Help me recreate a drink!

[swan_tower]

When my husband and I were in England a couple of years ago, we had lunch in Highgate at a place that also served a drink I found absolutely delicious. We have recently found the list of ingredients again, so now our challenge is: what should the proportions be?

The drink contained:

Hendricks gin
Zubrowka
apple juice
elderflower juice
mint

We have a different brand of gin and elderflower syrup, so we may need to adjust slightly for that. Ideal result is for it to not taste very alcoholic — since I don’t like drinks that are terribly strong. Any suggestions for proportions?

Edited to add: It was served in a martini glass, to give you an idea of final volume.

Originally published at Swan Tower. You can comment here or there.

Comments

[starlady]

It sounds like a fruitier variation on a Corpse Reviver or something along those lines.

Assuming that it was a standard cocktail glass (4.5oz), I'd try something along the lines of:

1oz gin
2oz apple juice
1oz elderflower juice
1/2oz Zubrowka
sprig of mint

Since you have syrup instead of juice, I'd try 2.5oz apple juice and 1/2oz elderflower syrup instead.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Hrm. The first thing that I note is that Hendricks has a very distinctive flavor profile, so changing the gin is going to change things significantly.

I suspect that the elderflower "juice" was actually an elderflower cordial, because you can't juice a flower. So it probably was basically elderflower syrup, although it might have been a bit diluted. But that's unlikely to be a problem.

Apple juice and mint are both natural products with great variety in tastes and strengths, so that would inherently need to be adjusted.

If I was working at a bar, and you'd described that to me (and I had the ingredients to hand), I think I'd do the following:

In a mixing glass: Muddle 1 large sprig mint. Add 1 oz Hendricks, 1 oz Zubrowka, 1/2 oz St Germain. Add ice and apple juice to fill; vigorous shake, pour into Tom Collins glass, garnish with mint.

Does that help?