Verhofstede Edelweiss Gin + 2 cocktails

 

This is our second blog in the series we do together with Foodbelgium.com – Links with promo’s and FREE items at the bottom of this article.

Are there still well-known classics that haven’t really been featured on this blog yet? How about this cool and refreshing Tom Collins with a nice base of Edelweiss gin ?
This gin by Verhofstede holds 20 botanicals and is produced with water from the Edelweiss source. The gin has floral and citrus notes and a nice and sweet finish. It received the silver medal on the Concours Mondial in Brussels.

Tom Collins

Ingredients
5 cl Verhofstede Edelweiss Gin
3 cl lemon juice
1,5 cl Simple Syrup
Perrier

Method
Shake the gin, lemon and sugar with lots of ice. Strain into a highball glass with fresh ice. Add soda water. I really like Perrier for this because it has just the right amount of bubbles. Garnish with fresh or dried lemon. Perfect drink to cool down on a hot day 😉

And even more !!!
At our home we really like all things vintage and retro. That’s probably what I also like most about the Verhofstede spirits. They use old family recipes to create modern day drinks. Another Belgian company who does this is Ritchie. They have a range of vintage lemonades, which are very enjoyable and can now be found in several supermarkets.

The original lemonades dropped off the market in the 70s. Jan Verlinden, son of the former brewer, quit his marketing job in 2016, refreshed the old recipes (less sugar etc.) and brought them back to the market. They even have a natural coke without caramel or phosphor acid. Jan is the 4th generation running the brewery in Lubbeek, near Leuven.

The coke and the grapefruit lemonade both mix excellent with rum. I wanted to sample the orange lemonade and also give it a spike. This time it’s not a Gin Ricky, but a Gin Ritchie 😉

Gin Ritchie

Ingredients
5 cl Verhofstede Edelweiss Gin
1 bottle of Ritchie Orange

Method
Add your gin to a tumbler with ice. Top up with Ritchie lemonade. Give it a single stir. Garnish with a dried orange slice. Cheers !

Buy now
Verhofstede Promopage   
Edelweiss Gin 20 CL (+ FREE apero mix) 
Edelweiss Gin 50 CL (+ FREE Gimber)
 
Disclaimer : All pictures and texts are copyrighted by Geert Conard and Esito Management & Communications unless stated otherwise in the article. While some items might have been gifted by the producer or distributor, these are in no way paid promotions or recommendations. Affiliate links present in this article.

Verhofstede Hop Jenever - Dry Gibson

 

Great news !!! I have teamed up with foodbelgium.com – This is a webshop with authentic Belgian food and drinks. They have asked me to test some of the bottles on their “Jenever, liqueur and distillates” pages. All products we will be testing in the next weeks and months can be purchased through direct links in the articles, often with free extra’s or specials promotions for our followers.

In this first article we got to play around with Verhofstede Hop Jenever. This local distiller started creating this product in 1961 by an old family recipe, based on the wild hops growing around their property. The hops create a silky finish for this traditional jenever. Did you know that jenever existed 200 years before the first mentioning of cognac… and that jenever is the more complex predecessor of gin?

To highlight the silky finish, we didn’t want to mask it too much with other flavours. Our first thought was a Dry Martini, but I was afraid the umami taste of the olive would change the taste too much. I picked a Dry Gibson instead, swapping the olive for a pickled onion. I used a can of pickled onions, pickled with barrel aged apple vinegar.

Pickled Martinis are real bartenders’ drinks. Very complex taste. The Dry Gibson just might be the easiest first babysteps toward this ‘pickled’ direction. It’s a fresh and silky Martini-style cocktail that will be loved by most spirit-forward enthusiasts.

Dry Gibson

Ingredients
6 cl Verhofstede Hop Jenever
2 cl Forest Dry vermouth

Method
Add the Jenever and vermouth to a mixglass with lots of ice. Stir for 20 seconds and strain into a chilled Martiniglass. Add a pickled onion.

Buy Now
Verhofstede Promopage   
Hop Jenever 20 CL (+ FREE apero mix)  
Hop Jenever 70 CL (+ FREE Gimber)
 
Disclaimer : All pictures and texts are copyrighted by Geert Conard and Esito Management & Communications unless stated otherwise in the article. While some items might have been gifted by the producer or distributor, these are in no way paid promotions or recommendations.