gin Archives - Munchies and Munchkins

I was way behind everyone else when it came to enjoying Gin. It took me until the age of 32 to realise that it wasn’t the taste of Gin that I hated but the taste of tonic water. I tried my first Gin cocktail about a year ago, the first time I had tasted Gin without the dreaded tonic and I loved it. Since then I’ve enjoyed Gin on lots of occasions with this Elderflower based cocktail last year becoming a particular favourite.

I have been experimenting with rose flavours in bakes and chocolates this year. I made incredible truffles a few months ago and once I get a little bit of time to retest the recipe I will share them with you. This rose cocktail is so simple that it’s barely a recipe but it packs such a flavour punch. I hosted a cocktail party for my female family members last weekend and this drink was the hit of the night.

On a side note.. if I ever invite you over for a drink and just a few nibbles you will likely arrive to this and lots more besides.

I prepped the gin, cherries and rose water ran hour or so before my guests arrival but didn’t add the chilled lemonade until a minute or two before they arrived. It allowed the cherries to really start to absorb the rose gin flavour and everyone commented on how much of a kick they had! Quantities depend on how many people you are serving so I have given you the ingredients you need and a rough guide per glass but don’t be afraid to go stronger!

Love Potion: Rose Gin Cocktail

You will need:

A decent Gin, don’t go buying the cheapest brand you can find. Good quality makes a big difference

Rose water/extract – I used Nielsen Masseys rose water.

Cocktail cherries

Chilled lemonade

For each cocktail use 50ml gin, 1/2 tsp of rose water and 150ml chilled lemonade. As I stated above it works really well to combine your gin and rose extract along with your decorative cherries a little while before serving for a more intense flavour.

You would be forgiven for thinking that Hotel Chocolat just make chocolates.

That’s definitely not the case. They also do a pretty amazing selection of oils, pestos, vinegars and boooooze.

I was recently sent some of their cocoa beer, cocoa gin and mojito chocs to sample and review…it’s a hard job but someone’s got to do it ..right?

So let’s start with the Gin ..just because that’s a very good place to start.

What do Hotel Chocolat have to say about it?

A classically cool and crisp English dry gin infused with the flavours of our Rabot Estate in Saint Lucia – lemon zests, juniper, coriander, mineola and angelica, with peppery notes of roasted cocoa shells and the rich creaminess of crushed macadamia nuts.

And what did we think?

For me the overriding flavour was citrus when mixed with the tonic water.This is not a bad thing as I love citrus flavours. I found that I could taste more cocoa when I tasted it neat. We both enjoyed and it was fresh and crisp.

Next onto the chocolates.. Mojito chocolates to be precise.

These are divine. I’ve had liqueurs before and flavoured chocolates plenty of times but these are just perfect. They taste so rum like that it almost feels like you are having a very sweet, indulgent drink with a bite of delightful chocolate. So so good.

Next up is the beer..

What do Hotel Chocolat have to say about it?

Our distinctive, English, small-batch beer, brewed with traditional Fuggles hops and the warming flavour of cocoa shells to create a complex, rounded ale of real character, with pleasing savoury bitterness and notes of tobacco, cocoa and coffee. Our cocoa shells are left over from making chocolate, but they’re just too good to throw away

And what do we think?

I’m not much of a beer drinker so I totally left this up to Andrew and he really enjoyed. He has just recently discovered the joys of coffee and said he definitely picked up the coffee and cocoa notes which made it a little bit different to a normal bottle of beer.

So overall a very pleasant trio of goodies. Not just chocolate in the Hotel Chocolat selection.

* we were sent these items for the purpose of the review.

Love Potion: Rose Gin Cocktail

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Hotel Chocolat Beer, Gin & Cocktails – Review

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