12 APERITIF COCKTAILS MADE WITH GIN
Before-dinner drinks
At home in the garden and when we’ve been lucky enough to go on safari, we relish the opportunity to enjoy a sundowner gin and tonic cocktail; sitting by the campfire watching the sun go down is a simple pleasure we savour. We’re also enthusiasts of the Italian tradition aperitivo – a time dedicated after work and pre-dinner to imbibe a short drink or ‘aperitif’ and have a small plate of something tasty.
What is an aperitif?
An aperitif is a short, typically alcoholic drink. Tending to be dry, herbal or bitter rather than sweet they are meant to ‘open the stomach’ and stimulate the appetite for the meal ahead.
Aperitifs are likely to be lower in alcohol, for instance, diluting gin with tonic for a refreshing G&T. When we’re cheating on gin, our go-to aperitifs are a dry vermouth like Regal Rogue Daring Dry or their Lively White which is a citrus and floral semi dry vermouth. Additionally, we’re rather partial to a glass of Lillet Blanc served over ice. Often mistaken as a vermouth Lillet Blanc is a blend of wines and fruit infusions. Like gin where juniper is the key botanical vermouths also have a key ingredient. They must contain the bitter herb wormwood.
However, aperitif cocktails served before dinner are still generally shortish drinks but they can also be stronger in alcohol. As winner of the World’s Best Martini Challenge with our Campfire London Dry Gin we have the best gin for a martini aperitif cocktail. When paired with Dolin Dry Vermouth in a 10:1 ratio our Bone Dry Martini is the number one aperitif cocktail!
12 best aperitif gin cocktails to serve before dinner
Below we have 12 of our absolute best aperitif cocktails made with our Campfire Gins, Box Moor Gin and PUD PUD Cherry Christmas Gin. Easy to make gin cocktails that are the perfect aperitivo serves. Get inspired and serve up the ultimate gin cocktail at your next dinner party – try a Bone Dry Martini, Gimlet or Negroni. Our recipes for a French 75, Dawa Sour and Gin & It are modern twists on classic gin cocktails that will impress your guests before they sit down to dinner.
All recipes are for one serve. You can batch-make or partially batch-make many of the cocktails a couple of hours in advance of your guests arriving to save time.
1. Campfire Bone Dry Martini
Make the best martini in the world! This is our World’s Best Martini winning recipe. ‘Bone’ refers to the ratio of gin to vermouth, which in our book is anything over a 6:1 ratio. Ours is a very dry martini recipe at 10:1! The ‘dry’ refers, not to the fact it’s made from a London Dry gin, but because the other ingredient is a dry vermouth. It’s delicious and the best gin martini you’ll ever have!
75ml Campfire London Dry Gin (room temperature)
7.5ml Dolin Dry Vermouth (fridge temperature)
Orange peel flower garnishes soaked in Carpano Antica Formula sweet red vermouth for 10 hours
Ice for dilution
Combine the gin and vermouth with ice in a cocktail mixing glass and stir until chilled – you are aiming for ice dilution of approximately 20ml water. Fine strain into a pre-chilled martini glass and garnish with the orange peel flowers.
2. Wet Salty Dog
An easy to make, simple cocktail which combines the classic Greyhound and Salty Dog. The Wet Salty Dog introduces the salt element as a saline solution rather than applied to the rim of the glass like in a Salty Dog. The saline element enhances all flavour components whilst tempering the sharp acidity of the grapefruit.
50ml Campfire Navy Strength Gin
150ml Pink grapefruit juice
10ml 20% Saline solution
Ice
Mix all ingredients in a cocktail can with four to five cubes of ice. Stir for 30 seconds then pour into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a half wheel of grapefruit, coated in sugar and brûléed.
3. Gimlet
We couldn’t not make a Gimlet with Box Moor Gin – the classic gin cocktail made with Rose’s Lime Juice Cordial. The juniper used in Box Moor Gin is harvested from The Box Moor Trust estate in Hemel Hempstead near Boxmoor Wharf which was once the home of Rose’s Lime Juice. However, as Box Moor Gin is one of our special and very limited edition gins it’s quite rare! If we’re all out of Box Moor Gin and you’ve finished your bottle our Campfire Navy Strength Gin makes an awesome (but stronger!) alternative.
60ml Box Moor Gin
7ml Freshly squeezed lime juice
30ml Rose’s Lime Juice Cordial
Ice
Lime slice garnish
Add all ingredients except the lime garnish to a cocktail shaker filled with ice and shake well. Fine strain into a chilled glass. Garnish with the lime.
4. Ember Negroni
This stalwart of the cocktail world glows like burning charcoal. Bold, warming and complex the negroni features the quintessential bitter amaro Campari which can be enjoyed neat or over ice as an aperitif.
30ml Campfire Cask Aged Gin
30ml Campari
30ml Carpano Antica Formula sweet red vermouth
Pour into glass over ice. Stir, add orange peel garnish and serve.
5. Campfire Gin Rickey
The gin rickey is a refreshing, zero sugar alternative to the classic G&T.
50ml Campfire London Dry Gin
200ml Fever-Tree Soda Water
¼ Fresh lime
Pour Campfire London Dry Gin over ice, squeeze lime juice into glass and add the lime. Top with Fever-Tree Soda Water and stir.
6. Square Pear
50ml Campfire Old Tom Gin
200ml Koppaberg Pear Cider
Bitter Union Aromatic Bitters
Sugar cube
Fresh mint for garnish
Soak the sugar cube in the Aromatic Bitters. Add ice, gin and pear cider to a serving glass. Drop the sugar cube into the glass and allow the bitters to infuse. Garnish with the mint leaves.
7. Strawberry Basil Smash
A refreshing mix of Campfire London Dry Gin and strawberries with a savoury basil garnish and aroma. Easy to make and store in the fridge before serving.
50ml Campfire London Dry Gin
4 Strawberries (sliced)
Basil leaves
3tbsp Sugar syrup
Eighth of a lime
100ml Fever-Tree Indian Tonic
Ice
Add all the ingredients, except the tonic, to a cocktail shaker and muddle (smash with a cocktail muddler or the end of a wooden spoon) to extract flavour from the fruit and basil. You can now store this in a jug in the fridge for a few hours. When you’re ready to serve add some ice and stir. Strain into glasses, top with tonic and garnish with fresh strawberries and extra basil leaf.
8. Savoury Campfire
A bold G&T with a flavoured tonic.
50ml Campfire Navy Strength Gin
200ml Franklin & Sons Rosemary & Black Olive Tonic
Pour Campfire Navy Strength Gin over ice and top with the tonic water. Garnish with a sprig of fresh rosemary.
9. Cherry & Cranberry French 75
A French 75 can be made with gin or cognac; naturally we favour the gin version! This recipe features our PUD PUD Cherry Gin, available in the run up to Christmas. Still very much a gin and with no added sugar (like all our gins) it’s rested in cask with fresh cherries from Horwood Cherries in Bucks.
30ml PUD PUD Cherry Gin
15ml Cranberry juice
15ml Simple syrup
30-60ml Champagne or Prosecco
Lemon twist garnish
Combine the cherry gin, cranberry juice and syrup in a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake for 20 seconds until frosted on the outside. Strain into a flute and top with the Champagne or Prosecco. Garnish with the lemon twist.
10. Fire Extinguisher
Ben originally created the Fire Extinguisher cocktail for London’s 5 star countryside hotel, The Grove at Chandlers Cross near Watford. This refreshing cocktail became so popular we just had to include it in our cocktail library.
50ml Campfire Cask Aged Gin
15ml Lime juice
15ml Regal Rogue Bold Red Vermouth
200ml Fever-Tree Aromatic Tonic
Pour the gin, lime juice and vermouth into a highball glass with ice, top up with the tonic. Garnish with fresh strawberry and add a paper straw.
11. Gin Dawa Sour
On our very first trip to Kenya we went for a BBQ dinner at the famous Carnivore Restaurant. It was here we tried a vodka Dawa cocktail. We recently returned to Kenya and along with the regular breakfast offerings of orange and apple juice they also had madafu (coconut water) on the menu. Back at the distillery we decided to experiment and created the Gin Dawa Sour cocktail with coconut water and cardamom spice.
35ml Campfire London Dry Gin
35ml Coconut water (madafu)
10ml Cardamom syrup (50g castor sugar, 50ml water – recipe below)
10ml Fresh lime juice
Lime for garnish
Runny honey
Ice
First make the cardamom syrup. Add 50g castor sugar and 50ml water to a saucepan, heat gently and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Add five cracked cardamom pods (not fully crushed). Pour into a sterilised bottle and allow to cool. Refrigerate for 24 hours. Strain into a fresh sterilised bottle to remove the cardamom pods. It will keep for one month in the fridge.
Mix all ingredients except the honey and lime garnish in a beaker filled with ice. Strain into an Old Fashioned glass filled with fresh ice. Take a bamboo straw, dip into the runny honey and stir into the cocktail. Garnish with a slice of lime.
12. Fireside Manhattan
The showcase cocktail for our Gold World Gin Award, Best English Matured Gin, Campfire Cask Aged. It’s a crossover between the Gin and It and a Manhattan.
A Gin and It is a gin and sweet vermouth cocktail where the ‘It’ refers to the typically Italian sweet red vermouths. A Manhattan however is a bourbon and sweet vermouth cocktail. As our Campfire Cask Aged Gin is rested in ex-bourbon American oak barrels and picks up notes of soft fruity bourbon, vanilla and caramel, we call this cocktail the Fireside Manhattan!
60ml Campfire Cask Aged Gin
10ml Carpano Antica Formula sweet red vermouth
Ice
Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker one quarter filled with ice. Stir gently to coat the ice with the gin and vermouth and to dilute the ice slightly. Strain into a pre-chilled martini glass.