Gin Daisy
Shake; Churn ∙ 4 min ∙ 29.8% ABV ∙
The Gin Daisy is a shaken gin sour built with herbal liqueur, lemon juice, and grenadine, served over crushed ice. Tart and lightly sweet with a slushy, crackling texture from the crushed ice, finishing crisp and cold with a faint honeyed herbal warmth underneath.
Ingredients
1
Servings
Garnish
Instructions for 1 serving
- Pre-chill a glass
- Shake all ingredients with ice: London dry gin 60 mlHerbal liqueur (e.g., Yellow Chartreuse) 10 mlLemon juice 10 mlGrenadine syrup 10 ml
- Strain into the glass filled with crushed ice
- Churn the drink with ice and serve with a straw
- Garnish with a maraschino cherry
Tips
- Churn, don't stir — moving a barspoon through the crushed ice mixes the layers evenly before the straw goes in.
- Shake hard for a full 10-12 seconds; the crushed ice fill afterward dilutes fast, so a weak shake leaves it flat.
- Pre-chill the glass before straining so the crushed ice doesn't start melting the moment it hits the glass.
History
The Gin Daisy belongs to the Daisy family of cocktails, a sour-style template of spirit, citrus, and a sweetening liqueur or cordial, lengthened with a splash of soda water and served over crushed ice. The word "daisy" was 19th-century American slang for something excellent, and the earliest known reference to the drink appears in an 1866 novel, Gay Life in New York, or Fast Men and Grass Widows, by Henry Llewellyn Williams, though its exact place of invention was never recorded.
The first published Daisy recipe appeared in the 1876 second edition of Jerry Thomas's The Bar-Tender's Guide, which listed a Brandy Daisy in full followed by Whisky, Gin, and Rum versions made by substituting the base spirit. In that original formula the sweetener was orange cordial or curaçao rather than grenadine, shaken with lemon juice and spirit, strained over shaved ice, and topped with seltzer from a syphon.
Grenadine largely replaced the orange liqueur as the standard Daisy sweetener by the early 20th century, giving the drink its now-familiar pink color, while the soda-water top gradually fell away in many modern versions. The Daisy's spirit-citrus-liqueur structure is also credited as the template behind later classics such as the Sidecar and the Margarita, the latter name being the Spanish word for "daisy."
FAQ
What is a Daisy cocktail?
A Daisy is a classic cocktail family built from a base spirit, citrus juice, and a sweetener, typically laced with a touch of liqueur and served over crushed ice. The Gin Daisy is a well-known variant, shaken with lemon juice and grenadine for its sour-sweet backbone.
What is a Gin Daisy drink?
The Gin Daisy is a shaken gin cocktail lifted with a splash of herbal liqueur such as Yellow Chartreuse, alongside lemon juice and grenadine. It is strained into a wine glass packed with crushed ice, then churned and served with a straw and a maraschino cherry, giving it a slushy, long-drink texture.
What is in a Gin Daisy?
London dry gin, a herbal liqueur such as Yellow Chartreuse, fresh lemon juice, and grenadine syrup, shaken with ice and strained over crushed ice. It is finished with a maraschino cherry and served in a wine glass with a straw.
What is a 3-ingredient gin cocktail?
Simple gin cocktails like the Gin Fizz or Gin Sour typically use just gin, lemon juice, and a sweetener. The Gin Daisy builds on that same idea but adds a fourth element, a herbal liqueur, alongside the grenadine for extra depth.
How do you make a Gin Daisy?
Shake gin, herbal liqueur, lemon juice, and grenadine hard with ice, then strain into a pre-chilled glass packed with crushed ice. Churn the drink with a barspoon to mix it through the ice, then garnish with a maraschino cherry and serve with a straw.
