The History of Blue Gin and Its Place in Cocktails

For many people, cocktails are a desired beverage of choice because they're so versatile and can be made with a wide variety of different spirits, juices, and mixers.

While taste is a crucial factor influencing a person's beverage choices, at The Illusionist Distillery, we know presentation is also essential. That's why we explored gin's history and ingredients to create the refined spirit we named The Illusionist Dry Gin.

How did blue gin originate?

While the origins of gin itself date back to the 1500s, blue gin is a relatively new concept! Experimenting with exciting flavors, colors, and cocktails has always been deeply rooted in the cocktail scene, so it was only natural that our inquisitive nature crafted a creative approach to the cocktail industry by going one step further with an intriguing color-changing presentation.

Mixologists are always looking for new beverages and brands to serve, and we anticipated the demand for a new, refined gin that would not only tantalize the taste buds but also create a visual display. Focusing on these goals is how we created our distinct blue gin.

We started by exploring the natural ingredients used to make gin. Our goal was to create a gin with a floral, fruity taste and scent. We tested dozens of ingredient combinations until we achieved the perfect recipe featuring fruits, spices, and herbs. Our secret natural ingredient turns our 100% organic gin into a breathtaking blue spirit without using artificial ingredients to change the color.

What's the appeal of serving blue gin?

Gin drinkers and mixologists look for several things when choosing gin to consume or serve. One is the gin's taste. The other is its visual appeal.

Our gin features a herbal mixture with a velvety texture, fruity taste, and nutty aroma. Our blue gin consists of citrus fruits, cranberries, chamomile, lemongrass, and spices such as ginger, cardamom, and mace. These ingredients combine to ensure that consumers enjoy layers of flavor with every sip.

When you mix cocktails with our blue gin, you get a perfect blend of traditional gin flavors with a modern twist of color-altering magic that makes your cocktail-mixing skills an entertaining element of your party. The secret lies in the color change.

Bartenders love serving our blue gin because the natural ingredients that create its blue hue make magic when mixed with other beverages. For instance, mixing blue gin with tonic water transforms the blue into a vibrant pink. Again, our gin achieves this result without using artificial ingredients. Mixologists can also impress guests by combining blue gin with freshly squeezed lemon juice and homemade rosemary syrup to create lavender cocktails like our signature The Illusionist Rosemary Fizz.

What can you add to gin to create the perfect drink?

Gin provides the alcoholic base for many popular cocktails. Gin and tonic is a popular drink but mixing tonic with our deep blue gin gives it a magical color-altering display that makes the drink all the more enticing!

Mixing The Illusionist Dry Gin with tonic water prompts the blue hue to change to pink right before your very eyes. Pour the gin into a highball glass with ice, fill with tonic water, and add orange zest on top for garnish.

Additionally, The Illusionist Aviation transforms your drink into a misty periwinkle color that oozes class and sophistication. Just add Maraschino to The Illusionist Dry Gin with Créme de Violette and freshly squeezed lemon juice. Combine all the ingredients into a shaker with ice, and shake for 15 seconds. Strain the mix into a seductive coupette glass and garnish with lemon zest on top.

Have fun creating your own color-changing cocktails by adding an assortment of juices like cranberry, grape, or pineapple juice with different liqueurs such as vodka or scotch. Even the classic French 75 cocktail that consists of gin, lemon, and champagne is a splendid color-changing display with our blue gin. Check out our ingredients and directions to The Illusionist French 75 for this delicious cocktail libation.

Moreover, cocktails can also contain edible and non-edible garnishes. Popular edible garnishes for gin cocktails include lemongrass stalks, lime wedges, edible flowers, and orange wedges. For non-edible garnish options, you can include a simple cocktail umbrella or straws. Cocktail recipes are also fun with ingredients, such as honey, ginger marmalade, or rosemary syrup. The range of options enables professional and amateur mixologists to modify recipes and put their signature on the gin cocktails that they serve.

Add a modern touch to these classic gin cocktails!

People have been mixing spirits and beverages to make cocktails for over a hundred years, and their popularity keeps growing and growing! From the second you inhale the nutty, fruity aroma to the moment the cocktail washes over your tongue, gin cocktails make your taste buds sing.

Using blue gin is the perfect way to modernize gin cocktails, such as the classic gin and tonic, by adding a distinct hue that goes beyond the plain, clear color we're all used to seeing. The following are some classic gin recipes that we've modernized with our signature blue gin.

Cosmonaut - A twist on the classic Cosmopolitan

• 2 oz gin
• 3/4 oz lemon juice
• 1 bar spoon of raspberry syrup
• Combine the above ingredients in a cocktail shaker filled with small ice cubes
• Shake roughly for 20 seconds until chilled
• Strain the mixture into a chilled coupe

Remember the Alimony

• 1 1/4 oz fino sherry
• 1 1/4 oz Cynar
• 3/4 oz gin
• Combine the above ingredients into a chilled glass with one large ice cube
• Stir the drink for about 15 seconds until it's chilled
• Put an orange twist over the cocktail as a garnish

Bittersweet Symphony

• 1 1/2 oz gin
• 3⁄4 oz Punt e Mes
• 3⁄4 oz Aperol
• Stir the above ingredients in a mixing glass with cracked ice
• Strain the mixture into a cold cocktail glass
• Garnish the top with a lemon twist

The Illusionist Martini

• 5cl Illusionist Dry Gin
• 1,5cl Dry Vermouth
• Combine the above ingredients and ice into a glass
• Stir
• Strain the mix into a V-shape glass
• Garnish with lemon zest

The Illusionist Sour

• 6cl Illusionist Dry Gin
• 3,5cl Freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 2,5cl Simple syrup
• 1 Egg white
• 3 Dashes Angostura Bitters
• Combine the above elements into a shaker without ice
• Shake
• Add ice to the shaker
• Shake hard
• Double strain into a coupette glass
• Garnish with lime or orange zest and angostura

Transform the color palette with The Illusionist's blue gin for other classic gin cocktails such as Gin Fizz, Tom Collins, Negroni, and Gimlets which can all be substituted for blue gin to create different colors and tastes.

Gin Fizz is a bubbly drink made with gin, sugar, lemon juice, and club soda. Tom Collins is perfect for gin drinkers that love a citrusy cocktail and contains gin, syrup, lemon, club soda, and sugar or honey.

Although it's laced with sweetness, Negroni leans on the sour side of the sweet and sour spectrum. It features gin, Campari, and vermouth that has a sweet and sour blend of gin, lime juice, and sugar. These are just some of the gin cocktails you can perfect with our blue gin.

Blue gin is a refined gin featuring organic ingredients that work together to produce a nutty, fruity aroma and taste. These natural ingredients change color when combined with other fun beverages, creating a visually-appealing display for consumers and mixologists.