Cocktails to get you pickled this Christmas

Pickling liquor is popping up on cocktail menus in the form of the Pickle Martini The latest must-have drink for fashionistas, A-list athletes and hipsters alike? While at NoMad, the hip hotel where you'll find the likes of models Alexa Chung and Adwoa Aboah, actresses Iris Law and Lena Dunham and rock star Courtney Love, those in the know are ordering the Szechuan Gibson, a tangy twist on the classic dry martini with pickle juice, hot szechuan oil made from chilli and Chinese spices, and pickled pearl onions. Believe it or not 'pickling liquor' is popping up on cool cocktail menus and the Pickle Martini — or variations on it — is tipped to be the tipple to be seen with this Christmas At Isabel in London's Mayfair, a party spot favoured by actresses Sienna Miller and Alicia Vikander, they are serving up a Garden Martini with yellow tomato and samphire 'brine' One of the first pickle juice-based drinks is said to have originated a few years ago in New York's super-cool Brooklyn, when a bartender munching on pickles was asked by a customer to serve up a shot of whisky followed by a shot of pickling brine. While at NoMad, the hip hotel where you'll find the likes of models Alexa Chung and Adwoa Aboah, those in the know are ordering the Szechuan Gibson, a tangy twist on the classic dry martini with pickle juice DIY Pickle Juice The basic recipe for pickle juice is just four ingredients — vinegar, water, sugar and salt. Ingredients 35 ml Hendrick's gin 15 ml St-Germain elderflower liqueur 10 ml pickle juice 7.5 ml egg white 1 tsp lime juice Ice cubes for shaking 8 mint leaves, plus 1 mint sprig to garnish Muddle all the ingredients in a cocktail shaker, top with ice, then seal and shake vigorously for ten seconds.