Monkey 47 Gin – Brighten Up the New Year with These Flavorful Cocktails

Have you tried Monkey 47 Gin?

Monkey 47 Gin brightens up our palates with herbaceous and fruity flavors to welcome the new year! Sure to put us put us in happy spirits as we greet 2021. Did you know that gin is a main ingredient in the popular New Year’s Eve cocktail – French 75? It combines fresh lemon juice, gin and chilled champagne. Such a  refreshing way to ring in the new year.

As you enjoy your New Year’s Eve cocktails, you’ll be joined by many people around the world who will be inbibing while honoring their own New Year’s drinking traditions.

In Scotland, the last day of the year is known as “Hogmanay”. The “first-foot” (first guest to arrive after midnight on the first day of the new year) is expected to bring the hosts a bottle of whiskey.

Folks in Spain will drop a gold coin or gold ring into their cava. The gold symbolizes good luck and prosperity for the new year.

If you love rum, you’d love the German tradition of enjoying Berliner Pfannkuchen which is a jelly doughnut with rum icing…yum!

In Russia, it is customary to write down your wishes and dreams for the new year on a piece of paper and then hold it to a candle flame to burn the note. The ashes are put into a glass of champagne that is enjoyed at midnight.

And around the world the corks will be popping – champagne for everyone! There are many more  New Year’s Eve food and drink traditions around the world.

Here at home in the good ole USA, I will be enjoying gin as I welcome 2021!

Gin is the perfect way to bring fresh garden scents and flavors to the dreary chilly days of winter. Lemon verbena, elderflower, blackberry and lavendar are just a few of the 47 different botanicals in Monkey 47 gin. Open up a bottle and take a whiff, the aroma of a heavenly herb garden awaits. What a lovely way to begin a new year.

If we learned anything from 2020, it was to appreciate the simple things in life,  so let’s not get bogged down with complicated cocktails as we enter into 2021. One of the easiest, most refreshing cocktails is a “Gin Gina” made with Orangina –  real citrus juices, pulp from mandarin oranges and a little effervescence.

• 2 ounces Monkey 47 Gin
• Orangina
• Ice Cubes
• Orange Peel
• Place ice cubes in a cocktail glass. Pour in gin and then fill the rest of the glass with Orangina. Stir lightly. Run the orange peel around the rim of the glass and then put it in the glass as a garnish.

If you cannot find Orangina in your local supermarket, it is available on Amazon.com.

If you have fresh cranberries left over from the Christmas holiday, use them to garnish this pretty ruby drink:

• Gift Giver
  2 oz. Monkey 47 Gin
  ¾ oz. Fresh lemon juice
  ¾ oz. Cranberry syrup*
  Pear cider
• Add gin, lemon, and cranberry syrup to a shaker, add ice and shake for 5-7 seconds. Strain over fresh ice into the glass of your choice and top with a dry styled hard pear cider of any brand. Garnish with slices of pear and a lemon wheel or a fresh citrus twist and fresh cranberries.
• *For Cranberry syrup:
  Combine 1 cup of room temperature unsweetened cranberry juice (such as R.W. Knudsen’s Just Cranberry) with 1 cup white sugar and stir until completely dissolved. Store refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 3-weeks.

Recipe courtesy of the Monkey 47 Gin mixologists.

Curling up by the fire with a good book this winter? Enjoy an warming aromatic “Sun in Sagittarius” cocktail:

• 2 ounces Monkey 47 Gin
• 3 ounces Hot Apple Cider
• 1/4 ounce Fresh Lemon Juice
• 3 dashes Angostura Bitters
• Combine hot apple cider with Monkey 47 gin, lemon juice, and Angostura bitters. Garnish with a lemon wheel and any aromatics you have on hand – cinnamon sticks, cardamom pods, star anise, nutmeg, etc.

What will be your libation of choice to greet the new year? Will you enjoy a cocktail, champagne or better yet – both?!