Le Lion, Hamburg, 2008.
| 2 oz · 60 ml | GIN | 40 % |
| 10 leaves | BASIL | |
| ¾ oz · 22 ml | LEMON JUICE | |
| ½ oz · 15 ml | SIMPLE SYRUP |
1 oz taken as 30 ml in the metric column.
1 oz taken as 30 ml in the metric column.
| Pre-batch | 3.25 oz mixed with ice, 0.8 oz of it pure alcohol |
|---|---|
| Melt | Shaken: +20 % of the pre-batch, +0.65 oz of water |
| Served | 3.25 + 0.65 = 3.9 oz in the glass |
| Strength | 0.8 ÷ 3.9 = 20.5 % ABV as served |
| Ethanol | 0.8 oz × 29.57 ml × 0.789 g/ml = 19 g · about 131 kcal from the alcohol alone |
FROM GIN
The pine note in juniper berries, and the reason gin tastes like a forest. Co-distilled with the spirit during production. Found in actual pine trees, rosemary, basil, and a good London Dry. The "Christmas tree" smell of gin and the smell of a forest floor share a single molecule.
ALSO IN Negroni · Martini · Gimlet · Gin & Tonic · Aviation · Corpse Reviver #2 · French 75 · Bramble
FROM BASIL · the coriander note
The coriander-lavender terpene. Saison and Belgian wit beers use coriander seeds as part of the spice bill, and linalool is the molecule doing the heavy lifting. Muscat grapes carry it too, the floral Moscato d'Asti note. Industrially common in shampoo and air freshener for the same reason it shows up in beer: the brain reads it as fresh.
ALSO IN Pisco Sour · Hugo Spritz · Earl Grey Marteani · Pisco Punch · Vieux Mot · Caprese Martini
FROM LEMON · the lemon aroma
Lemon's defining note: technically a mix of two geometric isomers (geranial and neral) that read as the same aroma to the nose. Lemon peel, lemongrass, lemon verbena, and Indian chai all carry it. In cocktails it's what a lemon twist contributes that lemon juice can't: the volatile expressed from the oil glands, not the acid from the pulp.
ALSO IN Margarita · Mojito · Daiquiri · Whiskey Sour · Gimlet · Moscow Mule · Paper Plane · Aviation
Gin, muddled basil, lemon and sugar. Linalool and eugenol from basil leaves pair with the alpha-pinene of gin, a botanical-on-botanical match in which neither overwhelms. The glass smells green and floral before the first sip.
Jörg Meyer created the Basil Smash at Le Lion in Hamburg, Germany in 2008. The recipe was deliberately built around fresh herbs. German cocktail culture in the late 2000s had become heavily 'farm-to-glass' and the Basil Smash was a 30-second pour that delivered on that aesthetic. Meyer's recipe spread rapidly through European bartending channels and reached the US craft scene by 2010. Now standard at any bar with a fresh-herb program.
