Now seems as good a time as any to feature a delightful drink with an unfortunate name. No, not some dorm-room abomination like the Long Slow Screw Against the Wall or the Short Bus Secret, this bright, fruity gin-based concoction is called the Plantation.
The Plantation
- 1 oz. gin
- 1 oz. fresh squeezed grapefruit juice
- 1/2 oz. lime juice
- 1/2 oz. Cointreau
- 4-6 basil leaves
Muddle the basil leaves in the lime juice. Add the rest of the ingredients. Shake 10-20 seconds and strain into an ice filled Collins glass, highball or 12-oz. canning jar. Garnish with a slice of grapefruit.
Nothing about the fresh grapefruit juice and basil leaves hints at the 246 years the United States enslaved African and Native Americans. I half expected the drink to be made with black-strap rum, Campari and habenero-infused whiskey, served, of course, in bone china on the back of an actual person.
No, the Plantation gives you a glimpse into the revisionists’ mind for just a moment. It tastes exactly like the idealized version of a life filled with cotillions, dinners with colonels and evenings filled with the aroma of basil and citrus fruit releasing their sweet bouquet into the warm night air to mingle tenderly with the beautiful chorus of the slaves singing lullabies to their babies— all under the watchful gaze of a kind god who bestowed upon us, the blessings and responsibilities to rule all the beasts of the world.
In other words: It’s shamefully good.
111 notes