Saturn

Some of us were discussing the gin-based Saturn cocktail on another thread and it was apparent there is a lot of love for this finicky drink, so figured we should dedicate a thread to figuring out the best way to make and enjoy it.

According to Beachbum Berry, the drink was created by J. "Popo" Galsini in 1967 and won that year's IBA World Cocktail Championship in Majorca.

The recipe calls for 8 oz of ice, blended til smooth. It's delicious and refreshing this way but I prefer to avoid "slushie" drinks whenever possible. I've made it shaken and strained into a chilled coup glass to enjoy like a daiquiri with varying results. The amount and size of the ice, as well as the shake time, no doubt have an impact on the aeration, dilution, and ultimate outcome of the drink. JenTiki says Smuggler's Cove does it this way and it's one of her favorite drinks there, so what is the magic combination of ice and shake?

I've also made it by shaking and pouring un-strained into a tall glass, adding extra ice to fill. Being that it's barely over a two ounce drink, this adds a bit more dilution which actually makes more sense since the slushie version is completely diluted by the 8 ounces of ice it's blended with. So variables at play here are how much ice to put in the shaker, how long to shake, and how big a glass to pour it into (and if topping off with more ice is necessary) to achieve the proper amount of dilution.

Of course, we also need to get into the ingredients and how impactful each is to the overall flavor of the drink.

As for the gins, the recipe calls for a dry. Admittedly, I'm no gin connoisseur. I've had the cocktail a bunch lately, made either by myself or by friends with the following four gins which have all worked just fine: Bombay Dry, Hayman's London Dry, and two from Texas: Lone Star Gin and Austin Reserve (not sure what style those two are).

Other ingredients:
Lemon juice: Fresh squeezed of course
Orgeat: I've used BG and even the low quality Trader Vic's full of HFCS
Passion Fruit syrup: I've used homemade and BG
Falernum: I've used homemade and Velvet

Every combination I've tried has been good to great. Let's hear your success/fail stories!

Oh yeah, one other thing to consider, the drink is very small and has three different 1/4 oz measures which is a pain to pour. I often make mine a double.

Here's the recipe I believe is being used in the aforementioned bar: 1.25 gin, .75 lemon, .50 pf syrup, .25 falernum, .25 orgeat. Shake, strain into coupe, peel a strip of lemon peel, express oils over drink, float peel in the glass. It is also made sometimes with white rum if requested, which I often do at home.

The consideration as to which particular spirit/brand you use has to be about not overpowering the other ingredients. The charm of this drink for me is the delicate balance of the four non-gin ingredients. Generally, I use BGR pf syrup, Taylor Velvet falernum, and Giffard orgeat. I think the BGR falernum and orgeat would be too much for this drink, at least to my tastes. I drink the Saturn when I want something delicate, refreshing, and slightly flowery. Keeping the pf at .5oz and the falernum and orgeat at .25oz makes the pf the star of the drink.

On the other hand, if you're doing the blended slushy version, or crushed/cubed ice version, the richer brands of the ingredients might make sense since there is so much more dilution with those methods. It might be interesting to try the blended one using a richer rum, or aged gin. I picked up a local North Carolina gin recently that I might try in the slushy version. It is barrel aged and has some very floral notes, including what I pick up as lavender. I might give this a try tonight if I there are any lemons in the house when I get home.

Interesting they raise the amounts of lemon plus add the oils and peel to the drink. I find the citrus to be at a pretty good level. Mind you, there is some lime in my falernum that is maybe/possibly coming through, but I can't imagine that having a large impact with how little is in there.

I haven't taken active notes as I should have been, but from my recollection, the best slush version of this I had was with Velvet falernum, BG passion and BG orgeat.

I think my favorite shaken version was with my homemade falernum, homemade passion fruit, and Trader Vic orgeat.

I haven't strayed from the proportions of the given recipe yet but I've considered raising the gin amount for extra floralness. I need to treat this like my mai tai's and jot down and rate every variation on this endless quest for perfection.

On 2016-05-18 13:50, mikehooker wrote:
Some of us were discussing the gin-based Saturn cocktail on another thread and it was apparent there is a lot of love for this finicky drink, so figured we should dedicate a thread to figuring out the best way to make and enjoy it.

According to Beachbum Berry, the drink was created by J. "Popo" Galsini in 1967 and won that year's IBA World Cocktail Championship in Majorca.

The recipe calls for 8 oz of ice, blended til smooth. It's delicious and refreshing this way but I prefer to avoid "slushie" drinks whenever possible. I've made it shaken and strained into a chilled coup glass to enjoy like a daiquiri with varying results. The amount and size of the ice, as well as the shake time, no doubt have an impact on the aeration, dilution, and ultimate outcome of the drink. JenTiki says Smuggler's Cove does it this way and it's one of her favorite drinks there, so what is the magic combination of ice and shake?

I've also made it by shaking and pouring un-strained into a tall glass, adding extra ice to fill. Being that it's barely over a two ounce drink, this adds a bit more dilution which actually makes more sense since the slushie version is completely diluted by the 8 ounces of ice it's blended with. So variables at play here are how much ice to put in the shaker, how long to shake, and how big a glass to pour it into (and if topping off with more ice is necessary) to achieve the proper amount of dilution.

Of course, we also need to get into the ingredients and how impactful each is to the overall flavor of the drink.

As for the gins, the recipe calls for a dry. Admittedly, I'm no gin connoisseur. I've had the cocktail a bunch lately, made either by myself or by friends with the following four gins which have all worked just fine: Bombay Dry, Hayman's London Dry, and two from Texas: Lone Star Gin and Austin Reserve (not sure what style those two are).

Other ingredients:
Lemon juice: Fresh squeezed of course
Orgeat: I've used BG and even the low quality Trader Vic's full of HFCS
Passion Fruit syrup: I've used homemade and BG
Falernum: I've used homemade and Velvet

Every combination I've tried has been good to great. Let's hear your success/fail stories!

My wife and I don’t care for “slushie “ type drinks either.
I had a couple of Saturns at Tiki Ko (Bakersfield, Ca.) recently that I really enjoyed and Bennie the barkeep there used a Boston shaker. Last week I tried my hand and followed a recipe that was identical to your recipe. Excellent except for the slushie part. since then I’ve made em in my shaker ( bout a cup of broken ice for a quadrupled recipe) and serve them in an ice filled double old fashioned with a cherry pined to an orange wheel for garnish. This excellent drink is now in rotation at the SharkBite (home bar) That’s what we’re having tonight.
Cheers
Btw, I used “Death’s Door “ Gin

[ Edited by: nui 'umi 'umi 2016-10-19 23:18 ]