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OK, so there are more pressing matters in the world than finding an alternative summer drink to gin and tonic or the ubiquitous Pimms and lemonade. However, it’s a wonderful frippery to entertain your mind with, and Bloom gin has come up with a worthy competitor, albeit one with a rather odd name that brings to mind Star Trek and double entendres in equal measure.
By now, your basil should be thriving (assuming the slugs haven’t got to it – in which case use copper tape. You can also try spraying it with a few cloves in garlic crushed in water as a natural way to fend them off but garlic probably won’t enhance the flavour of this drink). As my tomatoes are still mostly at the flowering/green stage at the moment, this cocktail is a good way to use home grown basil. Remember, the more frequently you cut herbs, the more they’ll grow, so this cocktail will help you get a basil glut with any luck.
Ingredients
40 ml Bloom Gin
40 ml apple juice
20 ml grapefruit juice
10 ml lime juice
15 ml sugar syrup
4-6 basil leaves
Method
Shake all the ingredients together then pour into highball glass full of crushed ice and garnish with lemon zest. (If you’d rather have the cocktail made for you, pop along to Bar 190 in London’s Gore Hotel. But that’s not going to help your garden grow, is it?)
groweatgift 