It’s a long weekend coming up and you’ve got friends and family coming over. Yes, you want to drink gin cocktails. No, you don’t want to spend the whole afternoon and evening mixing, stirring, slicing and shaking for everyone. What’s your answer? Why, a big bowl (or two) of delicious gin punch, of course!

We’ve collected five gin-based punch recipes that are as unusual as they are delicious and beautiful. Although you may not have tried these flavour combinations before, they aren’t complicated and you should have all of these ingredients already or will be able to easily buy them at your local shop. Make them the morning or day before, pop them in the fridge and just leave the punch out for guests to serve themselves. Voila!

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ORANGE, POMEGRANATE & ROSEMARY SPARKLING GIN PUNCH

Source: waitingonmartha

INGREDIENTS:

1 Bottle champagne, prosecco or dry sparkling wine
8oz pomegranate juice
4oz gin
8oz orange juice
4-6 oranges, thinly sliced
1 cup pomegranate seeds
4-6 sprigs of rosemary, plus extra as garnish

METHOD:

Combine all ingredients together in a punch bowl, stir gently. Add ice to a lowball glass or punch bowl and pour over ice to serve.

Recipe sourced from waitingonmartha.com.

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PINEAPPLE & CARROT GIN PUNCH

Source: sugarandcharm.com

INGREDIENTS:

20oz pineapple juice
20oz pure carrot juice
10oz real lemon juice
10oz gin
12oz ginger beer or ginger ale
Edible flowers or lemon slices to garnish

METHOD:

Add all of the ingredients into a punch bowl and gently stir to combine. Taste the punch and tweak the amounts according to your preference. Pour over ice to serve garnish with the edible flowers or fruit slices.

Recipe sourced from sugarandcharm.com.

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BLUEBERRY, GIN & SAGE PUNCH

Source: Feastingathome.com

INGREDIENTS:

12 ounces frozen blueberries
5.5oz fresh lemon juice
3oz water
8oz sugar
30 fresh sage leaves- a generous handful (about ½ cup packed)
3/4 bottle gin
1 bottle prosecco (optional)

METHOD:

In a medium sized pot over medium-high heat, combine frozen blueberries, lemon juice, water and sugar.  Stir until sugar is dissolved and mixture comes to a simmer.

Muddle berries well, mashing them in the pot. Add the sage. Simmer for 1-2 minutes.

Remove from stove and let sit overnight or for several hours (the longer it sits the more the sage will come through).

Strain the blueberry mixture, pressing down hard on the berries with a muddler or back of a big spoon, allowing them to release their colourful juice.

Place blueberry sage syrup in a large punch bowl or glass beverage container with a spigot (see notes).

Add gin and prosecco and garnish with a few sage leaves and lemon slices.

Recipe sourced from FeastingAtHome.com.

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LIME, BASIL & GRAPEFRUIT GIN PUNCH

Photo by Cristina Sciarra

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup basil leaves
1 cup sugar
1 (750ml) bottle gin
6 cups (48oz/1,419ml) grapefruit juice
1 cup (8oz/236ml) lime juice
1 liter (4 cups) fizzy water
4 limes, sliced into coins

METHOD:

Make the simple syrup: in a medium pot, stir the sugar into 1 cup of water. Turn the heat to medium-high, and let the sugar water come to a simmer. Turn off the heat, and add the basil leaves. Let the simple syrup steep for 30 minutes. Run the syrup through a sieve, and then move it to the fridge to chill, at least 30 minutes.

Mix together the basil syrup, gin, grapefruit juice, lime juice and 2 cups of cold water; chill for at least 30 minutes, until quite cold.

Before serving, top the punch with lime coins. You can add the fizzy water all at once to the punch bowl, or allow each guest to top off their own glass.

You can make the punch (basil syrup + gin + grapefruit juice + lime juice + water) up to 1 day ahead, and chill in the fridge until ready to serve.

Recipe sourced from Food52.com.

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CUCUMBER, MINT & LIME GIN PUNCH

INGREDIENTS:

Cucumber and gin syrup:
1 cucumber, halved lengthways, seeds removed, coarsely chopped
330gm caster sugar
100 ml gin
30 ml lemon juice
30ml lime juice

Other:
1 cucumber, halved lengthways, seeds removed, coarsely chopped
2 limes, cut into wedges
1 cup (loosely packed) mint
To serve: tonic water and ice cubes

METHOD:

To make the cucumber and gin syrup, muddle the cucumber in a jug with a pestle or rolling pin until juicy for one minute, then combine in a saucepan with sugar and 250ml water. Stir over high heat until sugar dissolves, then bring to the boil, reduce heat to medium and simmer until a light syrup forms (10-15 minutes).

Set aside to cool to room temperature, stir in gin and lemon and lime juice and refrigerate until required. Strain before using. Makes about 450ml.

To serve, muddle cucumber and lime in a tall jug, add a little cucumber and gin syrup, add mint and top up with tonic water. Fill tall glasses with ice, pour cucumber and gin punch over and top up with extra cucumber and gin syrup to taste.

Looking for more gin cocktail inspiration? Try our cocktail hub for hundreds of classic and rare recipes!