A guide to gin garnishing

Typically, a garnish should either match and harmonise with the key flavours of a gin, or contrast and balance with them. This is why your first step should be to read the label of your chosen gin to identify the botanicals which give the gin its distinctive flavour.

Marie Jeanne’s Pink Gin, for instance, has 12 botanicals including juniper, angelica root, coriander seeds, cassia bark, liquorice, pink peppercorns, lime peel, strawberries, raspberries, cranberries and hibiscus.

Meanwhile, Burrell’s Dry Gin boasts 14, including juniper, angelica root, coriander seeds, cassia bark, cubeb, liquorice, lemon peel, lime peel, tangerine peel, apple, almonds, elderflower and bay.

For a classic, juniper led gin including London dry gins such as Burrell’s Dry Gin, you can garnish your drink with contrasting citrus flavours like grapefruit, lime or lemon, or complement the juniper botanicals with more juniper berries.

For a fruity gin like Marie Jeanne’s Pink Gin, you can complement with fruits such as berries, redcurrant or pomegranate. You can also go herbal with some basil or contrast the fruitiness with spices like chilli or black pepper.

If your gin has dominant citrus flavours such as lemon and grapefruit, you should try garnishing it with herbs such as bergamot, basil, mint or lemon thyme. You could also try something more spicy and warming such as star anise.

For Marie Jeanne’s Pink Gin, my favourite garnish has to be a little lime, a few raspberries and some fresh mint for a really summery feeling. For Burrell’s Dry Gin, I like to keep things classic with a tangerine peel and black peppercorns.

Alternatively, Marie Jeanne’s tastes delicious with cranberry and lime, and Burrell’s with fresh nettle and chilli is also amazing, but, ultimately, the choice is yours.