Caitlin’s Elderflower Collins
Arriving at a dinner party (remember those?) one evening a few years ago, my charming hostess handed me a fizzy, floral drink that was both sweet and tart, bright and botanical. I’ve always felt like a bit like two kids stacked inside a trenchcoat in the company of actually-sophisticated people, the kind of people who host dinner parties and mix cocktails out of thoughtfully curated liquor cabinets, but one positive of lockdown has been that I’ve finally had the time to hone my bartending skills. This was one of the first drinks I tried to recreate. The first version is Caitlin’s original recipe. The second is my own variation, which you might enjoy if you can’t readily find an elderflower soda equivalent in your area. It also has the benefit of being highly customizable, so you can tone down the sweetness or crank up the citrus to please your palate.
Ingredients :
2 ounces / 60 ml gin
0.5 ounce / 15 ml lime juice
Trader Joe’s Elderflower and Lemon Soda or equivalent
1 capful Aperol
rosemary stem to garnish
Instructions:
Fill a collins glass with ice. Assuming you have a collins glass. I don’t. I use whatever glass is handy in my house. No complaints so far.
Pour 2 ounces of gin over the ice, then the lime juice. Be generous. Lime it up. Don’t measure. Who knows how many ounces of juice are in a lime anyway? (Google. Google knows. If you really, really need to follow the rules, Google can help you here.)
Top with elderflower soda and then add a capful of Aperol.
Stir, garnish with a stem of rosemary.
Tips and Tricks:
If you find this a bit sweet, you can add a little club soda to balance it out, or cut back on the Aperol. You need just enough to turn the whole concoction a lovely pale orange color and add just a hint of rhubarb and bitters.
Variation:
Ingredients:
1.5 ounces / 45 ml gin
.5 ounce / 15 ml St. Germaine’s elderflower liqueur
.5 ounce / 15 ml lemon juice (or to taste)
club soda to top off
1/2 capful Aperol
lemon twist & rosemary stem to garnish
Prepare as described above.