Long before you could order a margarita in any bar in the world, a more humble cocktail came before it. It was never served frozen, often switched around to suit what was on hand and it’s really simple to make at home. With just two spirits and some really common ingredients, let me show you how to make The Daisy.
The Daisy was created at a time when good alcohol was scarce and people had to get inventive. Prohibition had hit America and cocktails were a necessity to make homebrew and moonshine actually drinkable.
The base of a daisy is a classic sour; spirit, citrus juice and sweetener, topped off with soda water. The sweetener used is almost always orange based in historic recipes. Sometimes it was straight up orange juice, cordial or home infused spirits. I’m using Cointreau here but any triple sec will do the job and perhaps even Grand Marnier at a push. If you order this at a bar today, you might find the orange note is swapped for grenadine, which I think is a real shame. Make this at home and have it how it was supposed to be enjoyed.
Let’s see how it’s made:
House of Fraser sent me some beautiful cocktail glasses for this post as well as the gorgeous copper shaker. The idea was that I took inspiration from one of three glasses and got to work on a drink. As soon as I saw the margarita glass I knew I had to make the daisy. See, a margarita is a daisy, a tequila daisy.
You can make a daisy with any spirit. Moonshine, gin, rum, brandy, whiskey, vodka, tequila…
Gin seemed to be the most popular so that’s what I went with. During prohibition, the type of gin used was more likely to be jenever; a Dutch style gin made from distilled malt wine. It still had the juniper notes that modern day gin has so my recipe uses that but by all means, if you can get hold of some jenever, use it.
Matt and I love to make a cocktail or two at home at the weekend so I hope this recipe inspires you to shake something up for your nights in.
- 75ml Gin
- 50ml Cointreau
- 50ml Lemon Juice
- Soda Water
- Fill a shaker with ice.
- Add the gin, Cointreau and lemon juice.
- Shake then strain in to a margarita glass
- Top with soda water
- Garnish with a twist of lemon peel
If you’re looking for more cocktail ideas, check out my drinks file.
Sandra says
Sounds lovely. Must try. My favourite cocktail is a negroni.