Here is a tasty drink to try. It incorporates in fresh cucumber and is also delicious with a few mint leaves thrown in or if you want to try something really different add a torn shisho leaf.

Gin Fresh
Muddle 3 slices of cucumber in a cockail shaker. Measure in 2 ounces of gin (try Plymouth or Tanqueray 10 with this drink, 3/4 oz fresh lime juice, 3/4 oz simple syrup (1 part sugar + 1 part hot water stirred until dissolved)
Fill with ice, cap and shake vigorously.
Strain into a cockail glass and top with a very thin slice of cucumber for garnish.

Enjoy! - Kathy

I am surprised to not see any mention of Pimms! I cannot offer a recipe, but if you go to Sun Liquor in Capitol Hill, ask the bartender to make a drink with gin, Pimms, cucumber, lemon, St. Germain, and lavender bitters. The original was created for a friend of mine, but all the bartenders there make their own versions that are equally delicious.

A French 75 is a straight up classic that the girls and the cocktail geeks can all get behind. It's also the greatest (admittedly boozy) brunch drink and "corpse reviver" in the world, and the formula is easily tweaked to incorporate different flavors by substituting different liqueurs and even base spirits.

1 oz gin (I like Beefeater, I use a little more gin if using a softer gin, like Plymouth)
2 to 3 tsp (1/3 to 1/2 oz) lemon juice
2 to 3 tsp simple syrup or Cointreau

Shake and strain into a flute or cocktail glass, top with sparkling wine (something lean and acidic, try Gruet for $15 at Trader Joe's). Lemon or orange twist.

You can also double everything up and serve it over crushed ice for a great tall drink. Try subbing in Cognac, or heck, rum for the gin, St. Germain for the syrup or Cointreau. If you sub in Licore Strega or Green Chartreuse you'll probably need to add a little extra sugar. You could even try muddling in a little mint, if you're so inclined.

The drink that turned me onto gin was a classic by the name of Satan's Whiskers (curled) -- how can you not like a drink with that name? Besides having a brilliant name, it's also a delicious drink that highlights gins best qualities while at the same time masking some of the strong herbal flavors that sometimes turn off fans of vodka.

Satan's Whiskers (curled)

I should note, this is my personal variation on the recipe. You'll find slightly different versions elsewhere.

STEP 1: In a chilled martini glass, give a wash of Grand Marnier. Pour out the excess liqueur.

STEP 2: In a glass filled with ice, stir 2oz of Hendrick's gin, a splash of both sweet and dry vermouth, the juice of 1/2 a medium-sized orange and a few dashes of Fee's Orange Bitters.

STEP 3: Pour the mixture into the martini glass and garnish with a twist of orange.

In Seattle, you can find Fee's Orange Bitters at Delauranti in Pike Place Market (the south end of the market), or you can buy it online. Just Google "fee's bitters"

Negroni is my favorite.

1/3 Campari
1/3 sweet vermouth
1/3 gin

Serve on the rocks in an old-fashioned glass with a twist of orange peel (never lemon). These three ingredients may sound odd together but they mesh perfectly.

The desperately in need of a new name Wonder Bra is a great gin drink, and an outstanding one for converting vodka drinkers.

1 1/2 ounces gin
3/4 ounce Cointreau
1 ounce pineapple juice

combine all with ice in a cocktail shaker. Shake vigorously and strain into a martini glass.

It goes down very easy and packs a huge punch. The floral and herbal notes in all three ingredients combine beautifully to create an illusion of much more sweetness than the drink actually has.

I also am a huge fan of the Corpse Reviver 2 mentioned earlier. It is worth picking up Amarena cherries to garnish these. They not only taste way better than maraschino cherries, but their incredibly dark color is perfect contrast in the corpse reviver 2.

Finally, if you haven't tried it Fever Tree tonic will take your gin and tonics to a new level of wonderfulness and is worth tracking down.

Happy drinking!

Slo gin is only one component, but my favorite mixed drink is the Alabama slammer. Cranberry juice (splash), orange juice, crushed ice, amaretto, sloe gin, and whiskey. sometimes I add triple sec too. I like the fact that it isn't too sweet or bitter, just nicely balanced. It's hard to find a bartender that doesn't try to add lemon juice--hate it in my AS though.

I love a Sidecar made with gin. I think it's best with juice from a Meyer lemon (which also gives you the foodies' vote for the more difficult to find lemon juice.

While I'm not a fan of too-sweet fancy cocktails, nor feeling overly bitter, I have become a fan of this simple, yet stellar concoction as-of-late:

Order:
Gin + St. Germaine + splash bitters w/lemon wedge. The bartender should not find this too time-consuming, and (once you squeeze the lemon into it) you will be VERY happy with the result. Drink and be merry. Then have another.

Gin? Gawd awful. Try Patron instead.