There's one bottle of gin on the wall

December 27, 2013 9:45 PM

My partner and I are about spend the next two weeks camping in a fairly remote national park in Tasmania. We are bringing a bottle of gin because we like it and being compact it can come in by boat with our other supplies. We can buy limited other supplies before we leave to mix with it. Other than that we will have access to (possibly rather mediocre) tank water and a decent camp kitchen. So please give us all your creative gin cocktail recipes that can be prepared with limited ingredients in the middle of nowhere. We will toast you as we drink them!
posted by deadwax to Food & Drink (14 answers total)

I'm a pretty basic drink guy myself, so nothing fancy for me; that being said Tom Collins are usually pretty good and the simple sugar could be made ahead of time in batches. Then all you need is lemon juice and club soda. Not sure how much space is a consideration.

If space or weight is a consideration, you can't go wrong with the classic gin and tonic; throw a few drops of lemon juice in there for a twist on it.
posted by lpcxa0 at 9:59 PM on December 27, 2013

My vote would be for some variety of gimlet. If you want to make the lime simple syrup yourself, all you need is lime (or lemon if that's more your taste), water, sugar, and a source of heat. However, unless you plan to consume it all relatively quickly, the simple syrup may not keep too long while camping.
posted by C'est la D.C. at 10:06 PM on December 27, 2013

I might be stating the obvious, but gin + vermouth + olive = martini.
posted by Diag at 10:13 PM on December 27, 2013 [1 favorite]

It doesn't get much more minimalist than the very classic Pink Gin.

Also, people who take gin camping in Tasmania are my kind of people.
posted by mostlymartha at 10:40 PM on December 27, 2013 [8 favorites]

Response by poster: I really really love gin with iced/cold black or earl grey tea

I have just made two of these which we are currently drinking with lemon in. This is not bad at all, though we are thinking that a fruit/herbal tea of some kind may be an interesting thing to try. Having typed this ten minutes ago though, they are definitely a taste that gets better, we are now both really quite liking them.

There are no grapefruit in the house however there is an orange, so that may be tried shortly.

Neither of us, for some reason, have heard of a pink gin. A little bottle of bitters could certainly be brought in.

Thanks everyone.
posted by deadwax at 12:02 AM on December 28, 2013

I don't know what's traditional in a Pink Gin, but I definitely prefer gin with orange bitters to gin with Angostura bitters.

Thought: I'm a gin drinker myself, but for back country camping you might consider whiskey. Because warm gin? Ew.
posted by kestrel251 at 4:38 AM on December 28, 2013

Is it hot? Because seriously, those colonialist Brits in India had it right when they invented the simple gin and tonic. If you can buy single serve tonic bottles, that would be ideal.
posted by DarlingBri at 4:43 AM on December 28, 2013 [2 favorites]

FYI try the g/t with cucumber instead of lime or lemon. Also the doggfather knows best: gin and juice is laid back. and whatever juice you got in Tasmania is just fine.
posted by chasles at 5:50 AM on December 28, 2013 [1 favorite]

Iced sweetened hibiscus tea is awesome with gin.
posted by neroli at 8:12 AM on December 28, 2013 [2 favorites]

Gin and bitters -- I like it with Angostura, but there are lots of flavors of bitters.
posted by wryly at 12:24 PM on December 28, 2013 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Gin plus citrus makes a huge range of drinks. Lime, lemon, orange. "Gin and Juice" covers a wide spectrum too.

I'd also point out that the origin of cocktails is premixing spirits and juice for hunting trips, so you can always make some that you like and cork 'em into their own bottles.
posted by klangklangston at 1:18 PM on December 28, 2013

A South Side Is basically a delicious gin mojito.
posted by superquail at 12:17 AM on December 29, 2013

Gin (Hendricks or Bombay works best for this recipe).
Tonic water.
Tinned lychees in syrup (the ones in the yellow and red tin from your local Asian grocery are best).
Limes


Mix G&T. Add a good splash of lychee syrup. Add two lychees to the mix. Squeeze a bit of lime in the glass. Watch out for the Drop Bears; they love lychee G&Ts.
posted by travellingincognito at 4:31 AM on December 30, 2013

Response by poster: In the end the most practical was a bag of oranges chucked in the box of food. The juice of half a juicy orange to one shot of gin is a very nice drink it turns out, and not one that is common in Australia.

Apart from that, yep warm gin is fine, and actually preferred in cold weather, which we had a bit of.

Thanks all, gin was successfully enjoyed, as was two weeks out...
posted by deadwax at 10:05 PM on January 13, 2014