A friend of ours introduced us to Bluecoat Gin a few years ago and we’ve been big fans ever since, so when we were in Philadelphia we made sure to stop in to the new Philadelphia Distilling tasting room. Philadelphia Distilling is the first craft distillery in the state of Pennsylvania since prohibition, and they recently opened a beautiful tasting room with an amazing cocktail program. When we tried their Apple Chai Gin and Tonic, we wanted to share it with you! It’s the perfect fall cocktail and thankfully Head Bartender, Canyon Shayer, shared the recipe with us.
You’ll need to start by making the Apple Chai Syrup, but we would recommend making a big batch to keep in the refrigerator that you can use to make these amazing cocktails all season.
- One quart of fresh Honey Crisp apple juice (juiced using a Breville style juicer)
- ¾ of a cup of your favorite loose Chai Tea blend
- Demerara sugar
- Using a small sauce pan, bring the fresh apple juice to a soft simmer (below the boiling point) and turn off the heat.
- Add the loose chai tea to the apple juice.
- Steep the chai tea in the apple juice for 2.5-3 minutes.
- Strain the mixture through a fine strainer.
- Add equal parts per volume, Demerara sugar to Apple juice.
- Stir until the mixture is homogeneous.
- 1.5 oz Bluecoat American Dry Gin
- .75oz Apple Chai Syrup (see recipe above)
- Fever Tree Tonic Water
- Whole Star Anise
- Add the gin and Apple Chai Syrup to a Collins glass.
- Fill the Collins glass with ice.
- Top with Fever Tree Tonic water.
- Garnish with a dried star anise pod.