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A Fancy Garden Party Calls for Mixing Gin With Champagne

But just because you’re out of office, it doesn’t mean there isn’t serious business to attend to.

A Fancy Garden Party Calls for Mixing Gin With Champagne
A bottle of Champagne sits on a table at Atlas in Singapore. (Photographer: Franz Navarrete/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- The Hamptons, Monaco, Martha’s Vineyard, Muskoka—you get the idea. For some, the hot summer months are an excuse to get out of the sultry city and escape to somewhere posh.

But just because you’re out of office, it doesn’t mean there isn’t serious business to attend to. Like garden parties. And fundraisers. And boffo charity events. And hosted cocktail hours to impress those neighbors who went so far as to purchase a photo booth for their own casual affairs.

Consider then the Seersucker Fizz when you need to serve something swanky. Think of it as glamorously unholy trinity of iconic gin cocktails all in one: Gin and tonic meets martini meets French 75. Rest assured, nobody will expect it.

A Fancy Garden Party Calls for Mixing Gin With Champagne

For the base gin, Monkey 47—made in Germany’s Black Forest—may be one of the pricier options ($45 for a 375 milliliter bottle), but it’s also one the most complex, with an array of botanicals to highlight various flavors and aromas in mixed cocktails. Its spicy, lush texture is matched with equal parts Le Jay Crème de Cassis de Dijon, one of only two French AOC-protected crème de cassis producers in the world. The traditional recipe uses two varieties of cassis berries, Black Dawn and Noir de Bourgogne, and is finished off with an infusion of dried cassis flowers. Adding an equal amount of Dolin dry vermouth, another French potable from the AOC Chambéry region, offers some gentle acidity as well as vibrant, fresh botanical notes to support those found in the gin and cassis.

Topping it all off are two pours of bubbles: Champagne, which picks up on the berry notes from the gin and cassis, and tonic water for a refreshing dose of bitterness. 

Seersucker Fizz

Serves 1

¾ oz. Monkey 47 gin
¾ oz. Dolin dry vermouth
¾ oz. Le Jay Crème de Cassis de Dijon
½ oz. lemon juice
1½ oz. Champagne
1 oz. Fever-Tree tonic water
Lemon peel, for garnish

Combine gin, vermouth, crème de cassis, and lemon juice in a cocktail shaker and add ice. Shake for 15 seconds. Strain into a chilled cocktail coupe (or white wine glass). Add tonic water and Champagne. Garnish with a lemon peel. 

12 Cocktails of Summer

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Justin Ocean at jocean1@bloomberg.net

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