Fig & Jam

Fig & Jam

45ml fig infused gin
2 barspoons of strawberry jam
6 dashes of chocolate bitters
10ml maraschino liqueur
10ml sweet vermouth

Shaken, double strained into old fashioned glass over a rock, garnish with half a fig

For the fig infused gin put 1 1/2 cups of dried, chopped figs into a jar with 300ml of gin, ensure all the figs are submerged in the liquid. Leave for at least 2 days, rotating the jar occasionally just to lightly mix everything up. I recommend using a gin with a lot of character for this infusion, not a basic London dry, but something that can hold it’s own through the infusion so that you’re not just getting a spirit smelling and tasting like fig. I used Banks & Solander signature gin for this particular batch. The characteristics of this fairly bold gin play nicely with the sweetness that the figs bring to the table. It’s not a spirit that hangs in the background.

The cocktail itself turned out to be the best version of itself when it was the simplest version of itself. I played around with a few different liqueurs and various ingredients but this was the stand out version by far. Soft and easy to go down, naturally sweet, surprisingly refreshing. I haven’t made many cocktails that use sweet vermouth and are shaken, but this is definitely one I’ll continue to make. If you look closely this drink is basically a Martinez, just with jam to lean it more to the sweeter side and is shaken to give it a bit more dilution and texture.