If you thought Smash Mouth has a strong drink connotation, this band's just cheating: There's a delicious drink just sitting there waiting for you, called, appropriately, the
BUT there is some contention about what that is. The one I know is apparently
The Clover Club version
Brooklyn's Clover Club provides what I'd probably consider the "definitive" version of the Gin Blossom:
- 1.5oz Plymouth gin
- 3/4 oz apricot eau-de-vie (or Apricot brandy)
- 3/4 oz Martini Bianco vermouth (see Note)
- 2 dashes orange bitters
- 1 lemon twist
Fill a pint glass with ice. Add the gin, eau-de-vie, vermouth and bitters and stir well. Strain into a chilled coupe and garnish with the lemon twist.
Note: Martini Bianco is a slightly sweet, vanilla-flavored vermouth, not to be confused with extra-dry vermouth.
While both you and I would probably very much enjoy this, the juiciness of the comparably named "Orange Blossom" spawned a sweeter, more populist recipe:
The "Elderflower Greyhound with Gin" version
From drinksmixer.com
- 2oz gin
- 1/2oz Elderflower Liqueur
- 1.5oz grapefruit juice
Chill martini glass. Squeeze grapefruit juice. In shaker with ice pour ingredients in and shake. Pour in to martini glass. Garnish with grapefruit twist.
For the elderflower I'd use the magnificent and shockingly affordable St Elder liqueuer, but I doubt it's made it from MA to IL yet so St Germain it is!
The Elderflower and Lillet version
For a drier take without the juice, another variant (claiming to be inspired by The Iron Lady) uses a bit of Lillet Blanc instead:
- 1.25oz London dry gin
- 3/4oz Lillet Blanc
- 1/2oz St Germain Elderflower liqueur
First add ice and water to chill classic champagne coup, next add all components into shaker tin, add ice and stir to chill. Discard ice and water in glass, garnish glass with two “spritz” of orange blossom water, next strain contents of shaker tin into chilled glass, garnish with flamed orange zest.
Out of all of those, I'd probably be most interested in the original, Clover Club version. The one that I think would appeal to the most average drinker is probably the Grapefruit one (gin, st germain and grapefruit marry brilliantly).