Death's Lady

First and foremost:  Sorry I've been so lax on posting this month!  I swear I have about five recipes I've been meaning to post.

This past weekend, the husband and I tripped up to Kalamazoo, Michigan for his sister's wedding.  We had a fantastic time with all of the families (I love my in-laws!  And even my in-laws' in-laws!), and I loved being back home and visiting my friends, and I got to pick up some gins to play with that I haven't been able to find in Ohio but have been dying to work with.  The two I snagged were Death's Door from Washington Island in Wisconsin (hey...I just realized how apropos that is.  His sister and her new husband recently moved to Wisconsin), and Knickerbocker from the distilling division of New Holland (yes, the brewing company).  I haven't quite decided what I want to do with the Knickerbocker, but I definitely had ideas of blueberry with both of them.  I picked up some blueberry preserves for the Death's Door, and in working on the build I basically ended up with a twist on the White Lady.   Between the gin used, and the drink invoked, it pretty much named itself.

P.S. to the state of Michigan:  Your liquor prices have become insane. $42 for a fifth of Cointreau?  SERIOUSLY?!?  Insane.  Retail around here is in the low $30s.

I have this pictured in a small cocktail glass, even though it's mixed for a large cocktail glass.  I forgot to photograph it before I sampled it out, so some of it was already sampled...ha...oops.

Death's Lady
Method: Shake and Strain
Glassware: Large Cocktail
Garnish: Sugared rim, and fresh blueberries

Ingredients:
1.5 oz Death's Door gin
.75 oz Cointreau
.75 oz Simple syrup
1 oz Fresh lemon juice
1 barspoon blueberry preserves

Build ingredients in a mixing glass and shake well with ice.  Strain into a large cocktail glass rimmed with sugar, garnish, and enjoy!

Note:  Since I don't have Death's Door at work, I thought I would also try this out with Plymouth gin.  It was a little bit sweeter, but worked very well anyway, and is a much more widely available gin.  You could probably bring the simple syrup down a bit to cut that sweetness and bring out the botanicals in the Plymouth a bit more.  Since sweeter tends to sell a bit better at the restaurant anyway, I didn't bother experimenting much further.