If you think about it, gin & tonic is actually pretty simple — you just need gin and tonic water! So why the recipe?? Last New Year’s Eve, we tasted the best Gin & Tonics in SLS Hotel in Las Vegas, at Jose Andres’ restaurant Bazaar Meats. It was the first item on the beverage menu, highlighted as their signature drink, so I decided to have one…and a few more after that. Haha! We all headed to the bar and I watched the bartender make the drinks. I just knew I had to recreate this someday!
And that someday was last night. 😛 I finally found the perfect tools and ingredients to make the perfect G&T’s.
Lemon & Lime
Use a vegetable peeler to get a strip of lemon zest. Thinly slice a lime.
(Ceramic knife and vegetable peeler cropped out on right)
Take half of a lemon and use it to rub the insides of the glasses. Don’t squeeze the lemon! Just rub. I guess this is the step that ups the G&T game.
Ice Balls
Of course you can use regular ice for this drink…but so boring. Haha 😛 These ice balls not only make your drinks look sleek; they will also last you a couple more refills, and won’t water down your drink as much. Some sphere ice molds work better than others, and I find that this Zoku ball ice mold does. Price is cheaper online, but if you want to save all the shipping hassles, you’ll find them at SM Dept Store (which is where I got mine) for a little over P1000. The box comes with just two ice molds, so I’ve been making and collecting ice (for future house parties) since I bought it. 😛
Gin & Tonic Water
Take 1 lime slice & 1 lemon zest peel and drop it in each glass. Add 1 to 1.5 parts Gin to 3 to 4 parts tonic water. You can use the cap of the gin bottle to measure. Lightly stir.
Juniper Berries
I found some dried juniper berries at Santi’s (though they read “juniFer berries” hehehe and it was NOT a typo because it was a handwritten label stuck on each tub) for just P33 per tiny container. Find it in the dried herbs section.
Hmm…maybe we should have a crafts + cocktails party soon! 😛