The Spirits #96: Pink Gin
~ Navy-Strength ~ Gangrene ~ Housekeeping ~
~ PINK GIN ~
10-12 dashes of Angostura bitters
50ml gin
Don’t freeze your glassware. Add a liberal amount of bitters to the bottom of a glass, roll around to coat, then add the gin, sugar and water to taste. No ice, no garnish.
Some Pink Gin notes:
1. OK, if you really insist, you may add ice.
2. No garnish though.
3. And ideally, that gin is Plymouth Navy Strength (57% ABV)
4. But 5ml or so of sugar syrup and a splash of water wouldn’t go amiss (see below).
🖊️I am Richard Godwin.
🧋My instructions for sugar syrup, ice, grenadine, orgeat, etc are here.
🧑🏫 My 10 RULES FOR MAKING COCKTAILS are here.
⚗️ My bottle recommendations are here.
📃 The full A-Z recipe archive is here.
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PINK GIN is a misunderstood drink. It sounds rather fun, doesn’t it? Silly, even. It conjures rose petals, hen parties, strawberries on a summer evening, an angel’s kiss in spring. Gin manufacturers have capitalised on this misunderstanding in recent years. Type “Pink Gin” into your chosen search engine and you’ll see what I mean: “Gordon's Premium Pink Distilled Gin balances the crisp, juniper taste of Gordon's with the sweetness of raspberries and strawberries and a tang of redcurrant….”
The original Pink Gin, however, was nothing like this. It was (and still is) a traditional favourite of British officers and colonial sadists - the sort of thing you’d be grateful for when your cannon wound turns a nasty shade of gangrene and the ship’s surgeon says he hasn’t got all day. It dates back to at least the mid-18th century, when naval types took to combining their gin rations with medicinal bitters. “Pinkers” they called it. A Lily Savage of a drink! Tough as nails but awful pretty.
The standard way of serving it is resolutely without fuss. No ice. What do you think this is? No sugar, either. And rather a large amount of bitters, too. I’ve seen recipes demanding 5-10ml of the stuff. Down the hatch!
Still, while 20th century recipes for Pink Gin tend to be rather austere - a gin drink for those who consider the dry Martini a little tame - I wonder if the drink as always quite so strong? According to my Wondrich, the leading brand of bitters back when it was invented was Stoughton’s Stomach-Settler, a now defunct ingredient invented by London apothecary Richard Stoughton (1665-1716), which inspired the original recipe for Campari and, really, every bitters since. The gin, meanwhile, would probably have been both watered down and sweetened - as was the style until late-19th century.
“Now hang on a minute!” I hear you interject. “Spirit. Bitters. Sugar. Dilution. That’s a Cock-Tail!”
Yes, yes, quite right. Pink Gin was indeed a sort of proto-cocktail. I suppose you could gussy it up with ice, garnish, maybe even a spray of absinthe etc, into a gin Old Fashioned. But, actually, I rather like the idea of a canonical drink that doesn’t require ice that retains its 18th century essence.
Housekeeping: I’m going to be fairly bare-bones in these free Friday posts for the next month or two as I’m putting my focus on building up THE CABINET for the benefit of subscribers. So, expect recipes but probably not playlists, etc, for the time being.
If you are thirsty for more, however, there is much more over on the Cabinet:
🌿Green Chartreuse
🍒 Maraschino
🍑 Apricot Brandy
🍫 Crème de Cacao
🌷Cynar
🏝️ Falernum
🌵 Mezcal
🐂 Sherry
🧡 Aperol
🍌 Crème de Banane
WHAT I’VE BEEN READING
John Lanchester on Microchips (LRB)
Sophie McBain on childcare (New Statesman)
Justin E. H. Smith on the stupidity of GTP-4 (Hinternet)
And I thought this was good, on how Blurred Lines pre-empted everything bad that would happen in the decade following its release (Pitchfork)
SHOPPING LIST
Dark rum, orange liqueur, lime, ginger beer, Angostura bitters.