…Don’t put the blame on me.
The Humanist.
At this time of year I always think to myself, “Better come up with something a bit festive”. And sometimes I do and sometimes I don’t. This year a different thought popped into my empty head. With all this Christmas and Hanukkah malarky bouncing around how about we honour those of us who follow no religion aside from the belief in humanity itself? Fuck, yeah. Don’t get me wrong; I’m at the front of the line when there’s turkey and presents* being handed out but the “holiday” season arrives with remarkable frequency, promising peace on Earth and goodwill to all men before disappearing in a puff of tinsel, cinnamon and torn wrapping paper with all such promises in similar tatters. I’d better stop before I incur the wrath of the masses and get accused of Scrooginess by my family (yet again) and proceed directly to my recipe.
My paean to the religiously non-aligned is based upon a wonderfully simple cocktail which gets along fine without any fancy bells, whistles or flourishes. With just gin, lime and sugar the Gimlet is a classic that lends itself to some gentle tweaking – and tweaked it I have – while keeping it easy on the cocktailista. I mean who needs any extra hassle at this time of year, right? All I’ve touched is the sweet component subbing in some ginger syrup and berry liqueur. It sounds like a strange combination but you need to trust me on this. I used a blackberry liqueur (crème de mûre) but you could go with other flavours such as raspberry, blackcurrent or cherry. I tried many different ones and found that blackberry worked best but that could just be a matter of personal taste. Just remember to adjust for sweetness as all liqueurs are not created equal. The Humanist is a simple year-round cocktail that that is popular and accessible to all. If you really want to Christmasify it you could try using cinnamon syrup instead of the ginger syrup. I didn’t. Obviously.
Best wishes to all humans and a better New Year!
The Humanist.
2oz / 60ml dry gin of choice.
1oz / 30ml fresh lime juice.
3/8oz** / 11ml ginger syrup.
3/8oz** / 11ml berry liqueur (pref. crème de mûre – see text).
Shake with ice and double strain into a chilled coupé glass. No garnish but if you happen to have a fresh berry that matches your choice of liqueur you could certainly drop one in the glass.
Toast Humanists.
*Now would be a great time to make a little donation to a little cocktail website what with it being the season of giving and with the annual web-hosting bill arriving imminently. Feel free to hit the yellow donate button and wallow in my appreciation kind reader.
**This sounds like a finicky amount but what we are really calling for here is 0.75oz / 22ml of sweet component equally split between the syrup and liqueur.
