Celery Gin Sour Recipe
A gin sour with a muddled stalk of celery: green, vegetal and faintly salty, with the lemon keeping it bright.
- Category: Popular
- Glass: Old fashioned glass
- ABV: 18%
- Difficulty: Medium
Ingredients
- Gin60 ml (2 oz)
- Fresh lemon juice22.5 ml (0.8 oz)
- Simple syrup22.5 ml (0.8 oz)
- Celery1 piece
How to Make It
- Chop the celery stalk and muddle it thoroughly in the shaker.
- Add the gin, lemon juice, syrup and ice.
- Shake hard until well chilled.
- Double-strain over fresh ice in a rocks glass.
- Garnish with the trimmed celery ends.
Garnish
Celery ends
What it tastes like
The citrus acidity leads and it has a green, botanical backdrop.
The technique
Shaking. Anything with juice, syrup, egg white or cream gets shaken: the shaker chills the drink and adds roughly 20% water, and that water is what takes the edge off. Twelve to fifteen seconds, until the tin frosts over. Under-shaking leaves the drink harsh because it never got enough dilution.
Glass and ice
A heavy-bottomed, wide old fashioned glass. Wide enough for one large cube, which is the point: a big cube has less surface area, so the drink gets cold without getting watery.
Ingredient notes and substitutes
- Gin
- London dry gin: juniper up front, citrus and coriander behind it. Brand really does show here — Beefeater is sharp, Hendrick's floral, Tanqueray juniper-heavy.
- Fresh lemon juice
- Freshly squeezed lemon; one lemon gives 30-40 ml. It can swap with lime, but lemon is softer and less aromatic, so use a touch more.
- Simple syrup
- One part sugar to one part water, stirred until it dissolves — no need to boil it. Keeps a month in the fridge. No syrup? Use the same amount of honey, loosened with a little water.
The Story
A home-bartender creation from the recent wave of savoury cocktails, which treats vegetables the way classic sours treat fruit.
Frequently asked questions
- How is a Celery Gin Sour mixed?
- It is shaken and served in an old fashioned glass.
- How strong is a Celery Gin Sour?
- Roughly 18% ABV as served — in fortified-wine territory — plan it as a single drink.
- Can a Celery Gin Sour be made without alcohol?
- Simply leaving the spirit out does not work — the body and the bitterness go with it. The 86 alcohol-free recipes in the catalogue are built to hit that balance from the start.
- Is a Celery Gin Sour hard to make?
- Moderate. A shaker or mixing glass plus a strainer covers it.
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Alcoholic drink recipes are intended for those aged 18 and over. Please drink responsibly.