Tequila Mockingbird: Gin Eyre

Well, it’s about time I try another cocktail from Tim Federle’s Tequila Mockingbird. I decided to select one I was pretty sure I would like, and since the literary connection is with my favorite literary heroine, the Gin Eyre was the obvious choice.

While I’m on the subject of obvious choices, I’ll tell you that gin is my hard alcohol of choice so this particular recipe was attractive to me anyway (even without the Jane Eyre reference). I enjoy rum, won’t turn down a good tequila, and if I’m feeling it will enjoy a vodka cocktail, but gin is my go-to. I don’t avoid high quality scotches or brown liquors, but I can usually get away with liking inexpensive clear alcohols, so they make my wallet happy, too, regardless of the stigma…

via GIPHY

Anyway, the Gin Eyre is a nice cocktail. The ingredients (fresh mint, English gin, lemon juice, sugar, orange bitters) create a good balance of flavor so don’t be turned off if you aren’t a gin fan. I was wary of liking this drink based on my distaste for bitters, but the recipe calling for orange bitters – which to be honest I did not know existed – helped me push past that distaste. I could only find blood orange bitters, so the taste of my Gin Eyre was probably a little different than when using strictly orange, but nonetheless, it tasted great.

Author Tim Federle didn’t include a glass recommendation for this drink, so I used an Old Fashioned glass because that’s what I had (if I had a Champagne Saucer, that’s what I would have used instead*). Although he named this drink after Charlotte Brontë’s strong female character, Mr. Federle asks his audience to toast to Charlotte herself: “Raise a glass of English gin to a legendary lady, worthy of a sweeter finish than befell her.” Don’t mind if I do.

Gin Eyre

Classic novel, classic cocktail.

*If you think I’m a glassware expert, then thank you, that is the impression I was trying to make. But I’m not (yet). Click here to see the guide I use if you are also not an expert.