Gin Basil Smash

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Gin Basil Smash

The Gin Basil Smash (more rarely basil smash , originally also gin pesto ; from English basil, 'basil' and smash , press , break, smash) is a refreshingly spicy cocktail made from gin , lemon , sugar syrup and basil . Starting in Germany, the drink has spread worldwide since 2008 and is now considered a modern classic.

Basically, it's a gin sour that is supplemented with fresh basil. The color is "green like a tree frog". The name Smash is reminiscent of the cocktail group of the same name, which was largely forgotten in the 20th century. Smashes were originally mixed drinks in which a spirit was combined with sugar and mint .

history

A kind of simplified mint julep was known as smash, smasher or smash-up around the middle of the 19th century and enjoyed great popularity in the United States for a few years . However, it was a very manageable group of drinks that only appeared in three variants in Jerry Thomas ' legendary bar book How to Mix Drinks or the Bon-Vivant's Companion , published in 1862 : as a brandy smash , gin smash and whiskey smash . They all consisted of the eponymous spirit ( brandy , gin or American whiskey ), some water, sugar and a few sprigs of fresh mint. During preparation, the mint was crushed in the glass together with sugar and a little water, the spirit was added, the glass was filled with shaved ice and garnished with sprigs of mint. Shortly afterwards, however, the Smashes were largely forgotten again, especially since they could hardly be distinguished from Juleps. It wasn't until the end of the 20th century, when recipes from the 19th century regained popularity, that bartenders like Dale DeGroff picked up on old traditions and started mixing smashes again. In line with the cuisine style bar trend that started around the same time, fresh ingredients from the kitchen were also used. DeGroff also muddled (crushed) lemon pieces in his (whiskey) smashes, while other bartenders developed smash variants with citrus juices and herbs such as the Raspberry Thyme Smash , a gin smash with raspberries and thyme.

According to research by the bar magazine Mixology , the first Basil Smash is said to have been developed and mixed independently by its co-owner Hariolf Sproll in spring 2008 (according to another source "in May") in the Ulm Bar Blueprint, which had just opened, and has since become one Renner developed on the bar menu. Starting with the whiskey smash, they simply replaced the mint with basil and finally found the right spirit with gin.

Only a little later, and presumably independently of the creation claimed by Sproll, a very similar drink was created in the Hamburg bar Le Lion, which had also only recently opened - at the end of 2007 . Bar owner Jörg Meyer suggested the numerous whiskey smashes that he drank on a trip to the USA, as well as an unspecified cocktail with a basil garnish. Originally he also named the Raspberry Thyme Smash, published in a US blog in 2008, as a model. In contrast to Sproll, from whose Basil Smash his new drink only differed in nuances, Meyer published his recipe shortly afterwards - at the beginning of July 2008 - on the Bitters blog, which was highly regarded in the bar scene at the time. There he called the drink "Gin Basil Smash - Gin Pesto"; whereby the latter did not prevail in the end.

reception

After his blog post in the summer of 2008, Meyer's recipe spread quickly via social networks on the Internet and was soon to be found on numerous bar menus outside of Germany. In 2008, a year after opening, was the Le Lion in the United States for Best New Cocktail Bar crowned world, the best newly opened cocktail bar, which the popularity of Gin Basil Smash additionally promoted. Soon the drink was, well ahead of the original house drink Coquetiez du Lion , the actual signature drink the bar. As Meyer in 2012 with the Boilerman opened another bar where only Highballs were served, we developed a rapidly mixende premix variant. This Gin Basil Highball contributed 40% of Boilerman's sales in 2015 , while Le Lion served 1,400 Gin Basil Smashes in good months. Meanwhile, the Le Lion advertises with the addition The Cradle of the Gin Basil Smash and celebrates the date of the first recipe publication, July 10, 2008, as the “birthday” of the cocktail.

Initially a variant of well-known classic mixed drinks such as Gin Sour and Gin Smash , the Gin Basil Smash is now itself a “modern classic”. Even if it is not clearly documented in which bar a basil sour was actually mixed for the very first time - there are no written sources from that time for the origin in Ulm researched by Mixology - the gin basil smash is generally attributed to Jörg Meyer and will "To always stay in touch with [him]".

preparation

The first published recipe for a “Gin Basil Smash - Gin Pesto” called for 5  cl gin , 2 cl lemon juice (or half a lemon), a large handful of basil and 2 cl sugar syrup . First, the basil and lemon halves are muddled very vigorously in a cocktail shaker (that is, crushed with the help of a pestle ), then shaken with the other ingredients and ice cubes , double-strained in a tumbler filled with fresh ice cubes and garnished with a sprig of basil. When it comes to gin, a citrus-accented gin is generally preferable to classic varieties with a pronounced juniper aroma. Jörg Meyer originally recommended the G 'Vine Nouaison , which had only recently come onto the market , although the brand used in the Le Lion changed several times. A few years later (since 2016 for sure) the Dutch Rutte Dry Gin was used . With the slogan “5 cl is too little, 6 cl is the recipe, 7 cl is love”, Meyer has been promoting the production of the cocktail with a larger proportion of gin; Add 3 cl of lemon juice - you don't have to muddle the lemon half in the meantime -, 2 cl of sugar syrup and a handful of basil.

In other sources, too, the mixing ratio for a Gin Basil Smash is always within the framework of a typical sour with 5–6 cl gin, 2–3 cl lemon juice and 1–2 cl sugar syrup (or a corresponding amount of sugar); occasionally the amount of basil is reduced slightly compared to the original recipe. In a textbook for bartender training published in 2017, it is recommended to muddle 12 basil leaves with 15 ml of sugar syrup, then to shake vigorously with 6 cl of gin, 2 cl lemon juice and ice cubes and to double on ice cubes, the recipe in cocktails is almost identical . History - Bar Culture - Recipes from Mixology (2016), where the drink introduces the chapter "The New Golden Age". While only 8 basil leaves are listed as an ingredient, it says elsewhere in the same book, however, in contrast to the classic smash, where the stalks of the mint should not be muddled and the leaves should not be crushed too much, basil smash should also be used for gin the stem in the shaker and may be crushed. But, according to Meyer, you shouldn't muddle too vigorously, as otherwise the color of the drink would turn too grass green and it would taste mossy and musty.

In addition, fresh fruits such as strawberries or raspberries are processed, the basic spirit is replaced or other ingredients are added. Instead of mixing the basil in the drink, you can also prepare an ordinary gin sour and then add a basil foam made from lemon juice, sugar syrup, basil and xanthan gum .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Markus Orschiedt: Who invented it? Stroke of genius Gin Basil Smash. In: mixology.eu. July 10, 2015, accessed July 18, 2016 .
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h Helmut Adam , Jens Hasenbein, Nils Wrage: Cocktails. History - Bar Culture - Recipes. Hallwag (imprint by Gräfe and Unzer, Ganske Verlagsgruppe), Munich 2016, ISBN 978-3-8338-5725-6 , p. 127 (recipe) and 134-137.
  3. ↑ a b c d German Barkeeper Union (ed.): The bar manual for beginners . Self-published, Lauffen am Neckar 2017. Five “modern classic” recipes from p. 143.
  4. ↑ David Wondrich: Imbibe! From Absinthe Cocktail to Whiskey Smash. A Salute in Stories and Drinks to "Professor" Jerry Thomas, Pioneer of the American Bar . Perigee (Penguin Group), New York 2007, ISBN 978-0-399-53287-0 , p. 159.
  5. ↑ Jerry Thomas : How to Mix Drinks or the Bon-Vivant's Companion. Dick & Fitzgerald, New York 1862, p. 46. Full, searchable scan in Google Book Search.
  6. ↑ See Dale DeGroff : The Craft of the Cocktail , Clarkson Potter, New York 2002, ISBN 0-609-60875-4 , p. 198.
  7. ↑ a b Dr. Bamboo: Raspberry-Thyme Smash-or- The Case of the Curiously Oversized Muddler. In: drbamboo.blogspot.de. July 2, 2008, accessed July 18, 2016 .
  8. ↑ Steffen Hubert: Notes from the Province Part I: Bars in Ulm, Swabian sweet tooth and the origin of the Gin Basil Smash. In: mixology.eu. March 22, 2011, accessed July 5, 2018 .
  9. ↑ a b c d Jörg Meyer: Gin-Basil Smash - GIN PESTO! In: bitters-blog.blogspot.de. July 10, 2008, accessed July 18, 2016 .
  10. ↑ Simon Difford: Gin Basil Smash / Gin Pesto. In: diffordsguide.com. Retrieved July 18, 2016 .
  11. ↑ a b How to mix the perfect Gin Basil Smash. In: stern.de . March 19, 2015, accessed July 18, 2016 .
  12. ^ Edward F. Nesta: Luxury Experience - Spirit Awards - Tales of the Cocktail 2008. In: luxuryexperience.com. Retrieved July 18, 2016 .
  13. ↑ Drinks: The drinks of the season . In: Die Zeit , No. 17/2010
  14. ↑ GQ Cocktail of the Month: The Gin Basil Smash. In: gq-magazin.de. August 21, 2013, accessed July 18, 2016 .
  15. ↑ See the signature drink of the spirits importer Borco : Raspberry Basil Smash. In: borco.com. Retrieved July 18, 2016 .