Pink Gin

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Pink Gin
Type:	Cocktail
Primary alcohol by volume:	Gin
Served:	"Straight up"; without ice
Standard garnish:	lemon
Standard drinkware:	Cocktail glass
Commonly used ingredients:	One part gin Dash of Angostura Bitters
Preparation:	Chill the glass, then coat the inside with the Bitters. Add the gin very well chilled, garnish and serve.
Notes:	The traditional garnish is a shave of lemon rind. You can obtain this by removing about an inch strip of lemon rind with a potato peeler.

Pink Gin is a cocktail made fashionable in the United Kingdom in the mid-19th century, consisting of gin and a dash of 'pink' (Angostura bitters, a dark red extract of gentian and spices, known from the 1820s at Angostura in Venezuela but now made in Trinidad and Tobago).

1 Origins
2 Variations
3 See also
4 References

[edit] Origins

Pink gin is a typically English way of enjoying gin. It is widely agreed that the drink was first created by members of the Royal Navy, as a way of making Angostura bitters more enjoyable. ^[1]

The Angostura bitters were discovered as a cure for sea sickness in 1824 by Dr. Johann Gottlieb Benjamin Siegert (though their medicinal uses had been discovered long before this), ^[2] who on discovery of their medicinal value formed the House of Angostura, a company selling the bitters to sailors.

The Royal Navy then brought the idea for the drink to bars in England, ^[3] where this method of serving was first noted on the mainland. By the 1870s, Gin was becoming increasingly popular and many of the finer establishments in England were serving Pink Gin. ^[4]

[edit] Variations

A typical pink gin is one part gin and one dash of angostura bitters.

Though there are no major variations of pink gin, many bartenders vary the amount of angostura bitters used. Occasionally the drink is topped up with iced water.

It is also common, especially in the UK, for pink gin to be served as 'pink gin and tonic', typically consisting of 4 dashes of angostura bitters and 2 shots of gin, which is then topped up with Tonic Water. This is served in a highball glass over ice, and then can be garnished with lemon. ^[5]