I love gin. I would say it’s my favorite spirit, but it would actually be more accurate to say it’s my only spirit. Occasionally I dabble in some scotch or brandy, but 99% of the time If I’m drinking, it’s gin. I’m not loyal to one, I love a variety of distillers and brands.  I love that some gins are delicate and smell like flowers and fresh cut herbs, or some are spicy and vivacious. Some gins taste like chewing on pine needles and orange rind. But, you know, in a good way.

I used No.3 London Dry Gin in this cocktail, because it’s what I currently have hanging out in my freezer. It’ a nicely balanced gin with lots of spice and earth notes to it. It works well with a floral cocktail like this, because it’s assertive enough to retain it’s integrity through the addition of potentially overwhelming ingredients like violets and roses.

This cocktail is definitely on the floral and botanical side of things flavor wise. Violets specifically. It’s my own stylization of the classic blue moon cocktail. The blue moon has gin, creme de violette, lemon juice, and a lemon twist. The main difference between the classic and what I’ve shaken up is the violet element. Creme de violette is used in the traditional recipe, it’s dark purple, and quite sweet. I’m using a contemporary style violet liqueur by Tempus Fugit Spirits which is much less sweet than it’s traditional counterpart, and a soft pink color.

The resulting cocktail is light, barely sweet, and tastes like little sips of springtime. Actually, a  pink moon in the farmers almanac is the full moon that happens in april, which announces the arrival of the first spring flowers, which I think is a perfectly fitting namesake for this drink.

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