Celebrate local: Try these GSM Premium Gin mixes based on Filipino feels, flavors

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — After exploring techniques and cocktail recipes from all over the world, let's circle back and focus on the feels and flavors of our very own Philippines.

Bicol: So Sili

First stop, Bicol, and what’s Bicol cuisine without its spice? So it’s only fitting to make a spiced cocktail.

The technique we are using to make "So Sili" is called fat washing. Fat washing infuses fatty ingredients like butter, bacon, and oil into spirits.

For this recipe, we’re going to use Bicol’s world-famous chili and coconut oil. Basically, we’re going to freeze the mixture so we can scrape the fat but leave the flavor in the gin.

Ingredients:

For Fat Washing:

120ml Coconut syrup

1 siling labuyo

300ml GSM Premium Gin

Cocktail:

45ml Coconut oil and chili-infused gin

20ml Basil syrup

15ml Lime juice

Soda water

Garnish:

Basil sprig

Mango slice

Lime wedge

Tools:

Coffee strainer or cheesecloth

Airtight container

Procedure for Fat Washing:

1. Infuse 120ml of coconut oil and 1 siling labuyo in 300 ml of GSM Premium Gin.

2. Let it sit at room temperature for 6-8 hours.

3. Freeze the concoction afterward.

4. Scrape the frozen oil and strain it with a coffee strainer.

Procedure for So Sili cocktail drink:

1. In a shaker, pour 45 ml of the coconut oil and chili-infused gin we made earlier and add 20 ml of basil syrup and 15 ml of lime juice.

2. Shake and pour into a glass with ice.

3. Add a splash of soda water.

4. Garnish with a basil sprig, mango slice, and lime wedge.

Benguet: Coffee Blaze

We’re bringing a piece of Benguet to your bar, courtesy of a coffee-infused cocktail. But not only that, you will also learn how to make sparks fly, literally!

Ingredients:

1 shot Espresso

60ml GSM Premium Gin

6 drops Ube flavoring

30ml Coconut milk

20ml Creme de banana

15ml Lemon juice

Tools:

Lime /Citrus juicer,

cinnamon or nutmeg powder,

overproof rum

Procedure for the Colada:

1. Combine all ingredients in a shaker. That’s your espresso shot, 60ml of GSM Premium Gin, 6 drops of ube flavoring, 30 ml of coconut milk, 20 ml of creme de banana, and 15 ml of lemon juice.

2. Give it a good shake.

3. Strain and pour into a glass with crushed ice.

Procedure for Flaming:

1. With a citrus juicer, juice the lime and invert your lime.

2. Set at the top of your cocktail glass and pour your overproof rum 151 in inverted lime.

3. Light that bad boy up!

Use a match stick to ignite the overproof rum and sprinkle cinnamon powder on top.

Guimaras: Mango Milk Punch

If there’s something in Guimaras that will leave you mesmerized, it’s the sweetness of their mangoes! Mango is a crowd-favorite and Filipino mangoes are so popular, everyone around the world wants a taste. So it’s only right to show it off with our next cocktail.

For this cocktail mix, we will be using the technique today called clarification. This is often done when cocktails have ingredients with thick textured juices or colors.

So might wonder why we need to “clarify” these ingredients. A lot of cocktails use them as is but clarifying them will take their smoothness to a whole new level. The process will make them almost clear of color and small particles making what is commonly called “clarified milk punch”

Fun fact: the clarified milk punch dates back to the 1700s by Benjamin Franklin, making a recipe that uses molecular mixology techniques long before the word "cocktail" was even first mentioned in 1806.

Ingredients:

150ml GSM Premium Gin

60ml Cucumber juice

100ml Mango juice

50ml Mint syrup

50ml Lemon juice

150ml Full cream milk

Garnish:

Mint leaves

Cucumber peel

Mango slices

Tools:

Cheesecloth or coffee filter

Funnel

Carafes

Procedure:

1. Combine all ingredients for the cocktail, without the milk.

2. Stir them gently.

3. In a separate carafe, pour your 150 ml full cream milk.

4. Next, gently add your cocktail into the carafe with the milk. It’s important not to do this the other way around so that the milk curdles properly.

5. Then set up another carafe with a funnel and a coffee filter.

6. Pour your mixture in. The first drops are usually cloudy so wait a couple of minutes.

7. Change the carafe into a fresh one and use the liquid of the first carafe and just pour it back into the filter. This guarantees the best clarification and zero cloudiness.

8. If in the first round of filtering it is still a bit cloudy, strain again over the filter.

9. Pour over ice, stir, and garnish with mint leaves, a cucumber peel, and mango slices.

Regal Manila

What’s a trip around the country without going back to the old streets of Manila and seeing one of the most beautiful sunsets in the world? But being a busy capital, Manila also needs a fast-paced cocktail we can whip up.

To pay homage to old Manila, we will do a regal shake, a relatively new technique, originated by sommelier Theo Lieberman in 2010. Lieberman had a eureka moment when he used to rub grapefuit peels between his palms to relieve stress. He then tried it with a daquiri, and hence the Regal Daquiri was born.

Ingredients:

45ml GSM Premium Gin

45ml Pink grapefruit juice

15ml Simple syrup

10ml Lemon juice

Grapefruit peel

Tools:

Shaker

Procedure:

1. Combine all ingredients in a shaker including the grapefruit peel.

2. Try to get the pit off as much as possible.

3. More often than not peels are thought of as just garnishes on top of an already mixed drink. And that’s what we’re doing differently with this technique. By dropping a bit of citrus peel into the shaker, we add a hint of bitterness without bitters, citrus aroma without juice, and complexity without additional ingredients.

4. Make sure to seal your shaker, and shake.

5. Pour into a glass with ice and add your garnish.

The cocktail mixes would need the perfect base spirit and mixologist Tabitha Rice highly recommends GSM Premium Gin enough because of its smooth, world-class quality premium taste. It also marries well with other ingredients and doesn’t get overpowered by zingy flavors.

GSM Premium Gin also has its unique blend of botanical extracts and juniper berries with a hint of citrus flavors. Sa totoo lang, masarap!