Cocktails: Summer Gin Punch
Spirits Beacon on 4 Apr 2022
This Summer Fruit Punch is a bright, light summer drink, with seasonal fruits and ice cold juice providing a sweet/tart taste and a supremely refreshing burst.
We wanted to create a drink that perfectly encapsulated the red bit of an ice lolly and those oh-so-elusive purple fruit sweets – something rich and lovely, the bit you save until last.
Ingredients
- 500ml Gin
- 250ml Clear Apple Juice
- 150ml Fresh lemon juice
- 1.5 Litre Cranberry Juice
- 40g Strawberries
- 20g Raspberries
- 150g Blueberries
Directions
- Make a fruit and Gin purée. (see top tips)
- Once the gin puree has infused, strain it through a sieve and into the punch bowl along with a good couple of pints of ice.
- Stir in the cranberry and lemon juice, then float the rest of the berries on top.
- Optional - garnish glasses with fresh herbs.
Top Tips
To make the purée, take half of the strawberries (200g), raspberries (100g) and blueberries (75g). Chop these and add them to a bowl (not your punch bowl!). Mash the combination with a muddler. Pour the gin in, stir, then cover and leave for a good hour or so.
This punch has a relatively low ABV (1 part booze to 4 parts soft) so that it doesn't make everyone wobble at the knees. It goes without saying that you can tweak the amount of gin used to your desire.
As with all punches, ice is your friend. Add loads. It's counterintuitive, but it'll dilute slower if you have more ice.
Garden herbs like verbena, lemon balm and rosemary are all good additions for garnishing. If you have them in the garden, give the plant a ‘trim’ and use some in the glass.
A Brief, Inebriated History
We took our initial inspiration from the Basil Smash for this one and looked to replace the basil for red berries, and as things tend to do when playing with cocktail serves things went from there… We love the idea of getting hold of a farm’s worth of ripe berries and beating them to a pulp before adding in a whole vat of gin to infuse.
Yes, it does require a little prepping ahead, but the end result is more than worth it. We steered clear of using sugar syrup in this one as some cranberry juices tend to be very sweet and conversely, stuck to fruits to keep it simple and easy to make.
For those who want more depth, you can also add some spice (like cracked cubeb berries or pink peppercorns) to the initial infusion which will add an extra dimension to go behind the huge fruit delivery. Don’t be shy to play around in order to make it perfect for you!