Name: Gin Basil Smash
Total time: 4 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 12 fresh Basil leaves; 60 ml Gin; 22.5 ml Lemon juice; 10 ml Sugar syrup (2:1)

Gin Basil Smash
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Photographed in an UB Ginza Old Fashioned 10.5oz

Ingredients:
12 fresh	Basil leaves
2 oz	Hayman's London Dry Gin
³⁄₄ oz	Lemon juice (freshly squeezed)
¹⁄₃ oz	Monin Pure Cane Syrup (65.0°brix, equivalent to 2:1 rich syrup)

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

Select and pre-chill an Old-fashioned glass.
Prepare garnish of three basil sprigs..
MUDDLE basil sprigs (no need to pluck leaves from stem) in base of shaker.
Add other ingredients and SHAKE with ice.
FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.
Garnish with basil sprig bouquet.

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

Review:

Jörg, the creator of this cocktail, says, "Better too much than not enough basil in this drink". He also specifies that the basil is muddled rather than just broken by the action of shaking as this produces a greener drink. He adds "Keep in mind: 5 cl Gin is not enough; 6 cl Gin is the recipe; 7 cl Gin is LOVE!"

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AKA: Gin Pesto

Variant:

Bramble
Earl Grey MarTEAni
Fallen Angel
Fitzgerald
Gin Fix
Gin Fizz
Gin Punch No. 1
Gin Sling
Gin Sour
Gin Twist
John Collins

History:

Created in the summer of 2008 by Jörg Meyer at Le Lion • Bar de Paris, Hamburg, Germany and originally named Gin Pesto. Jörg blogged about his new creation on the 10th of July 2008 and from that point, it started to quickly grow in popularity to become internationally known, also becoming better known as the Gin Basil Smash.

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Difford’s Guide remains free-to-use thanks to the support of the brands in green above. Values stated for alcohol and calorie content, and number of drinks an ingredient makes should be considered approximate.

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Anne Cunningham

3rd July at 17:48

Also, can we add photos? I can’t see a way to do it,

Simon Difford

6th July at 09:39

You can't add photos to this page, but you can click "Add your version" (under the photo at the top) to create a page with your own version and photograph of this cocktail.

1 reply

Anne Cunningham

3rd July at 17:25

Tried this today on a lovely, lazy, balmy summer late afternoon. It was just a bit too sour for me so added another drop of cane sugar syrup and that did the trick. So simple, yet gorgeous and refreshing. When I got near the bottom I didn’t want to waste all the lovely basil garnish (I was generous! 😂) so I added another measure of gin and topped up with tonic. Sipping it now - absolutely delicious.

Jens Finderup

30th June at 19:42

Has anyone tried to make a basil syrup? For quicker expedite.

Florian Ruf

12th April at 14:38

Adding some drops of Japanese Umami Bitters adds more depths.

Ruth Harvey

28th March at 18:45

I added a shot of Kalani. We loved it. Summer vibes!☀️😎

Tim Miller

14th March at 22:28

What was the original measurement of rich simple syrup before switching the recipe to Monin syrup? The original was delicious but the new recipe seems overly sour.

Simon Difford

15th March at 07:58

The same. Both syrups are almost identical in sweetness so a direct swap. Monin Pure Cane Syrup = 65.0 brix. Rich sugar syrup 2:1 by volume = 65.1 brix

Justine Fehley

14th March at 01:21

Original recipe is solid. I also tried making it with Gin Mare, which is Mediterranean style with basil as a botanical, and upped it to 70 ml. That was a different drink, but also quite good.