Christmas and summer gin cocktail recipes to try this holiday season

One of the joys of Four Pillars for me over the past ten years has been watching Cameron and his extraordinary distilling team create gin after gin that works deliciously in those core drinks, but also has been able to push the boundaries of where gin drinks go.

This diversity of flavours and possibilities has been leapt upon both by our brilliant in-house drinks teams and by bartenders around Australia and around the world. I am, by no means, the authority on drinks but if you’re asking, this covers some of my favourites from the past decade.

I hope these drinks inspire you to dig deeper and deeper into the world of great cocktails, drinking better (and not more) as you do it. Cheers!

Christmas cocktails

From gala dinners to Christmas and New Year’s drinks, there’s a time for bubbles (of course) and there’s a time for cocktails.

Here are three of the best cocktails for celebratory moments:

Bloody Spritz

30ml Bloody Shiraz Gin

90ml sparkling wine

30ml ruby red grapefruit juice

30ml soda water

Grapefruit

Ice

Add Bloody Shiraz Gin, ruby red grapefruit juice and soda water to a wine glass over ice. Top with sparkling wine and garnish with a slice of grapefruit.

Christmas Punch

300ml Australian Christmas Gin

150ml Aperol

50ml Orgeat

300ml fresh lemon juice

900ml sparkling wine

200ml soda water

Festive berries

Orange

Lemon

Ice

Mix Australian Christmas Gin, fresh lemon juice, Aperol and Orgeat in a punch bowl over ice. Top with sparkling wine and soda water. Garnish with festive berries and slices of orange and lemon.

Bramble

45ml Rare Dry Gin

30ml fresh lemon juice

10ml sugar syrup

15ml creme de mure

Blackberries

Ice

Shake Rare Dry Gin, fresh lemon juice, sugar syrup and strain into a rocks glass over ice. Cap with crushed ice and float creme de mure on top. Garnish with a skewer of blackberries.

The Bramble was the creation of Dick Bradsell, one of the bartenders who led the charge for the revival of classic cocktails and gin drinks (including another icon, the London Calling). I fell in love with cocktails at bars he created, like Dick’s Bar and The Player. And I’ve served up Brambles at the weddings of two of my closest friends. It’s a simple drink to make and one that never fails to delight with its deliciously balanced flavour or vibrant colour.

Summer cocktails

Hot summer evenings call for cool, bright refreshing drinks. These three gin drinks are all made for starting off a summer night in exactly the right place.

Shakey Pete

50ml fresh lemon juice

50ml ginger syrup

30ml Sticky Carpet Gin

6 ice cubes

Pale ale beer

Ice

Put fresh lemon juice, ginger syrup, Sticky Carpet Gin (Rare Dry Gin will work brilliantly too) and six ice cubes into a blender. Blend until cubes have dissolved and then pour into frozen beer mug. Top with frothy pale ale and enjoy (but go slow… these are dangerously drinkable and deceptively strong).

Automobile

45 ml Spiced Negroni Gin or Rare Dry Gin

30 ml lime juice

15 ml Grenadine

Ginger beer

Mint

Ice

Add Spiced Negroni Gin or Rare Dry Gin, lime juice and Grenadine to a highball glass over ice. Top with ginger beer and garnish with mint.