• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

A Kitchen Cat

  • Home
  • About
    • A bit about me
    • The Cats
  • Recipes
  • Techniques
    • How to cook dahl: a step-by-step guide
    • How to make gnocchi from scratch: a step-by-step guide
    • How to cook crispy pork belly
    • How to Fillet Fish for Ceviche
    • How to Make Yoghurt at Home
    • How to: A Beginner’s Guide to Sourdough
    • How to wrap rice paper rolls
    • How to cut pineapple like a pro
    • How to make tortellini and entertain friends
  • Resources
    • Step by Step: The Short Version of How to Start a Food Blog
    • How to Start a Food Blog: Extended Edition
    • How I halved my page load times with SiteGround
  • Media

Gin Rickshaw

April 21, 2016 by Tash Leave a Comment

gin rickshaw

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.

sunsetI 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.‘

I didn’t believe that such a simple recipe could be so delicious. It’s light, refreshing yet complex – I could definitely imagine this becoming our sundowner staple. I’ve tweaked it a little, adding soda water to make it lighter and slightly fizzy, but if you were looking for something a bit bolder and gin-forward, stick with the original. I’ve used it as a light pre-drink, it goes down dangerously easily.
Gin Rickshaw
 
Print recipe
Prep time
10 mins
Cook time
15 mins
Total time
25 mins
 
Source: tweaked from Macheesmo
Serves: 3-4 drinks
Ingredients
for the basil syrup
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 cup sugar
  • a handful, approx ½ cup (packed) fresh basil
for the gin rickshaw
  • 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
Instructions
  1. 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.
  2. 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.
3.4.3177

Filed Under: Cocktails Tagged With: aperitif, cocktail party, drink, gin, sundowners

Previous Post: « The Best Buffalo Wings
Next Post: Pasta with Broccoli, Chilli and Garlic »

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

get in touch

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Hi, I’m Tash

My life revolves around deciding what my next meal will be and there's nothing I love more than sharing my recipes. Restaurant reviewer and ex-Masterchef Australia contestant. Avid kitchen gadget collector, recipe book hoarder and only a tiny bit crazy cat lady. Read More…

Looking for something?




Don’t Miss Out

Get recipes straight to your inbox!

how-to-start-a-food-blog-short

Copyright © 2021 A Kitchen Cat on the Foodie Pro Theme