If you’ve been following me on Instagram, you’ll know my wife and I became dog owners last November, shortly after an election stole our post-wedding joy. The one on the couch is our baby, Edith, and on the floor is her best friend, Murphy:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BSW5rPFBTTo/?taken-by=aeosworth
But while this is my first time at the puppy rodeo, this isn’t my first time at the dog rodeo. I grew up adopting retired racing greyhounds. They’re exceptionally good dogs, retired racing greyhounds, if a little lost at how to dog sometimes. I insisted on our first one after I fell in love at a community fair, but my parents continued adopting long after I was out the of the house, sometimes having three retired racers at a time. They still have one, now living alongside a retired fox hunting hound. I named him Chaucer a while back. He is very old and fat and farty. He’s a good boy.
Because our lives are really busy right now, we are unable to make the ten-hour trek to South Carolina to visit my family and the dogs (though I’m sure my parents’ old puppers are pretty happy not to have Edith pulling at their faces). We probably won’t be able to do it this summer either. That’s why, when I was flipping through the internet for cocktail inspiration, I was taken with the Greyhound, a miraculously simple cocktail consisting of only gin and grapefruit juice. Something ripe for riffing on. Plus it’s Officially Springtime, and some fresh grapefruit juice certainly wouldn’t go amiss.
You will need:Â
1.5 oz gin
1 oz Saint Germain
2 oz grapefruit juice (I’m squeezing fresh!)
seltzer to top
a shaker, a strainer and some ice
First, squeeze them grapefruits. Remember to cut it lengthwise, like when you juice any citrus, because that’ll get you more juice.
Fill your shaker halfway with ice. Add the gin, Saint Germain and grapefruit juice. A pause, here, to talk about Saint Germain. One of my fave drinks to make for anyone is the Saint Germain gin and tonic. Smashing the Greyhound and that particular gin and tonic together is how I got the idea for this. But notice I’m not using tonic—grapefruit is a really complex flavor, and I use a really botanic gin, so the seltzer will add bubbles without adding a whole other flavor to this sucker. Oh, PS, DON’T ADD THE SELTZER YET. You’re about to shake this thing.
Shake until the shaker is nice and frosty. Strain into a glass. If you don’t like pulp, you can fine strain the drink by using a Hawthorne strainer AND pouring it trough a tea strainer. Then top with seltzer to taste. I was going to garnish with a grapefruit, but I used a giant ice sphere, and the color looked so elegant in this glass that I didn’t want to pester it with more? If you choose to garnish, I’m thinking either a grapefruit twist or a sprig of thyme.
