Hi Ho Cocktail
Recipe:
- 60ml Old Tom gin
- 30ml white port
- 3 dashes orange bitters
Stir everything on ice until sufficiently chilled, strain into an iced cocktail glass, garnish with a lemon zest (express the oils over the drink).
White port is fantastic for martini-style drinks of any kind, whether gin, vodka (as with the Clubland cocktail) or rum. It's more accessible than vermouth, contains more fruity notes and is more forgiving concerning the other ingredients used. The Hi Ho Cocktail is a good example, together with a slightly sweet Old Tom gin it makes for a fantastic duo.
After the Żubrówka vodka was almost too herbacious (it's infused with local grasses) for me in the Clubland cocktail, I wasn't sure at first that gin wouldn't be too intense in a straight duet with the port. But a nice, smooth and aromatic Old Tom (like Hayman's, a classic) really makes this simple recipe shine. It's sort of the 1:1 white version of the Princeton, which I also love.
Both balanced and aromatic, a great transition from light Mediterranean herbs to fresh vanilla, dried pineapple, lemongrass, ginger and then fine orange oil and again some more herbs in the finish.
Source: Drew Hairston, Dirty Habit, Washington D.C., USA
