It is Valentines week (it is a thing, I promise) and with everything still closed and us in lockdown, now is the time to get creative to celebrate with your loved one. I would personally recommend grabbing a decent take out or ‘cook at home’ box from your favourite restaurant, and then mix yourself some easy cocktails. I made some lovely spiced rum hot chocolate last week, which is perfect for after your meal. Before your meal however, whet your palate with something fresh and fruity using Mermaid Pink Gin.
Mermaid Gin is another offering from the Isle Of Wight Distillery. You may remember me making salted caramel espresso martinis with their vodka a few months ago. It is a firm favourite of mine and that is saying something as vodka is not top of my list when it comes to spirits. The gin is made with a blend of lemon zest, grains of paradise and rock samphire, which is foraged from the cliffs of the Isle of Wight, making it a truly unique spirit to the island. To make their unique gin pink, they have distilled it using strawberries from the island’s Arreton Valley, known to have some of the best sunshine levels in the UK. When can I relocate?!
Taste wise the Mermaid Pink Gin contains no added sugar, making it a proper gin rather than a gin liqueur, as most pink gins are. The strawberry notes are really strong but the addition of lemon zest from the gin makes it lightly sour too, so it stands up really well to including in cocktails. I enjoyed it with some cloudy lemonade and a strawberry garnish for something extra simple. Another idea I had was amping up the strawberry flavour, so I tried it in some frozen daiquiris. Reader, it is super easy and super delicious. Here is the recipe.
Ingredients – Makes 1
8 large strawberries, frozen
50 ml Mermaid Pink Gin
25ml freshly squeezed lime
25ml sugar syrup
Method
Pop all the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.
Pour into a martini glass and garnish with a whole strawberry.
I was surprised by how well the frozen strawberries blended with no need for extra ice and the strawberry infused gin works well with the fruit and highlights the other botanicals in the gin to stop it from being too sweet.
What cocktails will you be making this Valentines?
