The Gin Blossom is a riff on a Martini that features equal parts blanc vermouth and apricot eau-de-vie together with gin. This spirit-forward cocktail has citrusy notes, a gentle sweetness, and subtle apricot aromas. The Gin Blossom is served in a chilled coupe glass and garnished with an orange twist.

The Gin Blossom was created by lauded bartender Julie Reiner in 2008 for her Brooklyn, New York bar Clover Club. Reiner was inspired by mentions of apricot brandy in 19th-century cocktail books, and Reiner’s friend Eric Seed, the founder of the Alpine-focused import company Haus Alpenz, helped source hard-to-find apricot liqueur and eau-de-vie for Clover Club. 

“I work best when I’m limited to a particular ingredient,” Reiner told writer Betsy Andrews, for Food & Wine. “I was working on the opening menu at Clover Club, and I wanted a Martini and a Manhattan variation. [I hoped] they would be modern classics that would stay on the menu forever. I used the apricot liqueur in the Manhattan variation, which was The Slope, and eau-de-vie in the Martini variation, the Gin Blossom.” 

Reiner was inspired by the recipe for a 50/50 Martini which featured equal parts gin and vermouth. For the Gin Blossom, Reiner riffed on this formula and split the vermouth between blanc vermouth and the apricot eau-de-vie. Blanc vermouth (or vermouth bianco, for Italian brands) is floral and citrusy with a gentle sweetness. Apricot eau-de-vie is a distilled brandy that captures the aromatic characteristics of apricot without any of the fruity sweetness. While distilled from fruit, it is completely dry and around 40% ABV. The gin, vermouth, and eau-de-vie combine with orange bitters to create added aromatic complexity.

“I wanted to create a Martini that was approachable for people who aren’t used to Martinis,” says Reiner. The sweet, aromatized white wine mellows the drink. And the apricot eau-de-vie? “I knew it would add a fruity backbone.”

Since 2008, Reiner has continued to open bars, but the Gin Blossom remains only available at its original location. “That is exclusively a Clover Club classic,” says Reiner. 

Why the Gin Blossom works:

This spirit-forward Martini riff packs a complex flavor profile into a very simple recipe. The apricot eau-de-vie has an intense apricot flavor and aroma without any of the sweetness. The blanc vermouth adds citrusy notes with a touch of sweetness which balances the bone-dry gin and eau-de-vie. 

Reiner leans on a citrus-forward Plymouth gin to maintain the balance of the cocktail — a bracing London Dry gin would overwhelm the subtle notes in the eau-de-vie. The resulting cocktail is what Reiner calls “a Martini for the masses.” She distinguished the Gin Blossom from the elbows-out booziness of the classic cocktail revival of the mid-aughts. The subtlety of the cocktail comes from the dilution, too. At Clover Club, they stir the Gin Blossom on ice for 30 seconds before serving it in a Nick and Nora glass with a sidecar for refills.