This Mint Gin Fizz gets it aromatic zing from muddled mint and a Lemon Shrub with Cardamom and Mint. It’s refreshing, fizzy, and cooling, perfect for hot spring or summer days!

As the third cocktail in a series developed for a DIY Gin Bar, it brings that citrus flavor to the party.

Northern California Craft Distilleries

I collaborated with six different distilleries for this series of posts:

• St. George Spirits (Alameda)
• Young and Yonder Spirits (Healdsburg)
• Griffo Distillery (Petaluma)
• New Alchemy Distilling (El Dorado Hills)
• Sipsong Spirits (Windsor)
• Sonoma Brothers Distilling (Windsor)

Northern California is such a spirited area and I wanted to highlight some of the fun and innovating craft spirits being made here. These distilleries generously gave me tours, tastings, and donated bottles of gin for these posts. But of course, all opinions are my own.

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Cocktail Nomenclature

This is the third cocktail drink that’s part of the series for the DIY Gin Bar. But I thought I would take a moment to discuss cocktail nomenclature, which is always so confusing.

I decided to call these series of cocktails “gin fizzes” because of the soda water (aka carbonated water, sparkling water, club soda, fizzy water).

Do a search on Google and gin fizzes tend to be broken in to two categories: drinks with carbonated water or drinks that contain egg whites.

According to Wikipedia, a gin fizz is “the best-known cocktail in the fizz family. A gin fizz contains gin, lemon juice, and sugar, which are shaken with ice, poured into a tumbler and topped with carbonated water.” So I’m sticking to my guns.

Fizzy or Neat

There are two separate ways to serve this Mint Gin Fizz. The first is the fizzy way, as the recipe is written. But if you want a more spirit-forward cocktail with no fizz and no ice, you can double strain the shaken drink into a chilled coupe or rocks glass. The flavor is more concentrated in the neat version, so I like doing them when I feel like something stronger.

Shrub and Gin Pairing

These shrub cocktails will vary in taste depending on what gin you use. Each distillery adds different botanicals, so the same cocktail made with another gin will result in its own distinctive version.

You can read through my thoughts on these specific gins and Lemon Shrub with Cardamom and Mint if you want. But whatever gins you use, keep these tips in mind:

• Smell the gins and the shrubs together to see what stands out
• Taste the shrubs and gins together but don’t be discouraged from trying to make a cocktail with a pairing you didn’t like. You might be surprised how the flavors you didn’t like are tempered in a full cocktail.
• Rather than thinking along the lines of like and dislike, think more about what flavors are really standing out and how you can either emphasize them or temper them.

St. George Spirits Botanivore Gin

The Botanivore Gin has a very flowery smell as well as a classic juniper aroma. When paired with the Lemon Shrub with Cardamom and Mint, the overwhelming flavor was spearmint.

St. George Spirits Terroir Gin

There was just enough lemon and the spearmint flavor wasn’t overpowering. The gin maybe could have shined through a little more, but otherwise, it was a really good pairing.

St. George Spirits Dry Rye Gin

There was a very slight spearmint finish, an equal amount of lemon and gin flavor, and the rye was less pronounced.

Young and Yonder Spirits H.O.B.S. Gin

This pairing had a cool spearmint taste and feel along with a very smooth candied lemon flavor.

Griffo Distillery Scott Street Gin

Emphasizes the Meyer lemon flavor, gives it a little bit of a candied feel and then the warming spices kick in: cardamom and grains of paradise.

New Alchemy Distilling Fleurette Gin

Honey, lavender, and chamomile flavors really dominated this pairing. I think this would make an extremely good tea cocktail.

New Alchemy Distilling Fleurette Vermilion Gin

This pairing is very cool and it decreases the syrup sweetness and increases the honey-sweet. It leaves a very cooling and refreshing zing on the tongue and back of the throat.

Sipsong Spirits Indira Gin

The cardamom really complements the cumin and it’s a very refreshing mix that is sweet and smooth. There is less spearmint flavor present than in other gin/shrub pairings

Sonoma Brothers Distilling Gin

This pairing was very bizarre because my primary impression was of mint chocolate. It reminded me of the effect you get with the birthday shot shooter (do you remember those from your college days?).

DIY Gin Bar Recipes

Here are all the recipes that are part of the DIY Gin Bar! There are also freebies that go along with the post that you should check out if you’re interested in throwing your own DIY Gin Bar party.

Cocktails

• Strawberry Gin Fizz
• Blackberry Gin Fizz
• Mint Gin Fizz
• Lemon Gin Fizz with Cucumber and Dill
• Orange Gin Fizz
• Gin Lemonade Cocktail

Shrubs

• Strawberry Shrub with Basil and Peppercorn
• Blackberry Shrub with Vanilla and Earl Grey
• Lemon Shrub with Cardamom and Mint
• Orange Shrub with Cardamom and Thyme
• Orange Shrub Recipe with Yunnan Tea and Szechuan Peppers

Infused Sugars

• Vanilla Bean Sugar
• Orange Sugar with Szechuan Peppers
• Lemon Zest Sugar with Cardamom
• DIY Citrus Sugar with Lemon and Dill
• Lemon and Lavender Infused Sugar

Mocktails

• Orange-Basil Strawberry Mocktail
• Vanilla Earl Grey Blackberry Mocktail
• Sparkling Basil Lemon Mocktail
• Lemon-Dill Cucumber Mocktail
• Rosemary & Mint Lemonade Mocktail

Freebies

• DIY Gin Bar Checklist for helping you plan your own party
• Blank PNG files of a blind tasting score and answer sheet that you can upload into Canva or other design app and fill out with the gins you choose to use
• PDF file containing high-quality printable recipe cards (crop and bleed marks included for easy cutting) of all the cocktail and mocktail recipes

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