We decided to put some of Scotland’s finest pink gins to the test with ten of our favourite pink gin cocktail recipes, perfect for the summer… or any season really!
It’s hard not to have noticed how popular pink gin and pink gin cocktails have become over the last few years, with whole gin shelves in supermarkets and bars turning pink. However, it’s not that pink gin is a new concept. It’s just taken its time to become popular again.
Where did Pink Gin Come From?
Pink Gin and even pink gin cocktails have been around since 1870 when pink gins were first introduced with the addition of bitters blending perfectly with the sharp taste of gin.
The first pink gin cocktail, and for a long time what was just known as pink gin, is thought to have origins in the Royal Navy. It’s said that they created pink gin by mixing Plymouth gin and Angostura bitters to help with seasickness.
The drink then spread to the mainland and by the late 1800s had moved from sailors drinking establishments to some of Britain’s finest drinking establishments!
Despite the origin of the pink gin being a gin mixed with bitters, the amount of recipe variations that create today’s pink gins has now exploded – much to our delight!
The popularity of different spirits tends to come and go after a hiatus. Gins, pink gins, and gin liqueurs have become some of the most popular selling spirits in the last few years.
Distilleries like Edinburgh Gin, Shetland Reel and Harris Gin have become household names and even are giving whisky a run for its money with Scotland producing 70% of the UK’s gin!
But sometimes people are a little unsure what to do with the bottle of pink spirit they have tucked away in a cupboard, outside of the usual gin and tonic, so we decided to help and try to find you your favourite pink gin cocktail recipe. The taste testing wasn’t a bonus for us, of course…
What’s the difference between gin, pink gin and a pink gin liqueur?
The first thing you need to know before making a pink gin cocktail recipe is what spirit you have in your cupboard! It sounds silly, but after years of working with a major gin brand, this was a very regular misunderstanding.
Gin
Often clear, 37.5% proof or above and has to be made with juniper, a berry that isn’t a berry. There are often aromatic botanicals involved in the gin distilling process and these are what dictate the different flavours between gins.
Pink Gin
Generally pink in colour but not always, it is also 37.5% proof and has been flavoured with bitters or fruits. These both create the pink colour but also soften the taste of straight gin with a sweeter, fruity flavour. There is no added sugar though, just added fruit and botanicals.
Gin Liqueur
Often around 20% proof, gin liqueurs are made with distilled gin but infused with both flavourings and sweeteners that create a lighter, sweeter drink. The variation in flavours is huge as there are so many different ingredients that can be used. In the case of pink gin liqueurs, it’s often berries or rhubarb.
People can often be confused between pink gins and pink gin liqueurs, with the strength of the former coming as a surprise!
What is sugar syrup?
Many of our pink gin cocktails contain sugar syrup to help sweeten the taste. You can omit this if you like, but we think it changes the taste a lot, so prefer to keep it in. It is possible to use agave syrup instead, and you will often see this with cocktails.
Sugar syrup can sometimes be purchased from the supermarket, but it’s also easy to make yourself.
To make your own sugar syrup, gently heat 2 parts sugar to 1 part water in a pot on the stove until the sugar is dissolved, then allow to cool. That’s it!
Pink Gin Cocktails
To avoid any confusion, we have made use of all three gin types to create our pink gin cocktail recipes. Using the delicate balance of flavours to build refreshing, delightful drinks!
Our top ten pink gin cocktails can be found below, in no particular order. For the majority, you can use any pink gin or pink gin liqueur to create them and adjust your garnish to suit. Whatever you’re using will, of course, affect the taste of each one.
We have recommended the spirit or liqueur we used but experimentation is key, and what makes these pink gin cocktails so exciting!
Pink Collins
A Tom Collins cocktail is traditionally made from gin, lemon juice, sugar, and soda water. The first publication of the recipe was in Harry Johnson’s 1882 New and Improved Bartender’s Manual or How to Mix Drinks of the Present Style, although the actual origins of the cocktail are unknown.
We’ve stuck to these ingredients but opted to use pink gin instead which gives the cocktail a light pink colour, which can turn a shade redder by muddling strawberries or raspberries in the bottom of the glass.
Ingredients:
- 60ml Pink Gin
- 30ml Lemon Juice
- 30ml Sugar Syrup
- 125ml Soda Water
- Ice
- Strawberries or raspberries to muddle *optional
Glassware: Collins glass or Highball glass
Garnish: Lemon and Strawberry
Method:
Put Ice into a tall glass. Build the cocktail ingredients over the top of it before stirring to combine. Garnish with strawberries and lemon.
As an extra you could muddle strawberries or raspberries in the bottom of the glass before adding the ice.
Using another pink gin liqueur instead of sugar syrup, like with a strawberry or raspberry flavour, depending on what you’re garnishing with or what is flavouring the pink gin is also an option.
Recommended Gin: City of Aberdeen Distillery Strawberry Gin
Pink Lady
This classic cocktail has been about since at least the prohibition era is the USA. In its most basic form it’s a combination of gin, grenadine, and egg white, although you’ll often find a bit of lemon juice and sometimes even cream thrown into the mix as well.
We have also seen this with Applejack added, which is a sort of apple brandy, but we’ve stuck to the recipes without as they seem more traditional.
The pink colour of this gin cocktail generally comes from the grenadine rather than using a pink gin, but of course you can always substitute for pink gin too!
Ingredients:
- 60ml Gin
- 10ml Grenadine
- 1 Egg White
- 10ml Lemon Juice or 15ml Double (Heavy) Cream *optional
- Ice
Glassware: Cocktail glass
Garnish: Raspberry
Method:
Add all of the ingredients except the ice into a cocktail shaker and shake vigorously for around 10 seconds. Add ice to the shaker and shake until the egg has frothed up and the shaker turns cold. Strain into a coupe or cocktail glass and serve.
Recommended Gin: Glaswegin Original Gin or Isle of Harris Gin
Pink Gin Martini
Martini’s are traditionally a strong drink, and this one is no different! It takes the classic gin martini recipe but uses pink gin instead, which gives the cocktail a lovely pink colour.
Rather than an olive, you can garnish with a lemon twist and a raspberry for good measure.
Ingredients:
- 60ml Pink Gin
- 15ml Vermouth
- Ice
Glassware: Martini Glass
Garnish: Lemon Twist
Method:
Add all of the ingredients to the shaker and shake until cold. Strain into a martini glass. Shake with a little ice and strain.
If you prefer your martini to be stirred place it all in the shaker and stir then strain out.
Garnish with a lemon twist and optionally, a raspberry.
Recommended Gin: Eden Mill Love Gin
Cranberry Martini
A martini is generally a strong drink, as we mentioned with the Pink Martini above, so by adding a bit of cranberry juice it makes it less so. There’s no history behind this one, it just tastes good!
This is also one for those who love a sour drink! Ideally opt for sweetened cranberry juice, or lesson the amount of lemon juice a bit and replace with sugar syrup if it’s too tart.
Ingredients:
- 60ml Gin
- 30ml Lemon Juice
- 30ml Cointreau or Triple Sec
- 45ml Cranberry Juice
- Ice
Glassware: Martini Glass
Garnish: Lemon Twist
Method:
Fill a cocktail shaker with ice and add all of the ingredients. Shake until the outside is cold. Strain into a glass, garnish with a lemon twist and serve.
Recommended Gin: Hendrick’s Gin
Ginsecco
This is an easy “cocktail” and popular at functions and weddings and you’ll see tables topped with all sorts of ingredients to “pimp your Prosecco”.
One of the most popular ways to do so is by adding a dash of gin liqueur like Raspberry or Rhubarb to top up your Prosecco. You can also pop in a raspberry or strawberry as a garnish.
Ingredients:
- Prosecco
- 15ml of your choice of pink gin liqueur
Glassware: Flute glass
Garnish: Optional berries
Pour 15ml of your choice of pink gin liqueur (raspberry, rhubarb, strawberry etc) into a flute glass and then top up with Prosecco.
Recommended Gin Liqueurs: Edinburgh Rhubarb & Ginger Gin Liqueur, Raspberry Liqueur, or Plum & Vanilla, or Shetland Reel Rhubarb & Bramble Gin Liqueur.
Chambord Bramble
We love this gin and Chambord cocktail!
A Bramble is a rough, prickly bush that grows fruit like blackberries, raspberries, or dewberries, although it most commonly refers to blackberries. A Bramble Cocktail was created in the 1980s in London combining gin, lemon, sugar syrup, and creme de mure, which is a blackberry liqueur.
Chambord is a black raspberry liqueur that has a slightly more complex taste than creme de mure as it’s also produced with other spices and spirits, and we love the taste of a Chambord and gin cocktail!
Ingredients:
- 60ml Gin
- 15ml Chambord
- 30ml Lemon Juice
- 15ml Sugar Syrup
- Crushed Ice
- Ice
Glassware: Tumbler Glass
Garnish: Blackberries and/or Lemon Wheel
Method:
Fill a tumbler with crushed ice and the shaker with normal ice cubes. Shake gin, lemon juice and sugar syrup in a shaker until cold and strain into the tumbler.
Drizzle Chambord to one side of the glass so it sinks to the bottom. Garnish with blackberries.
Recommended Gin: Shetland Reel Original
Rhubarb Bramble
Rhubarb has become a popular combination with gin, with several Scottish gin companies using it to flavour their pink gins and liqueurs. We love this one with the Edinburgh Gin Rhubarb & Ginger Liqueur for the liqueur part!
Ingredients:
- 60ml Gin (preferably Rhubarb Gin)
- 15ml Rhubarb Gin Liqueur
- 30ml Lemon Juice
- 15ml Sugar syrup
- Crushed Ice (for the glass)
- Ice (for the shaker)
Glassware: Tumbler or Rocks Glass
Garnish: Lemon wheel
Method:
Shake all ingredients in a shaker until cold and then pour over crushed ice. Garnish with a lemon wheel.
Recommended Gin: Edinburgh Rhubarb & Ginger Gin, Orkney Gin Company Rhubarb Old Tom, Edinburgh Rhubarb & Ginger Gin Liqueur.
Raspberry Sour
There are all sorts of different cocktails that are part of the “Sours” family, like the Whisky Sour, a Pisco Sour, and the Gin Sour, which is said to predate the Prohibition Era in the USA, although egg white was not always used then.
We’ve used a classic recipe (egg white included but optional if you like) and added raspberry syrup to give it a pink colour and a more distinctive fruity flavour. You could also use a pink gin if you like, or exchange the syrup for a pink gin liqueur.
Ingredients:
- 60ml Gin
- 45ml Lemon Juice
- 25ml Raspberry Syrup
- 1 Egg White
- Ice
Glassware: Rocks glass or tumbler
Garnish: Raspberries
Method:
Dry shake all of the ingredients with no ice in the shaker. Add the ice and shake again until cold. Strain into a rocks glass. Garnish with raspberries.
It will not always fill the whole glass and some people like to add ice, but we prefer without.
Recommended Gin: Isle of Skye Misty Isle Raspberry Infused Pink Gin – You can use a plain like Rock Rose Gin but we loved this one with it too!
Pink Gin Fizz
A Gin Fizz is very similar to a Tom Collins, and actually uses all the same ingredients. It’s the method that makes them different! While a Tom Collins is built over ice and stirred, a Gin Fizz is shaken with ice and strained into a glass without ice. A Tom Collins will typically be a larger drink than a Gin Fizz as well, often using more soda water.
We’ve made it into a pink gin cocktail by using Pink Gin, but you can also add grenadine instead of sugar syrup to make it even more pink.
Ingredients:
- 50ml Pink Gin
- 25ml Sugar Syrup or Grenadine (will make it more pink!)
- 25ml Lemon Juice
- Soda Water to taste
- Ice
Glassware: Rocks glass or Tumbler
Garnish: Lemon or berries
Method:
Add ice to a shaker along with pink gin, sugar syrup or grenadine, and lemon juice and shake really well to froth up all the ingredients. Pour into a rocks glass and top with soda water to taste. Garnish with a lemon or berries.
Recommended Gin: Isle of Bute Heather Gin
Pink French 75
The French 75 originated around WWI and is said to be named after the French 75mm field gun, thanks to its kick. The recipe had a few different forms, but settled on the one more widely known today in 1927 in Here’s How, by Judge Jr.
It’s similar to a Gin Fizz and Tom Collins but uses Champagne instead of soda water for that extra kick, and like the Gin Fizz, combines the ingredients in a shaker before pouring into a glass without ice. Some recipes call for a highball glass and others for a champagne flute, depending on the size.
Ingredients:
- 50ml Pink Gin
- 15ml Lemon Juice
- 5ml Sugar Syrup
- Top up with Champagne
- Ice
Glassware: Highball glass or Champagne flute
Garnish: Lemon twist or peel
Method:
Put pink gin, lemon juice, and sugar syrup into a cocktail shaker and shake until cold. Strain into a highball glass or champagne flute and carefully top with champagne. It will bubble up so you’ll need to allow it to settle and continue to top up. Stir gently to combine if necessary.
Recommended Gin: Square Peg Pink Gin
10 Perfect Pink Gin Cocktails
They all offer a fruity burst of flavour with a kick, and we're confident you'll enjoy every single one.
Ingredients
- Below are the details for all 10 cocktails, pick the cocktail you want to try for the ingredients and find the instructions on how to make it further down.
1 - Pink Collins
- 60ml Pink Gin
- 30ml Lemon Juice
- 30ml Sugar Syrup
- 125ml Soda Water
- Ice
- Strawberries or raspberries to muddle *optional
- Glassware: Collins or Highball
- Garnish: Lemon or Strawberry
2 - Pink Lady
- 60ml Gin
- 10ml Grenadine
- 1 Egg White
- 10ml Lemon Juice or 15ml Double (Heavy) Cream *optional
- Ice
- Glassware: Cocktail glass
- Garnish: Raspberry
- Cocktail Shaker required
3 - Pink Martini
- 60ml Pink Gin
- 15ml Vermouth
- Ice
- Glassware: Martini Glass
- Garnish: Lemon Twist
- Cocktail Shaker Required
4 - Cranberry Martini
- 60ml Gin
- 30ml Lemon Juice
- 30ml Cointreau or Triple Sec
- 45ml Cranberry Juice
- Ice
- Glassware: Martini Glass
- Garnish: Lemon Twist
- Cocktail Shaker Required
5 - Ginsecco
- Prosecco
- 15ml of your choice of pink gin liqueur
- Glassware: Flute glass
- Garnish: Optional berries
6 - Chambord Bramble
- 60ml Gin
- 15ml Chambord
- 30ml Lemon Juice
- 15ml Sugar Syrup
- Crushed Ice
- Ice
- Glassware: Tumbler Glass
- Garnish: Blackberries and/or Lemon Wheel
7 - Rhubarb Bramble
- 60ml Gin (preferably Rhubarb Gin)
- 15ml Rhubarb Gin Liqueur
- 30ml Lemon Juice
- 15ml Sugar syrup
- Crushed Ice (for the glass)
- Ice (for the shaker)
- Glassware: Tumbler or Rocks Glass
- Garnish: Lemon wheel
- Cocktail Shaker Required
8 - Raspberry Sour
- 60ml Gin
- 45ml Lemon Juice
- 25ml Raspberry Syrup
- 1 Egg White
- Ice
- Glassware: Rocks glass or tumbler
- Garnish: Raspberries
- Cocktail Shaker Required
9 - Pink Gin Fizz
- 50ml Pink Gin
- 25ml Sugar Syrup or Grenadine (will make it more pink!)
- 25ml Lemon Juice
- Soda Water to taste
- Ice
- Glassware: Rocks glass or Tumbler
- Garnish: Lemon or berries
- Cocktail Shaker Required
10 - Pink French 75
- 50ml Pink Gin
- 15ml Lemon Juice
- 5ml Sugar Syrup
- Top up with Champagne
- Ice
- Glassware: Highball glass or Champagne flute
- Garnish: Lemon twist or peel
- Cocktail Shaker Required
Instructions
1 - Pink Collins
Method:
Put ice into a tall glass.
Build the cocktail ingredients over the top of it before stirring to combine.
Garnish with strawberries and lemon.
As an extra, you could muddle strawberries or raspberries in the bottom of the glass before adding the ice.
For an added kick, try a pink gin liqueur instead of sugar syrup, maybe a strawberry or raspberry flavour, depending on what you’re garnishing with or what is flavouring.
2 - Pink Lady
Method:
Add all of the ingredients except the ice into a cocktail shaker and shake vigorously for around 10 seconds.
Add ice to the shaker and shake until the egg has frothed up and the shaker turns cold.
Strain into a coupe or cocktail glass and serve.
3 - Pink Gin Martini
Method:
Add all of the ingredients to the shaker and shake until cold. Strain into a martini glass.
Shake with a little ice and strain.
If you prefer your martini to be stirred, place it all in the shaker and stir, then strain out.
Garnish with a lemon twist and, optionally, a raspberry.
4 - Cranberry Martini
Method:
Fill a cocktail shaker with ice and add all of the ingredients.
Shake until the outside is cold. Strain into a glass, garnish with a lemon twist and serve.
5 - Ginsecco
Method:
Pour 15ml of your choice of pink gin liqueur (raspberry, rhubarb, strawberry etc) into a flute glass and then top up with Prosecco.
6 - Chambord Bramble
Method:
Fill a tumbler with crushed ice and the shaker with normal ice cubes.
Shake gin, lemon juice and sugar syrup in a shaker until cold and strain into the tumbler.
Drizzle Chambord down one side of the glass so it sinks to the bottom.
Garnish with blackberries.
7 - Rhubarb Bramble
Method:
Shake all ingredients in a shaker until cold
Pour over crushed ice. Garnish with a lemon wheel.
8 - Raspberry Sour
Method:
Dry shake all of the ingredients with no ice in the shaker.
Add the ice and shake again until cold.
Strain into a rocks glass.
Garnish with raspberries.
It will not always fill the whole glass, and some people like to add ice, but we prefer without.
9 - Pink Gin Fizz
Method:
Add ice to a shaker along with pink gin, sugar syrup or grenadine, and lemon juice.
Shake really well to froth up all the ingredients.
Pour into a rocks glass and top with soda water to taste.
Garnish with a lemon or berries.
10 - Pink French 75
Method:
Put the pink gin, lemon juice, and sugar syrup into a cocktail shaker and shake until cold.
Strain into a highball glass or champagne flute and carefully top with champagne.
It will bubble up, so you’ll need to allow it to settle and continue to top up.
Stir gently to combine if necessary.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 200 - 300
Nutritional information is an average for a pink gin cocktail and not accurate die to the different recipes and ingredients involved. These cocktails are for over 18s (UK) only.
And that’s our 10 fabulous Pink Gin cocktails! We had so much fun putting this post together, learning about the origin of pink gin and many of the classic cocktails we know today, and then giving them a “pink gin twist”.
There are so many great pink gins coming onto the market in Scotland and beyond. You’ll have no shortage of options for giving them a go.
We hope this will keep you going for a while with new ideas for drinks!
Enjoy
Phil and Sonja
I love trying new cocktails and these look like they would be fun to try!