Durban - “Of all the liquors in the world, gin is probably the most misunderstood, the most maligned, the most abused.” So said New York attorney and author, David Embury in his 1940s book, The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks. More than seven decades later, gin is the toast of the town and the drink of the season.
Ndumiso Mncwabe
Owner of mobile bar, Bars Equipped, and MasterChef SA Season 3 contestant
Melon Fresh Gin Cocktail
2 parts Gin
0.5oz of elderflower Syrup
0.5oz of watermelon Syrup
1part lemon juice
1 tonic
Cucumber
Lime
Mint Leaf
Take a chilled Shetland glass and fill with crushed ice.
Pour in gin, lemon juice and elderflower. Mix ingredients with bar spoon, add more crushed ice and pour in your watermelon syrup. Top up with tonic water. Stir with a bar spoon to mix the watermelon syrup with the other ingredients. Garnish with a fresh mint leaf as well as a cucumber log and a lime circle.
Gin to use is Hendricks, Gordons or Bombay Saphire.
Haroon Haffajee
Runner-up of South Africa's World Class National Final Mixologist Competition
Tanqueray, Tea and Tonic
50ml Tanqueray
1 flavoured teabag – think of flavours like rose and hibiscus, strawberry and kiwi or pomegranate and orange
Tonic water (Fitch and Leeds is a great brand to try)
Fresh slice of orange or grapefruit
Pour the gin into a large glass (one of those huge burgundy wine glasses that looks like a mini fishbowl will do) and throw in the teabag.
Leave to rest for 2 minutes (more if you want an extra kick of the tea flavour) and then squeeze out the teabag into the glass.
Top with lots of ice (very important if you want the drink just right).
Add the tonic water, stir and garnish with the fresh fruit.
For those who find tonic water is not to their taste, it can be replaced with soda water (dry) or lemonade (sweet).
Steven Saunders
Oyster Box Hotel
Sparkling Watermelon
50ml Tanqueray
3 chunks fresh watermelon (squashed to extract the juice)
20ml Aperol (Italian aperitif)
20ml lemon juice
20ml sugar syrup (equal parts sugar and water mixture)
Top with sparkling water. Watermelon wedge to garnish.
Rosemary and Cucumber G&T (this twist is divine)
50ml Tanqueray
3 wedges cucumber
25ml rosemary syrup (reduce fresh rosemary in a pan with sugar and water)
Dash Angostura Bitters
Combine ingredients and enjoy.
Ryan Duvenage
National mixology and training director at the Barcode Bar Academy. Twice South African National Cocktail Champion. Represented South Africa at the 2010 IBA World Championships in Singapore, and in 2009 in Berlin, where he was placed seventh in the finals.
Tropical Butterfly
35ml gin (I used Beefeater Summer Edition, but anything with a citrus edge to it will do)
Pulp of 1 granadilla or 25ml granadilla juice
15ml sugar syrup*
15ml lemon juice
50ml pear puree**
3 fresh strawberries (hulled and halved)
A scoop of ice cream
*Sugar syrup
Combine equal parts white sugar and water in a pot. Heat and stir until sugar is dissolved. Do not boil. Pour into a clean glass jar or bottle and store refrigerated for up to a week.
**Pear Puree
In a blender combine 1-2 ripe pears with 25-50ml of sugar syrup and a splash of lemon juice.
Blend until smooth.
Method
Combine strawberries and sugar syrup in a cocktail shaker or mixing glass and muddle well. Add other ingredients and a large scoop of ice. Shake well until the outside of the shaker is well
frosted. Strain into a tall glass filled with ice. Garnish with slices of fresh pear and strawberry.
Sunday Tribune