Swift + Moore have curated a number of festive themed cocktails to help spread Christmas cheer, and they sure do sound delicious! Obviously, many of these recipes make use of Swift + Moore’s portfolio of beverages such as Smokehead and Edinburgh Gin. Both brands are owned by Ian MacLeod Distillers in Scotland, who also own Glengoyne distillery.
Smokehead is peated single malt from the isle of Islay in Scotland (you can read about how a peated whisky gets its “smoky” flavour by clicking here). At present Islay has eight whisky distilleries so Smokehead single malt could be from any one of these eight distilleries, but Ian MacLeod Distillers keeps the source of Smokehead a closely guarded secret (I couldn’t even get the information out of the brand ambassador whilst we sat over a pint at a pub overlooking the Loch Lomond!). So, in a nutshell, Smokehead has a similar profile to the phenol rich smoky island malts like Lagavulin, Coal Ila, etc, etc (without, of course, knowing which one it is).
Edinburgh Gin distillery is, as its name suggests, in the Scottish city of Edinburgh. A few years ago I visited the Edinburgh Gin distillery and explored a wide variety of botanicals which are used for gin making (you can read all about my visit by clicking here).
You will see that the below cocktail recipes make use of Smokehead’s smoky peated profile, or, select botanicals in bottlings of Edinburgh Gin.
All this talk of smoky single malts and gin botanicals is making me thirsty. Now, lets get straight into the festive cocktail recipes!
Peated Single Malt based Festive Cocktails
Smoked Fashioned
Ingredients:
50ml Smokehead
4 dashes Angostura bitters
1 tsp caster sugar or 2 sugar cubes
Chiselled ice
Dark chocolate to garnish
Directions:
Put the sugar in your glass and wet it down with bitters. Crush all that together with whatever blunt instrument is handy, then rotate your glass so the sugar and bitters give it a lining. Add in some hefty ice cubes then pour over your whisky. Top if all off with the dark chocolate.
Smoked Ginger
Ingredients:
50ml Smokehead High Voltage
200ml ginger beer
25ml fresh lemon juice
Crushed root ginger
Squeezed lemon and ginger to garnish
Directions:
Chop about 2-3cm off your ginger root and peel it. Slice it finely, grate it roughly, or mash the living daylights out if out. Your call. Pour the ginger in the bottom of the glass, add a generous measure of High Voltage and chiseled chunks of ice. Then pour over some decent ginger beer. Add a slice of lemon and garnish with a sliver of ginger.
Gin based festive cocktails
Rhubarb Mule
Ingredients:
50ml Rhubarb & Ginger Liqueur
Lime juice
Ginger ale
Fresh mint & lime twist to garnish
Directions:
1. Fill glass with crushed ice
2. Add liqueur and squeezed lime the top up with ginger ale
3. Garnish with fresh mint and lime twist
East Coast Negroni
Ingredients:
25ml Seaside Gin
25ml Suze Liqueur
25ml Campari
3 dashes of grapefruit bitters
Sea salt and rosemary to garnish
Directions:
1. Frost the rim of the glass with rock salt and rosemary
2. Fill the glass with ice before adding all the ingredients
3. Garnish with a sprig of rosemary
Lemon and Jasmine with Cloudy Lemonade
Ingredients:
50ml Edinburgh Gin’s Lemon & Jasmine Gin
Sparkling cloudy lemonade
Lemon wheel to garnish
Directions:
1. Pour the gin into a highball glass filled with cubed ice
2. Top up with cloudy lemonade
3. Garnish with a lemon wheel
Sicilian Spritz
Ingredients:
25ml Lemon & Jasmine Gin
25ml Limoncello
12.5ml lemon juice
2 sprigs of thyme
Sweet lemonade to top up
Directions:
1. Muddle the gin, limoncello, lemon juice and a sprig of thyme in a shaker
2. Add ice, shake and fine strain into an ice filled highball glass
3. Garnish with thyme and a lemon peel
Malt Mileage Whisky & Spirit Reviews 