It isn’t brunch without a glass (or a pitcher) of something spiked. Let these five ginful brunch cocktail recipes inspire your next midday do.
Consider this your official permission to enjoy a gin cocktail during your next boozy brunch. While vodka and Prosecco are the presumed choices for a midday meal, these five classic brunch cocktail recipes prove that gin works just as spiffingly during long and lazy weekend meals.
The Pink Lady
First included in Harry MacElhone’s 1920s cocktail reference book, ABC of Mixing Cocktails, the Pink Lady lives up to its name thanks to a small addition of grenadine. This frothy serve is best paired with a late and lazy brunch.
15ml Applejack
22ml freshly squeezed lemon juice
15ml simple syrup
15ml grenadine
22ml egg white
Add all ingredients to an empty cocktail shaker and shake well without ice. After dry shaking, open the shaker and add in lots of very cold ice; shake until well blended. Double strain into a chilled coupe glass. Squeeze a lemon twist over before discarding.
Breakfast Bee’s Knees
The Bee’s Knees is a classic of Prohibition-era cocktail making (and was originally dreamed up in order to mask the flavour of bathtub gin). This version is made especially brunch-friendly thanks to a good pour of apricot liqueur.
45ml Sipsmith London Dry Gin
15ml honey water (equal parts)
15ml freshly squeezed lemon juice
15ml apricot liqueur
Dash Angostura bitters
Add the first five ingredients to an ice-filled cocktail shaker and shake until well chilled. Strain into a cocktail glass and top up with dry sparkling wine.
The Charlie Chaplin
One of the most popular classic sloe gin cocktails, the Charlie Chaplin is also one of our favourite brunch cocktail recipes.
30ml Sipsmith Sloe Gin
30ml freshly squeezed lemon juice
30ml apricot brandy
Add all ingredients to an ice-filled cocktail shaker and shake well. Strain and serve on the rocks.
The Red Snapper
The Bloody Mary is deservedly an icon of brunches everywhere…but we like the Red Snapper even more. This simple but utterly restorative serve swaps vodka for gin, making for a true Sipsmith’s start to the day.
50ml Sipsmith London Dry Gin
Juice of ¼ lemon
6 dashes Worcestershire sauce
3 dashes Tabasco sauce
Freshly ground black pepper and celery salt, to taste
100ml tomato juice
Prepare two large glasses. Combine the first five ingredients in one of the glasses and stir well to combine. Add the tomato juice, as gently as if you were folding in whisked egg whites. To mix, pour gently between the two mixing glasses, holding them close together (don’t stir, as excessively agitating will change the consistency of the tomato juice). Strain into a Collins or highball glass.
Gin Milk Punch
Milk punch may be best associated with brandy, but we don’t see any reason why it can’t be as delectable with gin. A favourite of brunch-goers in New Orleans, milk punch is sweet, creamy, and deliciously downable (and proffers some hair of the dog benefits as well).
60ml Sipsmith London Dry Gin
240ml milk
1 tsp icing sugar
Freshly grated nutmeg
In an ice filled shaker, shake gin, milk, and sugar until well blended. Strain into an ice-filled Collins or highball glass. Garnish with freshly grated nutmeg.
Feature images © robertomm/iStock; EHStock/iStock
