COASTAL ORANGE BLOSSOM GIN COCKTAIL

It’s the first Friday of spring, so my food blogger friends and I thought it was the perfect occasion to celebrate! Today I couldn’t be more excited to bring you the Spring Edition of Connecting Over Cocktails where I’ve teamed up with 7 talented food bloggers across North America to showcase a plethora of floral flavours in cocktail form. If you’re looking for innovative cocktail ideas as we spring forward, you’ve come to the right place — just scroll down to the bottom of this post to see what my fellow Food Bloggers of Canada members whipped up for you this weekend!

I’m embracing this beautiful new season here at JustineCelina with my Coastal Orange Blossom Gin Cocktail — inspired by my recent trip to the west coast. Delicate and ultra mellow, this refreshing spring sipper features small batch, hand harvested, artisanal gin from Canada’s Vancouver island complimented by a fusion of orange blossom water and hydrating coconut water, finished with a splash of fresh orange juice. With just 4 ingredients, this elegantly understated gin cocktail is simple to prepare, but sure to impress. My Coastal Orange Blossom Gin Cocktails would be the perfect accompaniment to a light spring lunch, garden party, birthday party or shower. If you’re in the mood for something lighthearted this Friday afternoon, settle in for this ultra floral, spring inspired recipe!

COASTAL ORANGE BLOSSOM GIN COCKTAIL

Happy Friday, everyone! Who’s excited for the weekend? It’s definitely starting to feel like spring here in Calgary!

By now, we all know just how much I love flowers — and I’ve been itching to play around with floral flavours in a recipe for quite some time! These elegant spring cocktails are inspired by seasonal flavours, springs blooms and a whirlwind trip to the west coast. I’ll be sharing a more from my travels very soon — but for now, I’m elated to bring you a recipe that spans cocktail, flower and travel categories here at JustineCelina! Cheers to fresh experiences and to allowing yourself to be inspired in new ways.

As you may have read previously, this year I’ve been focusing on keeping things simple, fresh and clean, even in my RECIPE section. This is without a doubt the most natural, cleanest tasting cocktail I’ve ever created — and not just because of the minimal ingredients list, but because of the purity of the ingredients. I love the flavours of each of these ingredients separately, so I didn’t want to add unnecessary complexity since gin and orange blossom water are both wonderfully complex in their own right. These mellow, 4 ingredient Coastal Orange Blossom Gin Cocktails are a minimalistic approach to spring cocktails, infused with coastal flair!

These elegant spring cocktails are also completely free of added sugar and natural sweeteners, making them a great option for those searching for healthier spring refreshments. Of course, you could always add a bit of honey or agave nectar if you prefer your drinks on the sweeter side. I find the inherent sweetness of both the fresh orange juice and coconut water balance these Coastal Orange Blossom Gin Cocktails perfectly, without overwhelming the delicate flavours of the orange blossom water and gin.

Have you ever tried orange blossom water? It’s a very unique, distinct taste that’s difficult to describe — bright and clean, slightly bitter and very floral. It plays so beautifully with this Sheringham Distillery Seaside Gin, which I discovered during my trip to Vancouver and the island earlier this month. My blogging bud Mel over at A Virtual Vegan lives on the island and very highly recommended Phillips Fermentorium Distilling Co’s STUMP Gin. If you were following along with my Instagram Stories during my trip, you know I ran around like a crazy person trying to track it down all over Vancouver!

I set out to explore Granville Island on a rainy Saturday and stopped into Liberty Wines (recommended by Sean over at Diversivore) as a possible retailer for STUMP Gin. Unfortunately they didn’t stock it, however, they did recommend the Sheringham Distillery Seaside Gin — which I wound up using in this recipe! The staff at Liberty Wines raved about this gin and as soon as they pulled it off the shelf it was love at first sight. The design nerd in me totally swooned over the branding and label (yes, the year and batch number are hand written!), but I was also intrigued by the notes — citrus, floral and sea (yes, sea!). It sounded perfect for this cocktail recipe, which had been dancing around in my head for quite some time. And it turns out it was! I love this gin so much that I also enjoy it just as it is over ice — it’s refined, refreshing and subtly floral.

If you’re wondering, I did manage to track the STUMP Gin down in Victoria at The Strath Liquor Store on Douglass Street, just off the harbor. It’s also extremely delicious with notes of juniper, cascade hops, grand fir, bay laurel, coriander and lavender. It’s a little more bold and rugged than the Seaside Gin, but also fantastic in cocktails or over ice. I’m totally stocked up on gin for awhile now, but I would have loved to bring more home with me — if my luggage would have allowed! Unless you live on Canada’s west coast, these gins will be challenging to find, so feel free to use your favourite gin in this recipe.

I kept the styling minimalistic to reflect the simplicity of the recipe and purity of the ingredients. In the same regard, I kept the lighting and colour palette soft and clean. It’s fun to experiment with different moods and feelings when I’m creating imagery, but I always let my subject matter inform my story. Plus, this showstopping Decorated Hobstar Glassware Set from West Elm really speaks for itself! I actually picked it up for 20% off a couple of weekends ago at my local store, here in Calgary — they run store wide promotions often, which is when I do most of my shopping.

I loved working with these large, spherical ice cubes for this recipe (a.k.a. whisky balls or ice balls)! My boyfriend is a scotch drinker (that’s one thing you’ll probably never find a recipe for here at JustineCelina!) and enjoys his scotch on the rocks. He picked these ice ball molds up a few months ago and I haven’t had a chance to work with them until now. From a styling standpoint, they’re a dream — very slow melting and relatively stationary (you don’t have to keep rearranging things as you would while traditional ice cubes melt). And from a drinking standpoint (ha!) they don’t water your cocktail down as quickly if you’re a slow sipper, like me!

INGREDIENTS

Serves 1

COASTAL ORANGE BLOSSOM GIN COCKTAIL

• 2 oz gin
• 1 oz orange blossom water
• 2 oz freshly squeezed orange juice (Note: 1 orange yields approximately 1 oz of orange juice)
• 4 oz unsweetened coconut water
• Ice

OPTIONAL GARNISH

• Orange wedge
• Edible flowers or flower petals

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Fill your cocktail shaker with ice.

2. Add the gin, orange blossom water, orange juice and coconut water.

3. Cap your cocktail shaker, give it a thorough shake and strain into an ice filled cocktail glass.

4. Garnish with an orange wedge and / or edible flowers.

5. Bottoms up!

Print

COASTAL ORANGE BLOSSOM GIN COCKTAIL

Prep Time

5 mins

 

I’m embracing this beautiful new season here at JustineCelina with my Coastal Orange Blossom Gin Cocktail -- inspired by my recent trip to the west coast. Delicate and ultra mellow, this refreshing spring sipper features small batch, hand harvested, artisanal gin from Canada's Vancouver island complimented by a fusion of orange blossom water and hydrating coconut water, finished with a splash of fresh orange juice. With just 4 ingredients, this elegantly understated gin cocktail is simple to prepare, but sure to impress. My Coastal Orange Blossom Gin Cocktails would be the perfect accompaniment to a light spring lunch, garden party, birthday party or shower. If you're in the mood for something lighthearted this Friday afternoon, settle in for this ultra floral, spring inspired recipe!

Course: Drinks

Servings: 1

Ingredients

COASTAL ORANGE BLOSSOM GIN COCKTAIL

• 2 oz gin
• 1 oz orange blossom water
• 2 oz freshly squeezed orange juice (1 orange yields approximately 1 oz of orange juice)
• 4 oz unsweetened coconut water
• Ice

OPTIONAL GARNISH

• Orange wedge
• Edible flowers or flower petals

Instructions

1. Fill your cocktail shaker with ice.
2. Add the gin, orange blossom water, orange juice and coconut water.
3. Cap your cocktail shaker, give it a thorough shake and strain into an ice filled cocktail glass.
4. Garnish with an orange wedge and / or edible flowers.
5. Bottoms up!

CONNECTING OVER COCKTAILS LINK PARTY  |  FLORAL EDITION

Looking for more spring cocktail inspiration? Check out these floral cocktails from some of my Canadian food blogger friends! If you’ve been with me for awhile, you’ve likely heard me gush about their talent, passion and creativity — their work is a constant inspiration to me. Not to mention, they sure know how to make a cocktail! This time around we’ve added a couple of new members to our Connecting Over Cocktails family, so be sure to swing by for a spring cocktail and tell them I sent you!

Dana at Killing Thyme’s Spiked Hibiscus Iced Tea

Jared at The Hesitant Chef’s Hopped White Lady

Jen at Mud on Her Boots’s Lavender Orange Bees Knees

Meaghan at Un Assaggio’s Rose Julep

Samantha at My Kitchen Loves’s Rhubarb Pisco Sour

Sean at Diversivore’s Saffron Cava Cocktail

Taylor at The Girl on Bloor’s Cucumber Basil Gin Fizz

P.S. – You can index our recipes via social media with the hashtag #FBCConnectingOverCocktails, if that’s your preferred method of browsing!

MORE REFRESHING, SEASONAL SIPPERS

Blood Orange Creamsicle Mimosas

Blueberry Lemon and Cucumber Gin Mojitos

Rosé Lychee Elderflower Sangria

Green Jalapeño Margaritas

White Citrus Sangria

SHOP COCKTAIL & ENTERTAINING GOODIES

What are your favourite spring flavours? I feel like a whole new cocktail world has opened up for me since acquiring a taste for gin — so if you have any spirit recommendations that you think I’d enjoy I’d love to hear from you! And f you try my Coastal Orange Blossom Gin Cocktails (or any of the other cocktails in this roundup) leave me a comment below, or tag me on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook (please use the hashtag #justinecelinarecipes in your recreations on social media so I can find them)! I also have a Pinterest board for my recipes, if you’re looking for more ideas. Cheers, friends — and enjoy the first weekend of spring!

Thank you to Brit & Co for featuring my Coastal Orange Blossom Gin Cocktails in their 14 Blooming Cocktails to Ring in the Spring roundup and to FeedFeed for featuring them in the Dessert Cocktail feed.

Disclaimer: This post is not sponsored, and contains my genuine thoughts, ideas and recommendations. JustineCelina uses affiliate and referral links, which allow me to receive a small commission when you make a purchase through one of my links. Thank you for supporting the brands and businesses that support JustineCelina.com!