Basil Smash

When I first tried the Basil Smash, it was a failure. The drink I had made was too sour and the taste of the basil was completely lost. However, I was ready to give it another try because the use of basil in a cocktail had made me very curious. The recipe I had found on diffordsguide.com was as following:

• 12  fresh basil leaves
• 60 ml fresh lemonjuice
• 30 ml simple syrup
• 60 ml gin

This was adapted from the original recipe by Jörg Meyer who invented the Basil Smash at the Bar Le Lion in July 2008. Originally he called the drink Gin Pesto but the name was quickly changed to Basil Smash or Gin Basil Smash. It was called this because the drink was inspired by another famous smash:  the Whiskey Smash. Another drink I already tried. In a Whiskey smash, mint leaves are muddled and then shaken with rye whiskey, lemonjuice and simple syrup.

As I found my first attempt of the Basil Smash to sour, I adapted the recipe myself. I used 50 ml of lemonjuice instead of 60, 40 ml of simple syrup instead of 30 and I made sure that my basil was as fresh as  possible. This is very important, if you keep the leaves for too long, I noticed that they start losing flavour. So my second try was a bigger success. The refreshing basil flavour was everywhere in the drink, there was sourness of the lemon juice and bitterness of Gin. The only thing that still bothered me was the way I had served it, in a big tumbler glass with a straw, simply not elegant enough for me.

This problem was solved however thanks to my parents. As they were moving into a new flat at the time, my mother asked me if I wanted to have a look into their glass collection. I remembered them having a collection of beautiful, classic yet elegant wine glasses. And my luck, they didn't want to bring them along into their new home. So I took a few of them with me and tried the Basil Smash another time. I also reduced the amount of simple syrup back to 30 ml as the glasses were a bit smaller than the tumbler I had originally used. I shaked it, served it in the glass and garnished with a basil sprig and I loved it.

A few weeks later, Niklas and me hosted our first cocktail tasting night where we invited friends and family to try out some of the cocktails we had tried and loved ourselves. I decided to put the Basil Smash on the menu, but I was a bit afraid for its success.  We served cocktails like the Zombie and Lazy Red Cheeks and I had thought that the Basil Smash would have been put in the shadow by fruity cocktails like those. I was (luckily) proven wrong as this was the most successful cocktail on our menu. People were surprised  by the use of basil and how good it tasted in this cocktail. Even on our second cocktail event, people requested this one for a try.

So this is the way I make the Basil Smash today:

• 12 fresh basil leaves
• 50 ml fresh lemonjuice
• 30 ml simple syrup
• 60 ml of gin

Muddle the basil leaves in the base of a shaker, add all the other ingredients and shake well. Strain into a glass with ice cubes and garnish with a basilsprig.

 

Cheers!

Oskar