Umeshu gin sour
Stunning Juno Extra Fine Gin from Taranaki meets Japanese plum liqueur in this twist on a classic sour
Crafted in Taranaki by husband-and-wife distilling team Jo and Dave James, Juno Extra Fine Gin recently nabbed a coveted Best in Show and an award for Best Contemporary Gin at two different NZ spirits awards.
Made in the London dry style Juno boasts citrus and peppery notes, a silky mouthfeel and full palate. It’s really lovely just sipped neat, but with our lemon trees starting to give again I figured some kind of sour take would be a good use. I happened to pick up a little bottle of Noyado Brewery aragoshi umeshu from Tokyo Liquor and thought it would be a good addition. This liqueur is made by roughly mashing plum and steeping with high-quality sake to make a rather thick, cloudy liqueur with a beautiful marzipan flavour. If you can’t get aragoshi style, any umeshu will do.
Umeshu gin sour
Makes two cocktails | prep time 5 mins
120ml Juno Extra Fine Gin
60ml aragoshi umeshu
75ml lemon juice
1 egg white
Put gin, umeshu and lemon juice in a cocktail shaker, secure lid and shake vigorously for 15 seconds. This first dry shake (without ice) emulsifies the egg white.
Add 2 handfuls ice cubes to the liquid, secure lid and shake vigorously for 30 seconds.
Strain into a stemmed glass — I used Nick & Noras.
Optional garnish: a twist of lemon, a slice of dehydrated citrus or an umeboshi plum, pierced to release flavour.
Note:
If you go with umeboshi plum as a garnish the plum will sink – that’s why you can’t see it in my pic! But at the end of the drink it gives you a lovely salty-sour gin soaked bite to nibble on!)
