My ginny gin gin cocktail

May 17, 2012 3:21 PM

Cocktail troubleshooting: I am trying to create a drink for a party tomorrow, but my gin-based drink is too ginny.

I made a rhubarb simple syrup, and was trying to create a drink around that to serve at my grad school graduation party tomorrow. I'm thinking of a riff on the classic Brass Flower: gin, St. Germain, and sparkling wine, with rhubarb syrup and fresh lime in place of grapefruit.

My problem is thus: I mixed one to test it out, and the flavor is overwhelmed by the gin. The subtlety of everything else is lost. I'm using Tanqueray, which I don't consider to be terribly spicy. I tried a second version using vodka (Rain) instead, and it was still out of balance.

Proportions I used were:

1 oz Tanqueray
.75 oz St. Germain
.25 oz fresh lime juice
.25 oz rhubarb simple syrup
prosecco float

Would love suggestions on proportions or substitutions that might help the balance. I prefer not to have to go buy more ingredients, but I have some stuff around the house, like seltzer, cointreau, lemons.

posted by supramarginal to Food & Drink (18 answers total)

I wonder how a little tonic might work with that mix? I've never had St. Germain, so maybe the tonic might overpower it, but it's worth a shot...FOR SCIENCE.
posted by smirkette at 3:31 PM on May 17, 2012

Can you say more about what you think is out of balance in this drink? When I imagine it in my mind I think of the gin being overwhelmed rather than the other ingredients, so I'm having a hard time visualizing what's wrong with the drink other than that it's too ginny. I mean, you could use a smaller amount of gin or add some mixer, but I feel like if the answer were that obvious you'd have tried it. (By the way, have you tried using less gin or adding some mixer?)

Can you tell us more about what you want the drink to taste like? What flavors are you trying to develop?
posted by Scientist at 3:34 PM on May 17, 2012

For me, Tanqueray would be too assertive (juniper-y) for the elderflower to come through.

How about this:

.75 oz Tanqueray
.75 oz St. Germain
.5 oz fresh lime juice
.5 oz rhubarb simple syrup
prosecco float

If that's too much like a sour for what you're going through, I'd try to offset the gin with a bit of cointreau.

.75 oz Tanqueray
.75 oz St. Germain
.25 oz fresh lime juice
.25 oz rhubarb simple syrup
2 dashes of cointreau
prosecco float

I have all of these available at home except the prosecco. Perhaps I'll stop by the store ...
posted by joe vrrr at 3:35 PM on May 17, 2012

To my eye, I wonder if the problem isn't too much St. Germain? The herbal notes in that can amplify the flavors of gin in a way that's lovely, or that's overwhelming.

I would also look at increasing the lime juice and simple syrup as well, especially as I'm not sure how sweet your simple syrup is.

Finally, try a twist of lime and/or lemon? Sometimes the fresh citrus oils are just what's needed to bring a gin drink into balance, especially as it tends to mute the impact of the gin on the nose.
posted by psycheslamp at 3:37 PM on May 17, 2012 [1 favorite]

I think you're going to need more of the rhubarb syrup. The proportions of this seem off to me; I would do equal parts gin, rhubarb syrup, and St. Germain, with 1/2 part lime juice. Try that.
posted by Sidhedevil at 3:38 PM on May 17, 2012 [1 favorite]

I have found that, at least for my palate (and my wife's), lime -- fresh or otherwise -- tends to make gin drinks (we usually just have gin + club soda on the rocks) taste more ginny. I would suggest trying some combinations without the lime and see how that tastes.
posted by El Sabor Asiatico at 3:39 PM on May 17, 2012

On the other hand, maybe your rhubarb syrup is really sweet, so 1 part gin, 1 part St. Germain, .75 rhubarb syrup, .5 part lime juice.
posted by Sidhedevil at 3:39 PM on May 17, 2012

Hendricks gin has a lighter cucumber flavor which might work for you.
posted by Captain_Science at 3:41 PM on May 17, 2012 [3 favorites]

Yes, I would use Hendrick's or maybe Plymouth for this rather than Tanqueray, I think.
posted by trip and a half at 3:53 PM on May 17, 2012

I think the biggest problem is your choice of gin - Tanqueray is one of the juniperiest gins out there. Bombay Sapphire or Citadel would be a more balanced choice.

Once you use a less gin-y gin, it will probably be too sweet; I would go with 1 oz gin : 1/2 oz St. Germain.
posted by asphericalcow at 3:55 PM on May 17, 2012

n-thing use a less ginny gin.
posted by JPD at 4:22 PM on May 17, 2012

Joining the chous of ginny gin naysayers. Martin miller or Plymouth would work fine. I doubt the cucumber in Hendrick's will work with the rest of the herbal notes but it would be worth a try.

I use Tanquery in a curried gimlet, but it tends to crush any delicate flavors you pair it with.
posted by benzenedream at 4:41 PM on May 17, 2012

Another thing you can do to cut down on sweetness is to use rhubarb bitters instead of syrup. One of my favorite summertime drinks is gin, soda water, St Germain, a squeeze of lemon and a few healthy splashes of rhubarb bitters.
posted by joan_holloway at 4:43 PM on May 17, 2012

What flavor aren't you getting?

Rhubarb, by the way, does tend to get lost easily in cocktails. Not much to do about that.

Overall your recipe seems sweet to me.

I will also disagree about the gin. Tanqueray is the gold standard, and this is a gin drink. As a general rule, cocktails are supposed to taste like the base spirit. There is a reason they're called "modifiers.".

My general recommendation would be to cut the St. Germaine and double the lime and rhubarb syrup. Also, if you can, I'd consider lemon juice rather than lime. Lemon juice has the remarkable property of adding acidity but staying in the background, whereas lime juice tends to contribute a more identifiable flavor.
posted by slkinsey at 5:37 PM on May 17, 2012

Less St-Germain is probably the way to go.

I would swap out the lime for lemon, lemon is more subtle.

To me, it seems like you're modifying PDT's Vieux Mot (which itself is a riff on a Last Word):

1 1/2 ounces Plymouth gin
1/2 ounce St-Germain elderflower liqueur
3/4 ounce fresh lemon juice
1/4 ounce simple syrup (sub in your rhubarb syrup here)

Given that you want to have a prosecco float, I would increase the rhubarb/simple syrup to counteract the dryness of the prosecco. This assumes your simple is 1 cup sugar to 1 cup water, though, IIRC.

Typically the rule is add an additional 1/2 oz of simple syrup for every 2-3 oz of champagne.

So that would be:

1 1/2 ounces gin
1/2 ounce St-Germain elderflower liqueur
3/4 ounce fresh lemon juice
3/4 ounce rhubarb syrup
prosecco float
posted by kathryn at 5:45 PM on May 17, 2012

Sometimes I put a little bit of Campari in a gin drink if it's too gin-sweet. I just did one part gin, half part St. Germain, dash of Campari to good effect.
posted by mlle valentine at 5:57 PM on May 17, 2012

Response by poster: Thanks for the suggestions all, I'll try some of the suggestions and report back.

I definitely see the perspective that a more subtle gin like Hendricks (which I also love) could work, but I already bought a large quantity of Tanqueray...
posted by supramarginal at 6:22 PM on May 18, 2012

Response by poster: What I ended up going with was:

1 oz gin
1/2 oz St. Germain
1/2 oz rhubarb syrup
squeeze of fresh lime
prosecco float

I was quite happy with this. I think the lime was bringing out the ginny-ness.

Rhubarb syrup was 1.5 cups each water and sugar, 6 stalks of rhubarb.
posted by supramarginal at 4:34 AM on May 23, 2012