As a connoisseur  of a fine, and often even a mediocre, cocktail I’ve crafted a love for a delicious gin+tonic.

Not much can beat a refreshing gin+tonic on a hot sticky evening after a stressful day at the office. Don’t get me wrong – a cold domestic beer, two fingers of good bourbon or scotch, a splash of riesling or even a refreshing strong island ice tea (well maybe not that last one) on a hot evening can help beat the heat and take the proverbial edge off.

But at the moment – my go to is a hand-crafted gin+tonic made with my love right in my own kitchen.

Here goes (my first recipe on bottle&flame):

1. Get a glass – any size will do depending on how much relaxation you think you need
2. Get a lime – regular limes work and so do key limes, you’ll just need more key lime if you want to go down that road
3. Get some tonic –
   1. Living it up – then go with Fevertree Tonic Water in those adorable tiny little bottles
   2. Cheaping it up – go with Canada Dry or Seagram’s Diet Tonic. Same awesome tonic flavor without those pesky calories
4. Get some gin – here is where it can get crazy fun to experiment
   1. Tried & tested gins to stock your bar
      1. Tanqueray Gin – Solid bar stock that fits the bill nicely. This felt fancy in college, but has lost some it’s cache as boutique gins have come in to favor
      2. Beefeater Gin – Great standby and won’t break the bank. Feels a bit old-man to drink Beefeater and sometimes that feels cool. Need to try the Beefeater 24 and will write about that later.
      3. Bombay Sapphire Gin – Small step up in quality and flavor, bit more spendy
      4. Hendricks Gin – Man oh man this is delicious and my excellent go-to that always should be stocked in your bar
   2. New & exciting gins to test your tastebuds
      1. Crater Lake Gin – Pleasantly surprised at the juniper flavor and freshness when trying this on our recent vacation to Sunriver
      2. Aviation Gin – Deliciously smooth and refreshing. Not as much juniper bite, so it’ll make a solid gin+tonic and can be used for other cocktails with ease
      3. Citadelle Gin – If you feel extra fancy then crack open a bottle of Citadelle – trust me it’ll be worth it
      4. Tanqueray Rangpur Gin – Already has a lot of key lime flavor, so you probably won’t need to add any extra lime. Unless you are feeling extra limey.
      5. Big Gin – My new go-to for when I want to get fancy at home with my gin+tonic. See the photo above
      6. Martin Miller Gin – Man oh man this is amazing gin and if you want extra horsepower get the Westbourne Strength

Now bottle&flame’s 10 steps to fashioning a gin+tonic.

1. Cut a nice fresh wedge of lime – organic or key lime if you wanna get crazy
2. Squeeze the lime in the glass
3. Drop the wedge of lime in the glass – keep that flavor hanging around
4. Splash some gin in your glass – as much or as little as you want depending on how much you need to relax
5. Pour in some tonic water – again, as much or as little as you want to lighten or strengthen the flavor of your gin+tonic
6. Drop in a few cubes of ice – leave this till the end, so you don’t water down your gin+tonic prematurely
7. Stir it up – grab a kitchen knife, a chopstick, a cocktail stirrer, a straw or anything tall and skinny to stir up your gin+tonic
8. Sit back
9. Put your feet up
10. Enjoy your fine handcrafted gin+tonic and feel the edge being taken off

Up next on bottle&flame – slow cooked pasta sauce with italian sausage