A Sundowner, in colloquial British English, is an alcoholic drink taken after completing the day’s work, usually at sundown. The sundowner has been referenced in literature since the 1950s. –Wikipedia
Sundowners are quite the thing here. There’s something about a beautiful sunset and living by the ocean that makes everything calm. That sits quite well with the great Aussie tradition of consuming alcoholic beverages.
Not being a fan of beer, I’m always on the lookout for easy to make drinks for the girls when they come around for drinks. We are very fortunate to live somewhere that has a beautiful view of the city and the ocean. It’s pretty much always perfect gin drinking weather, and this gin rickshaw is such an elegant cocktail that’s fresh but punchy enough for even the guys to get into.
I think that calls for some summery drinks, no?
If you look closely at the picture at the top, you’ll see that use washi tape to label glasses so that people don’t lose theirs. It’s the little things (yeah, I’m actually really proud of that one to be honest.)
I’ve adapted this recipe from Macheesmo‘s Rickshaw. Nick says, ‘If there’s one tip I could give people that want to get into cocktail making, it’s not to spend a lot of money on booze. Just learn how to make good syrups. Once you learn how to infuse flavors into syrups, you can make wonderful drinks that you would pay a lot for in a bar or restaurant.‘
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup sugar
- a handful, approx ½ cup (packed) fresh basil
- ice
- 2 parts gin - 60ml
- 1 part basil syrup - 30ml
- 1 part fresh lime juice - 30ml
- 1 part soda water
- cucumber slices, for garnish
- basil leaves, for garnish
- To make the basil syrup, bring the sugar and water to the boil over medium heat. Once all the sugar has dissolved, turn off the heat and add the basil. Allow the basil to infuse for about 15 minutes. To get a more full flavoured syrup and blitz it briefly in a blender and strain, pressing out to get the tiny basil bits that give this syrup it's bright green colour.
- To make the gin rickshaw, fill a pitcher with ice, interspersing with cucumber and basil leaves. Add gin, basil syrup, lime juice (I used 180:90:90ml), stir through then top with soda water.
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