Welcome to Nicobar’s Cocktail club, where we gather round the kitchen island to do what we do best: drink. There’s a wealth of beautifully crafted cocktails out there, and we’re dipping our pinkies into the game, trying our hand at cocktails we like to quaff, while making sure they’re easy to enough to replicate even as the hours wear on. Expertly chilled, and exceptionally balanced… sometimes. Delicious and so much fun, always.
Juniper Bar, in Aerocity’s Andaz hotel, they do one thing and one thing only, and they do it to perfection: G&T’s. Yep, this warm, citrus and amber-hued bar is a shrine to gin and there is nothing about that we don’t love.
You’ll find the world’s great gins, of course, but about 40% of their gin-based libations use their very own, the Delhi Sapphire, with its cheeky tagline (‘Kicking Bombay’s ass since inception’) and subtle notes of cardamom, cinnamon and citrus. Shelves are lined with apothecary-style bottles that house their infusions, all of which they use in their drinks.
Gin not really your thing? Well, give it a go. Juniper do gin tastings as well for both the devoted as well as the dubious, and once you’ve sampled 20 different gins and infusions you might leave a convert, but you will definitely leave unsteady on your feet.
The barkeeps at Juniper gave us a recipe to take away with us, which we’ll share with you here. It has us imagining dreamy walks through lavender fields, tart and sharp, but with enough underlying sweetness to segue us straight to springtime.
You will need
60ml of lavender gin
A hint of freshly squeezed lemon juice
A splash of elderflower syrup
An egg white
Lots of ice
Directions
Fill a shaker with some ice. Throw in the gin, the juice, and splash in the syrup. Top it off with the egg white. Shake, shake, shake until it’s all muddled together. Double strain, and drink (copiously).
Find Juniper Bar at the Andaz Hotel, Delhi, here.
