Calling gin-lovers – the liquor is making a comeback in cocktails

Gin has gone from strength to strength since returning to the world’s bar scene around five years ago. Once bemoaned as “Mother’s Ruin”, a nickname given to it in the mid-18th century because of the Gin Craze in Great Britain, gin is now reliving its glory days.

We take a look at four of the latest gin-infused cocktails in bars in Hong Kong.

Room 309  

Opened in late August, the intimate bar founded by Antonio Lai seats 22 people. Its signature menu is dubbed “The Invisible Menu”, so-called because the drinks are colourless and the menu is transparent.

Drink: Banana di Mana

How: “It takes around five hours to prepare. We slow-cook the banana for two to three hours at 68 to 70 degrees Celsius using a sous-vide machine. This makes the banana soft so some juice can be extracted. Then we centrifuge it for about two hours. Two kilograms of bananas can make 1.2 litres of juice,” Lai says.

After that, he mixes the banana juice with Beefeater 24 gin, and then adds two drops of gin-based coriander tincture. “Banana and coriander go well together. The coriander tincture gives the drink a savoury note,” he explains. As the final touch, he adds CO₂ bubbles to create a delightfully fizzy texture, before dropping in a long ice cube made with edible flowers.