Celebrate Gin O'clock Winchester of Winnebago County in Wisconsin WI

Unlike European gin the significance of gin in the USA extends far beyond its role as a mere alcoholic beverage. Gin became a symbol of resistance, innovation, and defiance against nationwide prohibition when the production and sale of alcohol was banned and speakeasies flourished, with gin and "bathtub gin" emerging as a favoured spirit because of its versatility.

Gin has gin played a significant role in shaping American cocktail culture during this period with the emergence of the Gin Rickey, Tom Collins, and Martini and underground bartenders experimented with innovative recipes to satisfy the demand for creative drinks. American gins are freer with their botanicals and the art of blending non-traditional or local ingredients to create unique citrus, spice, or floral flavour profiles.

Fossil Coast Drinks Co is an award-winning premium drinks company based in the South West of England whose drinks are inspired by the natural UNESCO World Heritage Site known as the Jurassic Coast. We would like to share three gin cocktails using our gin expressions.

Fossil Coast Naked Martini

Undoubtedly the most famous of gin cocktails and the epitome of elegance and taste is the Martini. Ernest Hemingway once reflected on how a Martini made him feel, “I had never tasted anything so cool and clean. They made me feel civilized.”

Ingredients

• 50ml Fossil Coast Lime Stone Gin

• 5ml - 10ml Dry Vermouth

• Use an Olive to garnish (Lime Stone has strong citrus tones)

• A Dirty Martini is simply the addition of olive juice that presents a cloudy appearance but disrupts the clean flavours but still very tasty.

Instructions

• Place your Martini Glasses in the chiller for several hours before serving

• Stir the Gin, Dry Vermouth and ice cubes together or put them in a cocktail shaker to shake and combine.

• Strain into a chilled Martini Glass.

• Serve with an olive on a cocktail stick

Fossil Coast Red Bed Bellini

The deeply rich red of the Fossil Coast Red Bed Gin Liqueur (30% abv) is the colour of passion, love, wealth and comes from the high level of distilled strawberry, raspberry and redcurrants. The Red Bed Bellini is a variation of the classic Bellini created by head bartender Giuseppe Cipriani in 1948 at "Harry's Bar" in Venice, Italy.

This classic cocktail mixes 2 parts Prosecco (generally dry or extra dry) with 1-part fresh peach purée (ideally the juice of a "Verona" white peach) and served in Champagne Flute. The Bellini’s name comes from a renaissance painting by 15th-century Venetian artist Giovanni Bellini who painted a Saints robe in a pink colour similar to the cocktail.

Instructions

• Chill the glasses in advance (Champagne Flute or Champagne Glass)

• 2 parts Prosecco or English Sparkling Wine, Champagne or Asti Spumante

• 1-part Fossil Coast Red Bed Gin Liqueur

• Stir gently

• Garnish with frozen fruits of the forest berries

Fossil Coast Negroni

An early 20th-century drink inspired by Count Camillo Negroni of Italy who had picked up a taste for strong liquor while workings as a rodeo clown in the American Wild West. The Negroni is a sophisticated aperitif mixed with equal parts of Gin, Campari, and Sweet Vermouth

Ingredients

• 50ml of Fossil Coast Lime Stone London Dry Gin

• 50ml of Campari

• 50ml of Sweet Vermouth

• Orange

Instructions

• Use an old-fashioned glass or lowball glass filled with ice

• Combine and stir the Fossil Coast London Dry Gin, Sweet Vermouth, and Campari into a mixing glass filled with ice until chilled.

• Strain into the old-fashioned glass filled with large ice cubes.

• Serve with an orange peel as garnish