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Pretty in pink: Three pink gins to try

Amy Cooper
Amy Cooper

Gin sour made with Warner's Rhubarb Gin.
Gin sour made with Warner's Rhubarb Gin.Supplied

CAUTION: Pink gins can turn purists a matching colour – with indignation. They will remind you that classic gin's defining ingredient is juniper, and many "new wave" flavoured gins appear to have merely nodded a greeting to this botanical on the way to a big party hosted by fruit and its candy friends.

Pinks are pretty, summery and huge in the UK, where 150-plus brands rock every hue from ballet slipper to Barbie. Some, it must be said, are best left on Instagram – which loves #pinkdrinks regardless of whether they taste like liquefied Hello Kitty.

The great pinks, though, weave subtle sweetness around a strong juniper base, deriving colour and flavour from real fruit. Pinkster Gin, just in from the UK, steeps fresh raspberries in the triple-distilled spirit, with black peppercorn reining in the berry-burst so the juniper still has a say.

Another lovely newcomer to these shores, Warner's Rhubarb Gin, is a tangy, complex fruit bomb thanks to the pressed fresh rhubarb juice, which English farmer Tom Warner uses instead of water to cut his infused Harrington Dry to bottle strength.

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Aussie pink Poor Toms Strawberry Gin is deliciously dry and delicate; fresh strawberries, young ginger and hibiscus flowers steeped in Sydney Dry Gin yield (almost) purist-pleasing results.

If gin for you means uncompromising London dry, but you're also a sucker for pink eye candy, then yours is the original Pink Gin cocktail – a 19th century naval seasickness remedy of 60ml dry gin with three dashes of Angostura bitters. Pink yet sailor-strength, it'll tint your spectacles in no time.

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