Last year the gorgeous Steph from That Boutique-y Gin Company put together an incredible array of advent serves to go with the Boutique-y Gin Advent Calendar. She did an fantastic job and I can only imagine the amount of time it must have taken her to compile.
This year she handed the baton to us, asking if we could come up with our own creative serves using gins which were to be featured in this year’s calendar. This sounded like a lot of fun, I’ll do it!! The boutique-y gin I picked to play with was 7 continents gin, made in collaboration with World Gin Day organiser Emma Stokes aka Gin Monkey. I love this gin as it’s crisp, clean and incredibly versatile which makes it fab for playing with in cocktails. It works brilliantly in cocktails like a red snapper and a salty dog, so I figured it would be great in a margarita…and I wasn’t wrong! If you want to keep up to date with the advent serves, or are just looking for some inspiration for festive tipples, then all the recipes are available on the Boutique-y website. But in the meantime, enjoy…
Blood Orange and Cumin Margarita
You’re going to need:
- An Old Fashioned Glass (short tumbler)
-
30ml gin*
-
60ml fresh blood orange* (Waitrose also sell bottles of the stuff!)
-
20ml lime*
-
A touch of simple syrup if it’s too tart, but I like it as is
- Salt and cumin for the rim of the glass
The Glass
Firstly you’re going to need to decorate your glass, to do this, combine salt and cumin together on a plate or in a dish. Then run a lime around the rim of the glass then dip into a salt and cumin mix. If your mixture doesn’t stick, try dipping the rim of the glass into a touch of simple syrup as it it much stickier than lime juice. Once your glass in ready, fill it with ice and set to one side which you crack on with your cocktail.
The Drink
Combine your gin, blood orange and lime in a cocktail shaker filled with ice and shake vigorously. Now carefully pour the liquid into your decorated glass and enjoy. If you’re finding the cocktail a little too tart, add a touch of simple syrup and give it a stir.
Let me know how you get on, happy cocktail times!
*As the advent gins come in 30ml drams, everything has been adapted so it can be measured out using the dram bottle itself.
**Glass by Thumbs Up and available at various online stores such as Amazon and Not On The High Street.
Gin Obsessions 