Cooking Lesson #216: Gin Sour Mar-Tea-Ni

… from the Friday Happy Hour Bar

How you doin’? I’m always doing great when I can infuse different flavors into a variety of alcohols. In Cooking Lesson #78—Fresh Strawberry Collins, we described the steps for infusing vodka with fresh strawberries. If you’ve already mastered that recipe this will be a cinch—tea infused gin.
 
We started infusing neutral spirits in the craft bars in our own restaurants. We first took the heavy-handed approach with chili infused spicy spirits. Then we moved on to other spices and fruits, even some vegetables (cucumbers work well). We have since moved on to different teas and fresh herbs (fresh basil). It’s amazing how good a cocktail can taste when you doctor up store-bought booze with fresh enhancers.
 
A Gin Sour has been around for years. But here’s a different twist on the Gin Sour—the Mar-TEA-ni Gin Sour evolved from the current contemporary craft bar movement in California. It’s a Gin Sour infused with Earl Grey tea.
 
Ingredients
1-1/2 ounces Earl Grey tea-infused Tanqueray gin (Check out the ChefSecret)
3/4 ounce freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 ounce simple syrup
1 egg white
Garnish: granulated sugar rim on the glass
Garnish: lemon twist on the side
 
Directions

1. Use the lemon juice and granulated sugar to half-rim a coupe glass; set aside.
2. Add all ingredients into a shaker without ice and shake vigorously (at least 15 seconds). You should get a little foam from the egg white.
3. Add ice and shake again until well-chilled.
4. Strain into the prepared coupe glass.
5. Garnish with a lemon twist.

ChefSecret:  To make Earl Grey tea-infused gin:  Add 5 tablespoons of Earl Grey tea leaves to a 750 mL bottle of Tanqueray gin (or other high-proof neutral dry gin), cap and shake. Let sit at room temperature for at least 5 hours. Strain the infused gin through a coffee filter into a separate container. Rinse out the original bottle to remove loose tea leaves and pour the gin back into the clean bottle. The gin can be stored indefinitely, refrigerated.

Covid-19 Quip of the Day: “Tweet others as you would like to be tweeted.”
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