisked it as well as I could before pouring it into my ultra-mini mason jar. Then I put the lid on and shook it again. That’s what finally got the last remaining clumpies out.

I opted to make a very small batch of this so that it wouldn’t go bad before I got to use it all (I’d say 4 weeks in the fridge max). Feel free to double it!

Matcha simple syrup is an excellent way to add an extra boost to your iced green tea, invigorate your sparkling water, or incorporate an earthy flavor into cocktails.

Feeling inspired? Check out my honey syrup, rose syrup, and beet syrup recipes.

Royal Rose - Organic Simple Syrup
whiskey

Irish Mule | The Easiest Way to Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day

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An Irish Mule is an easy way to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. This light and refreshing cocktail only has 3 ingredients: whiskey + ginger beer + lime juice.

The Irish Mule, sometimes dubbed a Dublin Mule, is another super simple cocktail. If you can make a Moscow Mule, then you can make an Irish Mule. The only thing we’ll be doing differently is swapping out the vodka for whiskey. Ideally, you would use Irish whiskey but I usually only have corn whiskey on hand. If you’re curious about the distinctions between all the different types of whiskeys (bourbon, rye whiskey, corn whiskey, etc.) read this enlightening article.

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links. If you buy a product via my affiliate link, I will receive a commission. This is at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products I actually like! 

Since I have Celiac disease, I steer clear from anything with wheat, barley, or rye. There is a lot of debate in the medical world about whether or not whiskey with gluten-containing grains is safe for consumption for individuals with Celiac. Some say the distillation process obliterates the gluten protein while others say even a trace amount is enough to cause an immune reaction. Personally, I’ve been playing it safe since I was diagnosed in 2014. Corn whiskey for me!

How amazing are these clovers? I mean, check out the size of the one in the mug–it’s bigger than a quarter! I live a bit out in the country and the back of our property is covered with clovers. In fact, they’re a favorite snack for our chickens. I *will* confess that I spent a little too much time looking for a four-leafed one. Alas, those may be as elusive as the leprechauns at the end of a rainbow.

Did you know that the reason clovers are associated with St. Patrick’s Day is because Saint Patrick used them as a means to explain the Holy Trinity? It’s a model that falls short of explaining such a complex concept, but that’s a topic for a theology blog, not a cocktail blog. 😅

While you definitely don’t have to serve this cocktail in a copper mug, using one definitely does up the experience. Check out all of these gorgeous options that are all less than $20.

If you like whiskey (not everyone does) and you like ginger beer (not everyone does), then you’ll enjoy the Irish Mule. Happy [early] St. Patrick’s Day!

An Irish Mule is an easy way to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. This light and refreshing cocktail only has 3 ingredients: whiskey + ginger beer + lime juice.

The Ingredients

  • 1.5 – 2 oz whiskey (Corn whiskey keeps things 100% gluten-free, but Irish whiskey makes this drink authentically Irish. You do you, boo.)
  • 4+ oz ginger beer (this one is my favorite)
  • 1/2 lime

How to make an Irish Mule

Fill a copper mug (or a lowball glass) with ice. Pour in your whiskey and fill the rest of your mug with ginger beer. Squeeze in half a lime. Stir to mix.

Wedding Gifts Copper Mugs Moscow Mules
Copper Mugs Moscow Mules
Whiskey Sour
whiskey

Whiskey Sour

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The whiskey sour gets a bad rap. To be honest, prior to creating the one you see in the picture, I’d only had one once… and that was the LAST one I ever planned on having. A friend bought it for me at a bar so I politely sipped until, Oh wait, someone’s calling me– hang on! *quickly places down drink & feigns sadness when it disappears a few minutes later* Don’t act like you’ve never been saved by a fake phone call.

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links. If you buy a product via my affiliate link, I will receive a commission. This is at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products I actually like! 

Most whiskey sours at your typical bar are going to be made with a whiskey sour mix. Y’all. Syrup-y mixes are rarely good. And if you’re the type who loves whiskey sour mix (no minimal judgment), I think you’ll enjoy a real whiskey sour ten times more. Fresh is always best. Change my mind.

One way that traditional whiskey sours are different from frat party whiskey sours is that the traditional version calls for an egg white. Truthfully, anytime I saw “egg white” as a cocktail ingredient, I kinda shuddered. I knew enough to know that they’re added to create foam and give drinks a silky texture… but the mental block was too great. Perhaps the apprehension stems from a childhood of banned raw cookie dough and a fear of Salmonella.

BUT I recently learned that only 1 in 20,000 eggs have Salmonella and that the average consumer will encounter 1 contaminated egg every 84 years. I’m not a big math person, but those numbers made me feel a lot more comfortable about using a raw egg white in a cocktail.

Plus, I also have my own backyard chickens so that puts me even more at ease. Although a healthy-looking chicken can still have Salmonella pop up in their eggs, it’s rare. But if you’re really freaked out by the possibility, just buy pasteurized egg whites in a carton. If you just need additional information before you can proceed, here’s a great article to read. Didn’t mean for that to rhyme but that was cool.

Here’s the little lady that made this classic cocktail possible. Internet, meet Helen. Helen, meet Internet. She’s a cochin (excuse her dirty feet feathers, but aren’t they adorable?) and is sweet as can be. She’s one of the more timid chickens my husband and I have had over the years but I absolutely love looking out the window and seeing her little cotton ball butt running across the yard.

If you’re starting to get serious about making cocktails at home, make this classic recipe and use a raw egg white. I double-dog dare you.

The Ingredients

  • 2 oz whiskey (I used a corn whiskey because it’s 100% gluten-free but you can use whatever you like)
  • 3/4 oz freshly-squeezed lemon juice
  • 1/2 oz simple syrup
  • 1 egg white – optional
  • 1-2 dashes Angostura bitters – optional

How to Make a Whiskey Sour

If you’re not using an egg white, just add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker with ice and shake. If you are feeling adventurous, or you already know you love an egg white in your drink, add all ingredients to your cocktail shaker WITHOUT ice. (This is called a “dry shake”.) Shake for 30-45 seconds. Then, add ice and shake for another 30-45 seconds. Your arm is going to be screaming but the more you shake, the better the egg white will incorporate into the drink and the more foam you’ll get. Strain into a coupe glass.

As the drink settles, the foam will rise to the top. Garnish with a few more dashes of bitters. Besides just looking fancy, they actually add to the aromatic experience of the drink.