Slingsby's head mixologist, Alex, has created some limited edition cocktails using the Lions Limited 2017 Players Edition Gin, which pay homage to the 2017 British & Irish Lions tour of New Zealand this June.
He comments: “We wanted drinks that best represented both the brand and the British & Irish Lions and the All Blacks.
“We started using colour swatches and different fruit juices to produce a cocktail that was an exact match to the corresponding team jerseys.
“After settling on Cranberry & Raspberry juice for the 4 Lions cocktail, we played around with different red alcohols including things like Port and cherry brandy but ended up choosing Chambord, due to its fresh and fruity flavour, making the cocktail more enjoyable and something you can continuously sip on a long day. We finished it off with a sprig of mint as a garnish, ensuring we got both the main colour of the jersey and also represented the green element!
“For the All Blacks cocktail, the obvious starting point was Guinness to ensure a dark black colour. This was also perfect because of the brand's affiliation with Rugby.
“We then settled on a Gin & Tonic variant to include the Guinness which converted non-Guinness drinkers into Guinness fans and made the drink a more session-able alternative to drinking pints of beer/lager all day.
“We played around with activated charcoal also to make the drink as black as possible, however, this posed its own issues because it absorbed the alcohol content, so we decided to not use this and have it take more of a natural colour, provided by the Guinness”.
Four Lions
35ml The Lions Gin
50ml Cranberry and Raspberry juice
10ml Chambord
Mint Leaves
Topped with Rose Lemonade
Grapefruit sprig garnish
Served with crushed ice in a 12oz highball glass
All Blacks
35ml The Lions Gin
150ml Guinness
100ml Tonic
Mixed in a 12oz highball with cubed ice.
