If every prayer resulted in a delicious cocktail I can tell you I’d be praying lot more. The Maiden’s Prayer, delightfully, is that perfect cocktail bearing prayer. The drink is nicely fruity and with the right choice of gin equally complex. On that note let’s start by talking about gin. This cocktail has a lot of bold flavors going on with the orange and lemon juice. You need to pick a gin that can stand up to those flavors. I picked Tanqueray to mix with this week and found that it’s juniper forward flavor worked very well in this drink. I don’t think that’s the only gin that would work well though. Basically you want to choose a gin with a medium to strong flavor (leave the Sapphire on the shelf for this one) and I’d suggest something with more of a juniper forward profile to act as a foil for the citrus juices.
Now, what about that citrus? The recipe Gary Regan puts forward calls for equal parts gin and triple sec (1 oz) and equal parts lemon and orange juice (1/2 oz). The drink this combination creates is very good, but it was a little too sweet for my taste. Instead for my rendition I drop the triple sec to 1/2 oz and up the gin to 1 1/2 oz. This dials down the sweetness while keeping the character of the drink the same.
Finally, Gary suggests the use of Angostura bitters in this drink, but says they’re optional. I disagree. I think the bitters are a must, but go very lightly, only use one single dash. The bitters add a very light spice layer and increase the complexity of the cocktail greatly. However, if you use more than a single dash you’ll notice that they start to overwhelm the other more delicate flavors.
Okay, turns out that was really the penultimate tip on this cocktail. The true final tip is that this drink works really well with an ounce or two of champagne to top things off. In fact, the picture you see above is just such a variation. I find that champagne works really well with the citrus flavors. Were I you though, I’d give the original a try first. You’ll likely find that you enjoy it enough all by itself and won’t find a need to spruce it up with some champagne.
Maiden's Prayer (Cocktail Hacker)
1 1/2 oz Gin 1/2 oz Triple Sec 1/2 oz Lemon Juice 1/2 oz Orange Juice 1 Dash Angostura Bitters
1) Combine ingredients over ice 2) Shake and strain in to a chilled cocktail glass