It’s often the little things ...

‘It’s often the little things that you add into the mix of your day that have the biggest impact.’

That’s Caorunn Gin Genius

This Summer Caorunn, the first gin handcrafted in a malt Whisky distillery, wants to give us all a little helping hand. They have worked with the finest lifestyle professionals and personalities to provide simple, tips and tricks that will elevate your G&T, cocktails, home, and life. These tips are presented in an exciting ‘Life Hacks’ series that sees Caorunn promise to share their Gin Genius with everybody!

First to share his knowledge is the award-winning mixologist Walter Pintus who has created two very simple ‘drink hacks’ that bring a little bit of prestige drink-making magic to your home and, of course, how to nail the perfect Caorunn G&T.

Walter has served the great and the good at some of the finest and most prestigious bars in the world. From The Ritz and The Connaught to The Mandrake and The Conduit, he combines a wealth of knowledge and experience with impeccable artistry to craft drinks that are simply out of this world.

Caorunn and Walter want to show you how to wow people with the perfect tipple!

The Nice Ice Baby! and No Time to Waste! are great to share with friends at parties, for late afternoons in the sun, or even just for those long relaxing nights at home.   With step-by-step instructions, you can quickly and easily transform the way you prepare and serve drinks wherever you are.

Walter believes you should always start with the best ingredients. He comments:

“Creating the best recipes involves getting a mix of perfect ingredients in place from the very beginning. Carefully handcrafted in the Scottish Highlands, Caorunn expertly infuses a unique blend of five locally foraged botanicals. As the only gin in the world that is distilled in a working copper berry chamber, I also know I am creating a drink with a real story, and some wonderful ‘stand out’ features.

They say genius is 1% percent inspiration and 99% perspiration. Fortunately, creating cocktails with Caorunn is nowhere near as hard work.

That’s Gin Genius.”

So, let’s get started.

Nice Ice Baby!

Creating bar quality clear ice can be extremely difficult. It involves a process called Direct Freezing where the source of energy is pulled directly from one side only. Fortunately for us, Walter can take us through how to make it happen in seven simple steps.

 You Will Need

• A 5 Litre Ice Cooler Box
• A Home Freezer
• A Spoon or a Fork and a Knife
• 24 Hours
• A Mallet/A Rolling Pin

Step by Step

1. 1. Remove the lid from the ice cooler box.
2. Fill the ice cooler box with tap water and place it in the freezer.
3. After 24 hours, remove the ice cooler box from the freezer.
4. Let it rest for 15 minutes at room temperature.
5. Flip the cooler upside down in order to extract the block. Tip: Do this on your kitchen sink.  You will notice that in half of your block, the ice will not have completely solidified. Instead, you will have a very thin layer of ice with unfrozen water inside.
6. At this stage you can simply break down the thin layer of ice and let the water escape. As the ice is very thin you can do this with a fork or with a spoon.
7. You will now have a huge block of crystal clear, bar quality ice. To cut the ice, first score the block carefully with a knife, then using a mallet or rolling pin, bang gently on the knife to create smaller blocks. Portion the smaller block into cube sizes of your choice and get mixing with a spoon, straw or stirrer!
8. 

No Time to Waste!

Maximising the life of your cocktail ingredients is a fantastic way to reduce waste in your home and promote sustainability. Here, Walter takes us through some simple steps that uses all the parts of the fruit from the pulp and the juice to the skin, in order to create some amazing mixing ingredients.

You Will Need

• A Small Tupperware Type Container
• A Pestle & Mortar or Electric Blender
• A Saucepan
• An Oven
• An Apple
• Caster Sugar
• Salt
• Lemon Juice

Tip To Create Fruit Syrup

Fruit syrups are made through a technique called Oleo Saccharum. This is a way of producing an incredibly aromatic sugar-oil mixture to use a base in many cocktails.

Simply coat the apple rinds in an excess of sugar and let it macerate for 24 hours. The maceration process breaks down the fruit so that all of the flavours are absorbed into the liquid. The wonderful liquid that is obtained can then be used as a sweet base for some amazing cocktails.

Tip To Create Apple Infused Gin

Remove the apple core and infuse it with 100ml of Caorunn gin into a small Tupperware type container. Leave it for 24h at room temperature and strain the liquid through a fine mesh. 

Tip To Create Apple Soda

• Dice the remaining Apple and place the small cubes into a glass jar.
• Add 60g of caster sugar, a pinch of salt, 10ml of Lemon juice, and 250ml of water.
• Close the lid and give it a little shake to dissolve the sugar. 
• After couple of days, you should be able to see a lot of bubbles in your jar. 
• Strain the liquid through a fine mesh
• Bottle and refrigerate. 

Tip To Create Apple Crisps

Alternatively, the leftover diced apple can be transformed into a tasty snack or garnish:

• Add the apples into a kitchen blender with 1/2 cup of lemon juice.
• Blend for few seconds to obtain a purée.
• Spread a thin layer of the purée over a baking sheet. 
• Place the baking sheet in the oven and dehydrate the at low temperature oven (80 degrees) until crispy.

Tip To Create Fruit Puree

All of the apple pulp that was left behind when you created the fruit syrup can be used too. Simply blend it in an electric blender or pestle & mortar to make a zingy puree for a great Bellini. This puree can even be used as the foundation for a dessert or simply made into fruit lathers for a tasty snack.

So simple! Absolutely Genius!

Caorunn knows how important it is to try out new processes, methods and recipes. And they also know how important it is to share them with the world.

Now they want to encourage everybody to do the same.

That’s Gin Genius!