Casino cocktail

A Casino cocktail is a gin cocktail from the early twentieth century, with plenty of gin and little sweetness. For 4 cl of Old Tom gin, it uses just 1 cl of maraschino and 1 cl of lemon juice, plus two dashes of orange bitters. This puts the gin center stage, while the sweet and sour notes remain in the background. Maraschino does not give it the cherry flavor familiar from candy, but a dry, slightly bitter note of cherry stone and almond. You shake the drink with ice and, according to the IBA, pour it over fresh ice. The Casino is one of the IBA's official cocktails, in the category The Unforgettables.

Old Tom is an older English gin style, slightly sweeter and rounder than the dry London Dry that is now the standard. The IBA sticks with Old Tom for the Casino, and there's a reason: the light sweetness softens the sharpness of the lemon and gives the drink more body. If you don't have Old Tom, use a London Dry and add 0.5 cl simple syrup. That will get you close. Read how to make the syrup yourself at making simple syrup. Taste before straining: the lemon should be noticeable, but not overpowering.

The Casino and the Aviation share the same base: gin, maraschino and lemon. The difference lies in the fourth ingredient. The Aviation gets a dash of crème de violette, a violet liqueur that gives the drink a light purple color and a floral aroma. The Casino uses orange bitters, which makes it taste drier and more herbal while keeping the color pale. In addition, the IBA specifies Old Tom gin and a glass with ice for the Casino, while the Aviation is served straight up in a cocktail glass. If you can make a Casino, a bottle of violet liqueur also puts the Aviation within reach.

Maraschino is a clear liqueur made from marasca cherries, a small, sour variety of cherry. The best-known bottle is Luxardo's, with its woven jacket around it. The flavor is less sweet than you might expect and has something wild about it: cherry stone, almond and a floral, almost funky undertone. That's why 1 cl works in the Casino, while more can quickly become too much. Don't confuse maraschino with the syrup from a jar of bright red cocktail cherries; that's mainly sugar water with food coloring. A bottle lasts for years, and you can also use it in the Martinez, the Last Word and the Tuxedo.

A shaker is useful, but not necessary. A jam jar with a tightly fitting lid does the same job: fill it two-thirds full with ice, add the ingredients and shake for twelve seconds. Hold the lid in place with a tea towel, because the jar becomes slippery from the cold. Then strain through a tea strainer over fresh ice in the glass. You can also stir in a glass with ice, but then you miss the air and freshness that shaking gives a drink with lemon juice. You can find a shaker with a strainer and jigger among our cocktail shakers.

For six glasses, combine 24 cl Old Tom gin, 6 cl maraschino and 12 dashes orange bitters in advance in a bottle and place it in the refrigerator. Squeeze the lemon juice, 6 cl in total, just before serving, as fresh juice loses its freshness within a few hours. Shake two glasses at a time: 10 cl of the mixture plus 2 cl lemon juice in a shaker full of ice. A larger batch does not chill well enough at once and dilutes unevenly. Prepare the glasses with ice and a cherry in advance, so serving them goes smoothly.