(24fl oz) London dry gin
Wash and trim the rhubarb and chop it into 2 centimetre (¾in) chunks. Scoop into a sterilised 1½ litre (50fl oz) jar. Add the sugar and lemon juice. Seal the jar and give it a good shake, then leave it to steep for 24 hours – this will draw the juices out of the rhubarb. After 24 hours, pour in the gin, seal the jar again and leave to steep somewhere dark and dry for 2 weeks. After 2 weeks, strain the gin through a sieve. Discard the rhubarb and pour the gin back into the jar or a sterilised bottle.
Raspberry Gin (makes approximately 800ml/27fl oz)
250g (8oz) raspberries
100g (3½oz) caster sugar
700ml (24fl oz) London dry gin
Drop the raspberries and sugar into a 1 litre (34fl oz) sterilised jar. Pour in the gin. Seal the jar and leave it to steep somewhere dark and dry for 2 weeks. Give the jar a shake every few days to help dissolve the sugar. After no more than 2 weeks, strain the gin. Discard the raspberries and pour the gin back into the jar or into a sterilised bottle.
Clementine Gin (makes approximately 900ml/30fl oz)
3 large (or 5 small) clementines
200g (7oz) caster sugar
700ml (24fl oz) London dry gin
Quarter the clementines, keeping the skin on, and add them to a sterilised 1½ litre (50fl oz) jar. Add the sugar and gin, seal the jar and leave it to steep somewhere dark and dry for 2 weeks. Give the jar a shake every few days to help dissolve the sugar. After 2 weeks, strain through a sieve. Discard the clementines and pour the gin back into the jar or into a sterilised bottle. If you leave this gin for 3 weeks, the flavour of the pith will come through and it will have a more marmalady flavour. Don’t steep it for longer than 3 weeks or it will become bitter.
Earl Grey Gin (makes approximately 700ml/24fl oz)
4 tbsp Earl Grey loose leaf tea
700ml (24fl oz) London dry gin
Drop the Earl Grey into an 800 millilitre (27fl oz) sterilised jar and pour in the gin. Seal the jar and leave it to steep for no more than 2 hours. After 2 hours, strain the gin through a sieve. Discard the tea and pour the gin back into the jar or into a sterilised bottle.
Sloe Gin (makes approximately 850ml/28fl oz)
400g (14oz) sloes
2 almonds
125g (4½oz) caster sugar
700ml (24fl oz) London dry gin
Prepare your sloes by pricking them all over with a sterilised needle or putting them in a freezerproof tub or bag and freezing them for 48 hours to crack them. Tip the sloes into a 1½ litre (50fl oz) sterilised jar. Lightly crush the almonds and add them to the jar with the sugar. Pour in the gin. Seal the jar and leave it to steep somewhere dark and dry for 3–12 months. Shake the jar every few days during the first couple of weeks to help dissolve the sugar. After at least 3 months, strain the gin through a sieve and taste it. If it’s too tart for your taste, stir in a little Simple Syrup (see below) until it’s sweet enough. Pour back into the jar or a sterilised bottle.
Simple Syrup (makes approximately 200ml/7fl oz)
When you’re first tasting an infused gin, it’s a good idea to have some sugar syrup like this on hand, in case the gin isn’t quite sweet enough. It’s also handy for making cocktails, as it’s much easier to mix than plain sugar.
100g (3½oz) caster sugar
100ml (3½fl oz) water
Combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan. Gently heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Bring to the boil, then turn down the heat and simmer for 2 minutes. Take off the heat and leave to cool. Pour the syrup into a sterilised jar, seal and store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
You can also add flavour to your Simple Syrup with herbs (see here), or aromatics (see here) for an extra dimension.
Before we start experimenting with other cocktails, we need to talk about martinis. Shorthand for elegance, sophistication, debauchery, vice and pleasure, martinis are the cocktails most novice drinkers aspire to. The perfect mix of fire and ice, martinis are urban cool, liquid satin silver bullets served in frosted glasses.
There are plenty of tall tales associated with the origins of the martini. The most famous concerns legendary barman ‘Professor’ Jerry Thomas, who mixed drinks around the US and wrote the 1862 Bar-Tender’s Guide, the first ever cocktail book. The story goes that Thomas was keeping bar in San Francisco when a tired, dusty traveller came in and asked for something new to drink. Thomas asked where he was heading and the traveller said Martinez. So Thomas mixed together gin, vermouth and bitters and called it the Martinez, which was later shortened to martini.
It’s a neat story, but it doesn’t seem to be any more true than the claim that the drink was made in honour of the Martini-Henry rifle or named after the Italian vermouth brand, Martini. The first actual martini recipe appeared in print in 1888, in Harry Johnson’s Bartender’s Manual, although that recipe still used sweet Italian vermouth rather than the dry French vermouth preferred today.
Martinis were the mainstay of cocktail parties in the early part of the 20th century and adventurous drinkers liked to put their own twists on the drink. The occultist Aleister Crowley, added laudanum to his martinis. Others played with the ratios of gin to vermouth, moving away from the wet mixture of four parts gin to one part vermouth to drier ratios of 7:1, 10:1 or, in the case of Winston Churchill, no vermouth at all.
As martinis evolved, a debate raged on: shaken or stirred? The main argument against shaking is that it ‘bruises’ the gin, which doesn’t seem likely as gin doesn’t have any capillaries to burst. What shaking does do is make the drink cloudy as little chips of ice break up and get muddled in with the liquid. For an ice-cold martini as clear as a lake in winter, stirring is the only way to go.
HOW TO MAKE A MARTINI
Below are two recipes for a martini, one dry with a ratio of 6:1, and a wetter version with a ratio closer to 3:1. For the vermouth, use a dry French vermouth like Dolin or Noilly Prat. For the gin, use your favourite – just make sure it’s good quality. A martini is no place to hide a bottle of cheap booze.
Dry Martini
10ml (1/3fl oz) dry French vermouth
60ml (2fl oz) good-quality gin
1 dash of orange bitters (optional)
Place your martini glass into the freezer for at least 30 minutes, or fill it with ice to chill. Half fill a mixing glass with ice and pour in the vermouth. Stir a few times to coat the ice. Pour in the gin and add a dash of orange bitters (the bitters are optional, but I like them in a dry martini to add a little extra flavour). Stir for 30 seconds, then strain the martini into your chilled glass, garnish as desired (see here) and serve.
Wet Martini
15ml (½fl oz) dry French vermouth
50ml (1¾fl oz) good-quality gin
Place your martini glass into the freezer for at least 30 minutes, or fill it with ice to chill. Half fill a mixing glass with ice and pour in the vermouth. Stir a few times to coat the ice then pour in the gin. Stir for 30 seconds, then strain the martini into your chilled glass, garnish and serve.
LEARN THE LINGO
With a twist
Garnished with a twist of lemon zest. This is the classic martini garnish and the peel is usually twisted over the top of the martini to spritz the