That's the spirit!

A global pandemic is a great time to try new drinks or get reacquainted with old recipes at home. As they rightly say, when all else fails, bottoms up

During his first date with Kylie, JD suspects a patient has SARS and gets the staff quarantined in the hospital. Soon, cocktails are made to make it through social distancing and that is how quarantinis originated in the American medical dramedy, Scrubs. Ten years after the series ended, the global pandemic has given us reason to have a top-notch cocktail hour.

It all began on March 12, before a majority of United States went into the Coronavirus lockdown. Twitter saw a rise in the number of cooped-up drinkers fixing themselves a quarantini. Almost two months later, there are over 65,000 posts with the hashtag #quarantini.

The Quarantini is whatever you want it to be, so long as it demonstrates a creative effort to get drunk with whatever ingredients you still have on hand. Some use years-old holiday booze lurking at the back of the drinks cupboard and others experiment with cocktail party leftovers. The result, however, is a state-of-the-art locktail, which these young drinkers claim should make an entry into your nearest bar.

Parth Adiyal, 28 Lawyer and chef, Mumbai

Parth Adiyal

What
Gintini

Ingredients
60 ml gin, 15 ml lime juice, 15 ml sugar syrup, 15 ml ginger ale, 100 grams ice.

Method
Put ice in a shaker
Add 60 ml gin and 15 ml lime juice
Add 15 ml sugar syrup (optional)
Add 30 ml gingerale (can be replaced with tonic water)
Shake and strain in a cocktail glass or any glass (as available during lockdown)
Garnish with lime wedge or lime peel
Verdict: Had more ingredients been available, I would have liked to add 15 ml dry vermouth and 15 ml orange bitter as it would go really well with gin. But, Gintini is a little sour and also sweet, so it's smooth on the palate.

Ankit Gupta, 31 Restaurateur, Mumbai

Mawlynnong

What
Mawlynnong

Ingredients
15 gms of used green tea leaves, rind of half an orange, 2 sprigs of basil, 100 ml coconut water, 60 ml of semi dry gin, a pinch of Himalayan pink salt, 45 ml carbonated water and 1 tbsp crumbs of leftover bread.

Ankit Gupta

Method
Steep gin with green tea, orange rind and basil overnight
Strain the steeped liquid in a cocktail shaker with 4 cubes of ice, coconut water and rock salt
Pour it in a chilled cocktail glass and top it up with carbonated water
Finish with adding bread crumbs
Garnish with a basil leaf
Verdict: Mawlynnong is a cocktail dedicated to the cleanest village in Asia, using the leftover edibles at home. Mawlynnong is a village in the East Khasi Hills district of Meghalaya. Going with its name, the drink is refreshing and soothing for your system.

Gretel Hendricks 29, Executive assistant, Mumbai

Tropical cooler

What
Tropical cooler

Ingredients
Malibu rum, pineapple juice, ice, lemon juice, soda and mint leaves.

Gretel Hendricks

Method
Take a tall glass and fill the base with ice cubes
Add Malibu rum 1/3 of the glass
Add pineapple juice 2/3 of the glass
Add some lime juice and a little soda for the fizz
Give it a stir
Add chopped mint leaves
Verdict: In this scorching heat, the cocktail tastes both tropical and refreshing.

Abhishek Thukral, 31 Publicist, Mumbai

Boozy coconut

What
Boozy coconut

Ingredients
30 ml gin, 50 ml coconut milk, 1 tbs of honey, 2 basil leaves and a dash of half of lime.

Abhishek Thukral

Method
Add lime to escalate the flavour of gin
Instead of sugar syrup, use honey as not all ingredients are available in lockdown
Add two cubes of ice and use a cocktail shaker set and aggressively shake the mix between the two glasses
Pop it up with tonic water
Then garnish it with basil leaves to make for an aesthetically good looking glass
Verdict: Tastes refreshing. It doesn't feel indulgent, because it's not too strong. It may go down well with vegan drinkers since it has coconut.

Executive assistant, MumbaiCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news, crime news, current affairs, and a complete guide from food to things to do and events across Mumbai. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates.

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