Libations: Try San Antonio's Seersucker Lemonade Gin in These Summery Recipes

Spirit: Seersucker Southern Style Lemonade Gin

Distillery Locale: San Antonio

Price: $22/750 ml

The Story: Trey and Kim Azar, who launched Cinco Vodka in 2010, entered the gin game in 2017 with Seersucker Southern Style Gin. Their concept: highlight the citrus note, balance the juniper, and mix traditional botanicals (coriander, cardamom) with Southern accents like honey and mint. They soon found that bartenders were often using it to make Tom Collins and Southside cocktails, which require lemon and lime juice, respectively. The Azars decided to do some “reverse-engineering [to get] those cocktails back into the bottle,” Trey recalls. In 2018 Seersucker introduced two flavored varieties: lemonade and limeade, the added fresh juice countered by herbs (lemon with lavender; lime with mint).

Parting Shot: Try the lemonade gin in the aforementioned Tom Collins or a White Lady, keep it simple with ice and sparkling water, or try it in one of these three recipes.

Bee’s Knees Rickey

2 ounces Seersucker Southern Style Lemonade Gin
0.5 ounce lemon juice
0.5 ounce honey syrup (2:1 ratio)
3 ounces sparkling water

In a shaker, combine gin, lemon juice, and honey syrup. Shake. Strain ingredients into a highball glass with crushed ice. Top with sparkling water and a dash of cracked black pepper.

Church Tea

2 ounces Seersucker Southern Style Lemonade Gin
3 ounces unsweetened black tea
0.5 ounce lemon juice

Build in glass over ice. Stir. Garnish with a lemon wedge.