Minty Citrus Gimlets

You know what I love.  Freaking Hendricks gin.  And no, this isn’t an ad, I just have a love of all things Hendricks.  I look for this stuff in every duty free store I go to in my travels.  It’s a bit pricey, so I’m saving money wherever I can!  I honestly don’t even really like most gins.  The piney flavor is just too much.  That is, until I was turned onto Hendricks, they infuse their gin with rose and cucumber, and it really just makes someone like me, ‘a non-gin drinker,’ into a lover of gin.  Gimlets have recently become my go to drink.  They’re really quite simple and taste kind of like a glass of summer.  Which I am 100% down with, since we’re still getting blizzards in March.

I do my gimlets a bit different then most, I combine my love of mojitos with traditional gimlets and voila, you have my minty citrus gimlets.  Plus, you can mix and match pretty much any citrus and change up the flavor.  In summer, I use this same recipe, but instead of blood oranges, I slice up cucumbers and add them to the pitcher.  I’ve also used rosemary and basil instead of mint.  It’s dealer’s choice when it comes to this beverage.  But trust me, use Hendricks, fresh fruit, and a bit of herb, and you’re freaking set.  I keep a pitcher of these bad boys in my fridge (they’re good for about 3 days) and just pour when needed.  Typically, I don’t add the gin directly to the pitcher, it’s just the fruit juice, sugar, and herbs, and then I pour it into glasses with ice, seltzer, and gin already in them.  For photos, I added the gin, buuuutt this is great if you don’t add the alcohol because they’re great to freeze in ice cubes and use them with water (or gin, no judgment lol). So grab a glass, and toast to these delicious drinks (and hopefully Spring weather soon)!

Recipe for approximately 8 drinks (easily doubled, great party cocktail!):

1/3 cup white granulated sugar
½ cup of fresh mint leaves
4-5 limes (depending on how much juice you can get out of one), about 1 cup of lime juice
2-3 blood oranges, about 1 cup of juice
1.5 cups of Hendricks Gin (or preferred gin) if your strength preference is higher can add more
½ of a 1-liter lemon-lime seltzer (I also have used cucumber seltzer)

Directions:

Pour sugar in pitcher.  Pull leaves of mint off and place in pitcher.  Use a muddler (or the back of a spoon if you don’t have a muddler) and muddle until mint leaves and sugar are well combined and make a paste.

Cut and juice limes and blood oranges.

Pour into pitcher and mix well with mint/sugar mixture.  Pour in desired amount of gin.  Fill glasses with ice.  Fill half way with seltzer water.  Finish by pouring in gin mixture to top.  Stir to combine.  Garnish with mint, citrus slices, or cucumber.

Sip and enjoy!