Strawberry Smash Cocktail with Gin and Basil

Strawberry Smash Cocktail with Gin and Basil

At the beginning of strawberry season I composed a list of recipe ideas. With this cocktail the list is complete and I am free to move on to other things. Ah, but what a way to go out. The blush of strawberries on my lips and the flush of gin warms my cheeks on an absolutely perfect summer sipper weather day, cool in the shade and warm, but not oppressive, in the sun.

The strawberry isn’t even my favorite fruit, if they came later in the summer you might get one or two recipes at most but after months of apples and pears they mean so much more. Strawberries mean sunshine after six pm, trees flush with green, and roses in bloom. They are color and light and rosé.

If I’d gotten to this cocktail a little earlier in the season it probably would have been made with bourbon (well it probably would have been made with bourbon even now except people seem to gift us mostly gin and vodka- and yes , don’t judge, we are the sort of people who get bottles of booze on our birthdays and Christmas). Still I like the gin quite a lot. If you wanted a bit more strawberry flavor and if you don’t give a fig which clear liquor is or isn’t hip right now you could sub out vodka. The bitters change everything. No bitters at the bar? Try a drop or two of balsamic vinegar instead. Heck I think I just made up a whole new cocktail. Too late. I’ve been cut off.

Strawberry Smash Cocktail with Gin and Basil

ingredients

• 2 ounces of gin
• 4 large or 6-7small ripe strawberries, cut into quarters
• 2 leaves of basil julienned
• Fizzy Water
• 1-2 drops Orange Bitters

directions

1. In a 12-14 ounce glass combine the gin and two of the strawberries and smash to combine
2. Add ice (more ice equals less fizzy water equals higher ratio of booze) and the remaining cut up berries and the basil.
3. Stir to combine and top with one or two drops of orange bitters.

Strawberry Smash Cocktail with Gin and Basil

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Ingredients

  

• 2 ounces of gin
• 4 large or 6-7small ripe strawberries cut into quarters
• 2 leaves of basil julienned
• Fizzy Water
• 1-2 drops Orange Bitters

Instructions

 

• In a 12-14 ounce glass combine the gin and two of the strawberries and smash to combine
• Add ice (more ice equals less fizzy water equals higher ratio of booze) and the remaining cut up berries and the basil.
• Stir to combine and top with one or two drops of orange bitters.

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