The Pink Elephant

I’ve spent a lot of time in the past few months reading through the Death & Co book, trying out recipes and getting inspired. It’s a fantastic book, though you do need to have an exceptionally well-stocked bar to make a lot of the recipes. But not all of the recipes. One great strategy for using the book is simply to read through, see what you have in your bar and make those recipes. This sounds obvious, but it will actually force you to try cocktails that you might not otherwise have made. The Pink Elephant, for instance, is a cocktail that you might have the ingredients on hand for right now – even if a pink cocktail wasn’t what you thought you’d be drinking tonight.

The drink has a nice balance of sweet and tart flavors, with a trace of bitterness that comes from the grapefruit juice but works very well with the dry gin. The original recipe doesn’t specify what type of grapefruit juice to use, but I highly recommend using pink grapefruit juice because its natural sweetness works very well in this cocktail. If you like your cocktails with more citrus, use fresh grapefruit juice. If you tend to prefer a touch of additional sweetness, bottled grapefruit juice is a bit milder, but still brings in plenty of grapefruit flavor. While I’m not always going to reach for a pink cocktail if given the option, I happen to really like the color of this particular drink. And when you are sipping one, you’re guaranteed to have people ask you what you’re drinking (and probably want one, too).

Glass: Coupe
Method: Shake

Ingredients:
2 oz. London Dry Gin
1 Tsp. Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur
1 Tsp. Creme de Mure
3/4 oz. Fresh Pink Grapefruit Juice
1/2 oz. Fresh Lime Juice
1 Tsp. Simple Syrup

Fill a mixing glass with ice and add all of the ingredients. Shake until chilled and double strain into a coupe.

originally from Death & Co.