Pink Gin cocktail

There are a few cocktails that are designed for the drinker who, for one reason or another, doesn't care for gin.  These are meant, I imagine, as a kind of gentle gateway tipple to the dark world of gin drinking. The gin is almost always hidden away behind other ingredients so while the overall flavor profile leverages the botanical ingredients, the actual flavor of gin isn't really obvious. The uninitiated can claim bragging rights for having tried and enjoyed a gin-based cocktail without ever having tasted the stuff.  This is, I imagine, not unlike drenching broiled snails in enough garlic and butter that when you enjoy escargot, you are, in effect, not experiencing anything new or particularly dangerous.  If you want such a drink, there are many fine beverages to choose from.  I might recommend the Corpse Reviver #2 which serves as a precursor to the somewhat more pedestrian Lemon Drop. The Fog Cutter is another excellent choice.  With these examples of mixological excellence, you will be guaranteed a delight for your senses that will not, even for a moment, reveal the notorious flavor of gin to your palette. These drinks are, at least in that regard, safe.


The Pink Gin cocktail is not one of those drinks.


 Pink Gin is, in the opinion of this writer, a varsity level cocktail. At it's core, it's really just gin and bitters, served as close to ice cold as you can. It's herbaceous and intense with an aroma not entirely unlike a good Indian curry... little wonder when you consider that this drink was probably concocted by the British military as a way to get the troops to take their bitters promptly before and after consuming a vindaloo whilst occupying India.  It's actually a beautiful cocktail but the gin has nothing to hide behind which is fine, as long as you like gin. Ian Fleming liked gin.  So much of it, he was known to drink a full bottle of the stuff per day. And the Pink Gin cocktail, macho drink that it is, was his favorite.  Little wonder then, that he had 007 quaff one.  The only oddity is that he waited so long to have him order one up.  It isn't until Fleming's final (and never truly finished) novel The Man with the Golden Gun that Bond has one.  And it's a pity because as cocktails go, Pink Gin is far more sophisticated and deserving of world wide recognition than is the "vodka martini".

Something of a misnomer, Pink Gin is more of a muddy orange, owing to the color of the Angostura aromatic bitters in it.

When James Bond orders one as he waits for Francisco Scaramaga, the villain of the piece, he calls the gin, specifying Beefeater and asks for "plenty of bitters".  He's on to something with the bitters but I prefer either Plymouth or Broker's gin.  Not only is Plymouth the traditional choice but it's a slightly sweeter gin and melds better with the bitters.  It's also a better product, in my opinion than the Beefeater.  Broker's is a London Dry style but it's strong citrus notes make it an excellent choice for this drink.

Here's how I like mine:

• 3 oz. Plymouth or Broker's gin
• 6 goodly dashes of Angostura bitters (sometimes if I'm feeling frisky, I'll add a couple dashes of orange bitters)

Shaken and served up.

I know what you're thinking.   You're thinking the old boy has forgotten his own rule about stirring the clear drinks and shaking the opaque.  And you are certainly welcome to stir. However, I find that the oxygenation (aka "brusing") that takes place when you shake this cocktail actually mellows it out a little bit.  Usually I'd argue against doing away with any of the flavor but as I said before, this is an intense drink.  A little buffing off of the edges is a fine thing.

Some bartenders will garnish with a twist of lemon and while this makes for a somewhat gentler experience, I find the lemon interrupts the delicate interplay between the gin and the bitters. If you find you must have one for courage, then at least try your second round without.

Cheers!

Vesper

As the first entry to this blog, it makes sense to start at the beginning.  The most famous cocktail 007 drinks is the one he creates in the first novel Casino Royale: The Vesper.


From Casino Royale, the passage reads thusly:

"A dry martini," [Bond] said. "One. In a deep champagne goblet."

"Oui, monsieur."

"Just a moment. Three measures of Gordon's, one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet. Shake it very well until it's ice-cold, then add a large thin slice of lemon peel. Got it?"

"Certainly, monsieur." The barman seemed pleased with the idea.

The barman wasn't wrong.  The Vesper is a beautiful drink, balancing sweet, dry, bitter and floral elements in a tightly constructed, dangerous little package.  Spicier than a dry gin martini, the Vesper promises sex, violence and high living in a way few other cocktails do. It was the perfect drink to launch Ian Fleming's stylish yet brutal series of novels and a worthy addition to the menu of any self respecting bar but it's not without it's problems.


The first problem with the Vesper, aside from the fact that most bartenders don't know how to make it is that the key ingredient that transforms it from a standard martini into the Vesper, Kina Lillet, doesn't exist anymore.  Lillet Blanc, the company's current offering is a very nice fortified wine, but just doesn't have the complexity or quinine elements to stand up to three parts of gin, even as diluted with one part vodka. And, at the time of this writing, no one else really offers a Kina. In fact, there is only one product on the market that claims to duplicate what Kina Lillet once was; Cocchi Aperitivo Americano.  Small batch distillers Tempus Fugit are coming to market with their own exhaustively researched Kina sometime soon so there will soon be more options to choose from. 


The second problem with the Vesper is that, according to those who seem to know, Gordon's gin isn't the same product in the U.S. as it is in the U.K. Many manufacturers adjust their recipes to meet local tastes and, over the years, often change recipes completely.  The U.S. product is, in the opinion of this blogger, simply disappointing.  Another gin is called for.  Of the gins I have tried, Plymouth, Tanqueray Ten, and Miller's are the most enjoyable mainstream gins and the Voyager brand from Tempus Fugit Spirits  is probably my favorite small batch gin for this drink.


And, his license to kill be damned, James Bond is wrong about the shaking.  A shaken spirits-based cocktail is less cold and less flavorful than one stirred because of the extreme oxygenation brought on by the shaking.  Also, dilution is an important factor in any mixed drink. Spirits forward drinks should almost always be stirred. Drinks with juice, milk or eggs should be shaken.  
Here's how I like my Vesper.


Stir with ice for 60 seconds:


3 oz. Voyager Gin or Miller's Gin
1 oz. Hangar One Vodka 
.5 oz. Cocchi Aperitivo Americano


Strain into a chilled coupe or martini glass and cut a fresh twist of lemon zest over the top so the oils from the peel coat the surface of the drink and enjoy in the company of beautiful women.