Colonsay Gin Pahit Cocktail

Anthony @cocktails_for_breakfast has given us another great cocktail to try.

Colonsay Gin Pahit Cocktail may be small, but it certainly packs a punch! For the base we’ve used Colonsay Gin - Tonn Mor, which is a navy strength London Dry and we’ll explain why later. Firstly, the cocktail:

There are some pretty major disagreements around this cocktail, mostly centred around the amount of Angostura bitters used. Difford’s Guide (along with other respected sources) would have you use 2 dashes (some say 3). However, the Raffles Hotel, and also @dradamshob Book Of Bitters, would have you use 15ml / half an ounce of bitters. That’s an absolutely huge difference, the result of which is an entirely different drink!

This is a variation on the “Pink Gin” and if you follow Difford’s Guide in making a Gin Pahit, you’ll end up with a cocktail that isn’t discernible from a Pink Gin. The discrepancy comes from the fact that Adam Elmegirab, and Raffles Hotel, contend that the amount of bitters in the Pink Gin was drastically increased in the Gin Pahit. The word Pahit does actually translate into English as “bitter”. As Ant is a huge fan of bitters-forward cocktails (e.g. Trinidad Sour and Trinidad Especial), he's tried the bitters-heavy version. It’s not for the feint hearted, but we'd would definitely recommend trying it.

Back to the reason we've used navy strength Tonn Mor. This would often have been made with Plymouth gin when it originated and commonly with navy strength (for obvious reasons). Plymouth gin is not only a brand, but it’s also a style of gin. Even drier than a London Dry with less pronounced juniper. The Colonsay Gin - Tonn Mor was certainly dry enough, and provided an excellent backbone for this dry, spicy, bitter sip.

Method and ingredients below:

45ml Colonsay Gin - Tonn Mor Navy Strength Gin

15ml Angostura Bitters

5ml Simple Syrup

Stir all ingredients over ice until well chilled (20 seconds for the desired dilution), then strain into a small, chilled cocktail glass. We’ve used a sherry glass as it was the perfect size. Garnish with lemon peel