HAPPY HOUR: BASIL & LIME KYOTO

I'm in Spain! We left early in the morning yesterday and flew to Alicante, where we're staying in a sailboat for a night before we're meeting some friends at the train station and going up to Benicassim for the Benicssim Festival! After the festival, we plan on hiring a car and spending a week at my parents summer house near Murcia. So I am well and truly in holiday mode today! I still have a few blog posts that I'll be posting while I'm away though, and I figured I'd start with this lovely cocktail I've been enjoying this summer.

I've pretty much decided that this is my summer cocktail of 2014 (with rhubarb and strawberry gin smash being a close second!). I've never been much of a gin drinker before, perhaps because I once as a teenager sneaked a bit of my parents' Beefeater and mixed it with orange juice and was pretty horrified at the result. But recently I was in a bar in Oslo and got served a Kyoto and my perspective on gin changed completely. I'd never had one of these before, but I loved it immediately. It's fruity and fresh, but not overly sweet like some fruity cocktails can be. It's light and summery, and the taste of gin isn't too overpowering. So when a friend of mine came over from London to visit for the weekend, I put in an order of a bottle of Hendricks from the duty free.

Basil & Lime Kyoto (is this the easier recipe to remember or what?):
10 ml simple syrup
20 ml passion fruit syrup
30 ml freshly squeezed lime juice
40 ml gin
Soda water
Basil leaves
Ice

Directions: Fill your cocktail shaker with ice and all ingredients bar the soda water. Shake for a good 10 seconds, then pour into a long glass. Top with soda water, and throw in a lime wedge. Enjoy!