You all know the back story to my Club Tropicana Gin, the years I spent in Ibiza in the 90s, the idolisation I had for George Micheal, Wham and the mythical Pikes Hotel. It was made as a Thank you to all the memories, and even now when I sip it I feel transported to another time and another place. For the vast majority of you who weren’t so obsessed with the 80s that you decided to move countries for a while…I hope Club Tropicana still invokes memories of warm summer days by the pool (or paddling pool if you’re a staycationer)! It’s summer in a glass in its own right, so no wonder when I asked in January, during snow season, which of my gins you wanted to see in the next cocktail you all said Club Trop!

Now it was time to think of the recipe. This year we have had insane amounts of snow…during a lockdown…with very little escape from the winter blues. So not only did I understand your need for a Club Tropicana cocktail to transport you to the beach, I also share the feeling. However, I was initially a little stumped on how to make this summer in a glass into an even more summer filled cocktail. I’m too invested in the memories it brings me to see any other summer than the ones in Ibiza. Thankfully, I am no longer a man working from his garage like i was in 2018 when I started this business. I now have an ever growing number of staff, including the 23 year old cocktail lover Becks. So I opened the floor to her with this one, asking what other drink to her is summer in a glass. As much as my second home is Spain, hers is Italy (she wishes anyway)! To be fair to her, for a 23 year old she’s been to Italy far more than most and has explored a fair bit of it, including the Amalfi coast famous for its Lemoncello. So that was her answer. We mixed some of the Lemoncello she brought back this Summer with Club Tropicana and the rest was history. 

So there you have it, another simple Steel River cocktail. 

Now let’s get drinking, as they say in Spain: