Fig and Ginger Gin Cocktail

A cozy spirit forward fall cocktail with fresh figs muddled in gin and homemade ginger syrup and topped with seltzer. This will soon become your favorite cocktail to sip by the fire on those crisp chilly fall evenings.

I have been experimenting a lot with cocktails these days. In the fall, cranberry, pomegranate, pumpkin and figs feature in not just recipe testing but also cocktail testing. I recently posted a Halloween special cocktail - the Death Eater’s draught which is essentially a pomegranate bourbon cocktail.

I am not a fan of cocktail mixes and would much rather have a beer or sip on my favorite red wine. I love making cocktails that highlight the spirit more than the juice or the carrier.

I took an online cocktail making class with the bar director of Stoneburner and Seaplane Kitchen and Bar in Seattle, Erik Carlson and learned a lot from him about how to bring out the good flavors of all the ingredients in a cocktail much as in a recipe.

I got to learn how to quickly make homemade ginger syrup, gum syrup and grenadine. Now, with all that sitting in my bar, I had to start making new cocktails to use them.

One of the cocktails I learned to make is a Floradora, which is essentially a raspberry gin cocktail with homemade ginger syrup. I had some wonderful fresh figs that I picked out at the market and decided to use it in this cocktail instead of the raspberries and boy, did that work well or what?! 🙂

This fresh fig and ginger gin cocktail is

• Deliciously refreshing
• Subtly sweet with the earthiness of fig
• Fairly easy to make
• Seasonal favorite drink for fall
• Basically a moscow mule with gin, so if you like moscow mule, you will love this.

Ingredients for this fig and ginger gin cocktail

• Fresh figs - this is one of the heroes of this cocktail. If fresh figs are not available, you can use a good quality fig preserve instead.
• Homemade ginger syrup - homemade syrups make all the difference in the world when you want to make really good cocktails. But I understand that this may not always be possible, especially when most of these syrups have to be made in quantities significantly more than what you need for one or two cocktails. A good quality ginger beer like Fever Tree is a good substitute for the homemade ginger syrup. You can add the ginger beer towards the end instead of the seltzer.
• Gin - any favorite gin works in this recipe. I use either Hendricks or Bombay Sapphire.
• Lime juice - freshly squeezed lime juice is always the best and tastes very refreshing. In a pinch, bottled lime juice can be used as well.
• Seltzer - any club soda will work for this fig and gin cocktail. If you are using ginger beer in place of the homemade ginger syrup, skip the seltzer.
• Thyme - this is a garnish as well as works to entice the nose while sipping your cocktail. It brings out the botanical aromatics in the gin.

To make this fig and ginger cocktail

• Muddle the figs in a cocktail shaker with a muddler.
• Add ice to the cocktail shaker along with other ingredients except the seltzer and thyme.
• Shake well for 5-8 seconds. 
• Pour over a tea strainer (basically a double strainer - the strainer in the cocktail shaker and the tea strainer) into cocktail glasses filled with ice. 
• Top with seltzer and give it a quick swizzle to mix well.
• Top with skewered fig and thyme sprig.

Tips for making a great tasting fig and ginger gin cocktail

• Use fresh ingredients as much as possible - fresh figs, freshly squeezed lime juice etc
• Make the homemade ginger syrup if possible. You can use it in your tea, juice or smoothies if there are leftovers and you are not planning to make any more cocktails.

Check out these other favorite cocktails that you will love

• Orange Bourbon Smash
• Cranberry Gin Smash
• Pomegranate Bourbon Cocktail
• Coconut Lime Margarita