Gentlemen of Elegant Leisure

Episode 58 - Ginger For What "Ales" You. Ginger Binge!

8/25/2018

Good news! It’s cocktail time! What’s that you say? You’re feeling a little under the weather? You know what’ll fix you up in no time? Ginger! Let’s get mixing!

First up is a drink found on the piece of paper tied around the neck of a bottle of liqueur.
A bottle of Bols Ginger Liqueur to be exact. It’s called the Ginger Bourbon Smash!

Ginger Bourbon Smash

2 ounces bourbon
3/4 ounce Bols Ginger Liqueur
1 ounce lemon juice

Muddle or juice half a lemon in a cocktail glass. Add ice and pour over bourbon and ginger liqueur. Stir lightly to mix.

Sound great doesn’t it? Bourbon and lemon juice and ginger. Do you know what it tastes like? Bourbon and lemon juice with a little something else. Ginger? Not really. Maybe, some sort of sweet something with a hint of ginger? Sure, if you say so. It really tastes like bourbon and lemon juice, which would be ok if it was called “Bourbon and Lemon Juice” but it’s not. It’s called a Ginger Bourbon Smash. We got no smash of out this cocktail. If however, you’d like to drink bourbon and lemon juice, with a hint of something sweet that could be ginger, then look no further. This is the drink for you!

It even looks like bourbon and lemon juice!

Next up is a much more interesting drink. Gentleman Fred found it on the Absolut website and this is just the sort of drink we like to feature here on the G of EL. It’s called the Shanghai Fizz. Check out their website right here. They’ve even got a video!
The problem with the recipe is that they use “parts”. We made each of those parts an ounce for easy measuring.

Shanghai Fizz

1 part Gin (we used an ounce)
1 part Lychee Liqueur (we used an ounce)
1 part Pineapple Juice (we used an ounce)
1 dash Simple Syrup ( we used a teaspoon)
Ginger ale (we used Cock and Bull ginger beer)
2 lemon wedges
1 mint leaf
1 whole peeled lychee (we used one canned lychee)

Fill a shaker with ice cubes. Add lychee liqueur, pineapple juice, gin, simple syrup, mint leaf, lychee and lemon. Shake and strain into a highball glass filled with ice cubes. Top up with ginger ale.

Sneezes Twice this is a good drink! It’s really well balanced and because everything was smashed together in the shaker, you get to taste a little bit of everything. It’s not too sour. It’s not too sweet. It’s light and refreshing and you’d better go make one right now!