Heating Up Winter with Gin & Ginger

The gin-gerly is a gin cocktail for the cold weather

Force 4 Photography

In fashion, there’s a dubious rule that white can’t be worn after Labor Day. In boozery, the natural analogy is abstinence from gin in wintertime. Whiskeys, rums and brandies tend to edge gin out on cocktail menus once the cold sets in, which is all well and good – but rather predictable. Ho, hum, yawn.

Kristi Dukoff of Gracie’s in Providence bucks such conventional thinking with a gin-based creation she calls the Gin-gerly. It’s refreshing but still seasonal, thanks to the warming presence of cardamom and ginger. (I adore martinis, but they can feel steely as Stockholm when it’s bone-chilling outside.) It may well save us gin fiends from our winters of discontent.

This drink showcases Kristi’s commitment to offbeat and local ingredients. For it, she brews a brilliant cardamom water as if steeping tea, and uses a syrup infused with a cucumber-y herb grown on Gracie’s rooftop garden. “I make it in large batches when the herbs are fresh, as a way of preserving that flavor throughout the year,” she says. A small-batch, organic American gin lends sunniness with notes of lemongrass and elderflower.

The Gin-gerly
Serves 1

• 2 oz Farmer’s Gin
• 1 oz cardamom water
• 1 oz of salad burnet-cucumber syrup
• 1/4 oz Marie Brizzard white creme de cacao
• 1 oz fresh lemon juice
• Ginger beer
• Julienned cucumber for garnish

Pour ingredients into a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake un- til well blended, then strain into a tall serving glass filled with ice. Leave an inch at the top and pour in ginger beer to the brim. Garnish with cucumber.

Gracie’s
194 Washington Street
272-7811