Here are the Gin based cocktails I make during my reviews.
The title of the cocktail is linked to the source, since I am by no means a mixologist, and can claim none of these as my own creation.
Please don’t drink and drive, and if you are under 21, do not try this at home… or in public. Always drink responsibly.
Byzantine
Six fresh Basil leaves
1.5 ozs of Dry Gin
.5 ozs Passionfruit syrup
.5 ozs lime and lemongrass cordial.
2 ozs Pineapple juice
Muddle Six fresh Basil leaves, then add ice and remaining ingredients. Mix together in shaker and pour over ice. Now, the original recipe calls for a collins glass, which I missed, and poured mine in to a short tumbler. If you use a collins glass, top it off with tonic water. Since I missed that and my glass was too short, I drank it straight, which was good! I later added some tonic water, which I did not care for.
Byzantine as a cocktail was a great choice for this weeks book, Byzantium: The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire by Judith Herrin.
Mixed 01/09/2022
The Clifton Park Club
2 oz gin
1 egg white
3/4 oz Fresh Lemon Juice
1/2 oz raspberry syrup
3 fresh raspberries for garnish
Place all ingredients (except the raspberries) in a cocktail shaker with ice, shake for about 20 seconds, strain into a coupe (or cocktail) glass. Garnish with the raspberries and enjoy. This cocktail was way too good to be matched with a psychopath like Raniere. I actually feel a little bad at how much I liked the cocktail.
But, since this cocktail was specifically made for the NXIVM crew, it was the only choice for this weeks book, Don't Call it a Cult: The Shocking Story of Keith Raniere and the Women of NXIVM by Sarah Berman.
Mixed on 05/22/2022
Dixie
1 oz Gin
1/2 oz Dry Vermouth
1 Tablespoon Anisette
1/4 oz Orange Juice
Shake with ice and pour into cocktail glass
This was my pick for my second week of reading Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era by James McPherson. The South has Problems, and Dixie got me through them.
Mixed 08/28/2022
Moonglow
1 oz Gin
1 oz yellow Chartreuse
1/2 oz. dry vermouth
1/2 oz lime cordial
Shake all with ice, pour into cocktail glass.
Moonglow was my pick for my favorite of Robert A Heinlein’s work, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.
Mixed on 01/01/2023
Post Modern
1 oz Sloe Gin
1.5 oz blended scotch
1/2 oz lemon juice
1/4 oz honey syrup.
Mix all with ice in a cocktail shaker and pour into a coupe glass that has been rinsed with absinthe.
Since post-modernist bullshit is behind the current social justice climate, a post-modern cocktail was my pick for this weeks book, Cynical Theories, by James Lindsay and Helen Pluckrose.
Mixed on 04/23/2023
Nirvana
21 ml Campari
21 ml Aperol
21 ml Gin
60 ml Pink Grapefruit Juice
Grapefruit peel to garnish
Put all but garnish in a shaker with ice and shake. Pour into chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with grapefruit peel. Enjoy. Or not. It was sweet to start but turned quickly to bitter as an aftertaste. It was ok, but bitters are not my preferred flavor profile, so I probably won't make again. But, since most people seek Nirvana while meditating, I picked this cocktail for this weeks book, Meditation for Dummies, by Stephan Bodian.
Mixed on 12/03/2023
Gin Martini (Shaken not Stirred)
2½ ounces London dry gin
½ ounce dry vermouth
Optional dash of bitters
Green olive for garnish
Place all in shaker with ice. Should be stirred, but of course I shook mine. Serve with green olive. It was gross. I dislike the classic gin martini, but what else would I pick for Edward Snowden’s autobiography, Permanent Record.
Mixed 01/16/2022
The Grey Lady
1.5 oz The Botanist Gin
3/4 oz Fresh Lemon Juice
1/2 oz Earl Grey Syrup
Egg White
Lemon Peel (Garnish)
Earl Grey Syrup: Add 1 cup of water and 1 cup of sugar to a saucepan and bring to a boil. Once the sugar has dissolved, remove from heat and put three Earl Grey tea bags in the mix. Let steep for 10 minutes and let cool.
Put all ingredients in a shaker with ice and shake. Pour into a martini glass.
Lucky for me, I found a literal cocktail called The Grey Lady, which was a delicious choice to go with this weeks book, The Gray Lady Winked, by Ashley Rindsberg.
Mixed 06/05/2022
Skeletor
2 parts Gin
1 part Blue Caracao
1/2 part Grand Marnier
1 part Parfait Amour (I substituted Creme de Violette)
Top with Lemonade
1 Maraschino Cherry
Dash of Elderflower Syrup
Pour Gin and Grand Marnier into a glass and stir. Add Blue Caracao and Parfait Amour (Creme de Violette). Top with Lemonade. Add Dash of Elderflower Syrup and Maraschino Cherry.
Drink was mixed for the arch nemesis of He-Man, and so was the perfect pick for this weeks book, What Would Skeletor Do? Diabolical Ways to Master the Universe by Robb Pearlman.
Mixed on 03/06/2022
1984
1 oz gin
1/2 oz lemon juice
1/2 oz clove infused simple syrup
1 tsp coffee
Shake all together with ice, pour over ice, garnish with lemon slice and cloves. The recipe also calls for lining the rim of the glass with cocoa powder.
This cocktail was found by google searching INGSOC cocktail, which kicked back 1984, which made it a natural choice to go with George Orwell’s masterpiece by the same title.
Mixed on 07/03/2022
Devil's Disciple
1 oz dry gin
1/2 oz dry vermouth
1/2 oz poppy liqueur
3 dashes Absinthe
1/2 oz lemon juice
1 egg white
Garnish with lemon zest and poppy
Put all in a shaker with ice, pour into a glass over ice.
This really was the best pick for known sociopath and Wickedest Man Alive, and topic of this week’s book: Aleister Crowley: Magick, Rock and Roll, and the Wickedest Man in the World by Gary Lachman.
Mixed on 10/16/2022
Sphinx
2 oz Gin
1/2 oz Sweet Vermouth
1/2 oz Dry Vermouth
Lemon Wedge to Garnish
Shake all with ice and pour into a martini glass, garnish with lemon wedge.
Because so much of our ancient roots remains as inscrutable as the Sphinx, I picked this cocktail to go with Graham Hancock’s Fingerprints of the Gods.
Mixed on 01/08/2023
Asylum
1 oz dry gin
1 oz anise liqueur
1/6 oz grenadine or pomegranate syrup
1/3 oz water
Mix all with ice and pour over rocks. The accompanying cocktail for this weeks book, The Pol Pot Regime: Race, Power, and Genocide in Cambodia Under the Khmer Rouge, 1975-1979 by Ben Kiernan, is called Asylum, for all those who sought sanctuary from their neighbors trying to escape this murderous band of madmen.
Mixed on 06/18/2023
What Really Happened
3/4 oz Dry Gin
3/4 oz Ginger Liqueur
3/4 oz Lemon Juice
1/4 oz Honey Syrup
Lemon Peel to Garnish
Put all in a shaker with ice and shake, pour contents of shaker including the ice into a Collins glass and express the lemon peel over the cocktail before garnishing the cocktail.
Since Higuera’s entire job is to help figure out What Really Happened, this was the perfect cocktail to mix up for this weeks book, Making a Case for Innocence: True Stories of a Criminal Defense Investigator by April Higuera.
Mixed on 01/14/2024
The Prophet
1.5 ozs Gin
3 ozs Tart Cherry Juice
.5 ozs Vanilla Syrup
3 dashes Chocolate Bitters
Cinnamon to Garnish
Put all in a shaker with ice and shake, Pour into cocktail glass and garnish with cinnamon.
This was an admittedly cheeky pick for a book about Islam, given that religions prohibition against drinking. But a most excellent cocktail for a most excellent book, Prey: Immigration, Islam, and the Erosion of the Rights of Women by Ayaan Hirsi Ali.
Mixed on 03/20/2022
The Salty Dog
1 1/2 oz gin or vodka
3 oz grapefruit, fresh squeezed
Garnish: Salt Rim
Wet the rim of a highball glass and coat in coarse salt. Fill glass with ice, then add the liquor and grapefruit juice. Stir gently.
I went with Gin, so I put it on my Gin page, but per liquor.com, where I found this cocktail, this can be made with either gin or vodka.
The Salty Dog was my cocktail of choice to go with Justin Silver’s book, The Language of Dogs.
Mixed 07/24/2022
Gin and Juche
1 dried frozen persimmon
1 part cinnamon-ginger simple syrup
3 parts gin
Shake the gin and simple syrup over ice before straining over the persimmon, which has been cut to form a petal, instructions on the linked cocktail. This was the better option for this cocktail, as the other Gin and Juche cocktail I found called for Gin, Simple Syrup, Juice, and the Blood of North Koreans. I thought that last ingredient might be a little hard to procure.
I picked this one for Dear Reader: The Unauthorized Autobiography of Kim Jong Il by Michael Malice because the idea of Juche figures heavily in North Korean political philosophy.
Mixed on 11/20/2022
The Communist
1.5 oz gin
.75 oz cherry liqueur
1.25 oz orange juice
1 oz lemon juice
2 dashes orange bitters
Shake all with ice, pour into a coupe glass.
Since this weeks book, The White Pill: A Tale of Good and Evil by Michael Malice is all about the evils of communism, this weeks cocktail was, appropriately, The Communist.
Mixed on 04/09/2023
Happiness
40ml Berry Infused Gin
20ml Plum Sake
10mi Lemon Juice
5ml Elderflower Syrup
60ml Tonic Water
Mint to garnish
Stir all in a mixer with ice, pour into a coupe glass.
Since this weeks book is called Mind Hacking Happiness Volume I: The Quickest Way to Happiness and Controlling Your Mind by Sean Webb, I mixed up a Happiness cocktail to go with the theme.
Mixed on 08/13/2023
Aviation
2 oz Gin
1/2 oz Maraschino Liquor
1/4 oz Creme de Violette
3/4 oz Lemon Juice
Garnish: Brandied Cherry
Since Isabel Paterson preferred the name Aviation to the more common Lost Generation, I mixed up a classic Aviation for this week's book, Freedom’s Furies: How Isabel Paterson, Rose Wilder Lane, and Ayn Rand Found Liberty in an Age of Darkness by Timothy Sandefur.
Mixed on 05/05/2024