Ok Google, let’s make #NotPinkDrink. We’ve got our hands on a foolproof festive cocktail that is sure to win Instagram brownie points.

Image: The Not Pink Drink by Google

Hashtags #pink, #neon, #glutenfree and #vegan are amongst the most shareable cocktail attributes to serve up and snap this party season – that’s according to research released today, which also reveals that using the ingredients lemon, elderflower and smoke will see you raking in the likes.

The study saw a team of social media experts analyse the 10,000 most engaging UK Instagram posts featuring ‘#cocktail’ over the past year. Findings also highlight the best time to post your mixological masterpiece is on a Friday at 2pm, as this is when cocktail posts gain the most engagement. The research was commissioned by Google to celebrate the release of its Pixel 3 smartphone, which has one of the best cameras on the block, including AI-led features made for creating shareable photos from food to portraits, and with the festive season on the horizon, photos of picture-perfect cocktails.

And with the average Brit attending a drinks event each week of December, Google Pixel 3 challenged The Amateur Mixologist Matt Hollidge, to use the research data to create the UK’s most shareable cocktail – the Not Pink Drink.

Image: The Amateur Mixologist Matt Hollidge making Google’s Not Pink Drink.

Hollidge says, ‘Nowadays people don’t just want cocktails to taste good, they want them to be something they can share – which makes my job of creating them even more fun. It’s all about what you can capture on your phone and show your mates, so using Pixel 3 as inspiration was really interesting. I loved the challenge of incorporating different features of the phone into the design, particularly the wellness colour-change elements. As well as making the final cocktail as photogenic as possible!’

And it seems as though now is the time to be cracking open the bottles and searching for those shakers as Google searches for ‘cocktail recipes’ doubled in December 2017 compared to the rest of last year.  So whether you’re organising a festive drinks party or relaxing at home with friends, try your hand at the UK’s most shareable cocktail, the Not Pink Drink and make sure to share a snap for extra online kudos.

Ingredients

• 50ml gin (e.g. Bombay Sapphire) or Seedlip Spice*
  20ml elderflower liqueur (e.g. St-Germain) or elderflower cordial*
• 1 tbsp butterfly pea flowers
• Juice of half a lemon
• 1 dash orange blossom water
• 100ml Indian tonic water

Wide Angle Selfie Skewer:

• Pixel Petals e.g. Violas
• ‘Not Pink’ macarons or marshmallows

Equipment

• Lemon juicer
• cocktail shaker
• bamboo skewer
• cocktail strainer
• wooden
• muddler
• wine glass

Optional for extra likes:

• Pixel 3
• TeamPixel
• Night Sight UV light
• smoker
• absinthe fountain
• or glass jug

Serving instructions

Top tip: Share a snap of your drink to social media at 2pm on a Friday for maximum engagement, using #TeamPixel #NotPinkDrink

Method

1. Pour the gin* into a small glass. Add the butterfly pea flowers and muddle. Put ice into a wine glass. Strain the blue liquid through mesh filter into wine glass and place to one side.
2. Pour elderflower liqueur into shaker. Juice half a lemon and add to shaker. Add a small dash of orange blossom water to shaker.
3. To prepare the ‘Wide Angle Selfie Skewer’ thread skewer through the filling of ‘Not Pink’ macarons and/or marshmallows.
4. Place garnish on top of the glass at a slight angle. Shake mix two with ice, fill absinthe fountain with tonic water and ice. Pour mix two into absinthe fountain.
5. Now turn off the lights! Switch on UV light to see your drink turn ‘Night Sight Neon’.
6. Place garnished glass beneath fountain tap. Add hickory smoke to glass using the smoker (or not — it’s up to you!).
7. Turn tap to release the ‘Wind Down Waterfall’ and watch your drink change from blue to ‘Not Pink’ — if at home pour mix two into mix one. Capture the perfect selfie of you and your mixological masterpiece using wide-angle selfie mode.
8. Post online with #NotPinkDrink and then enjoy with your phone on ‘Shh mode’.

 

Have a look at how the most instagrammable drink is made.

 

 

Tag us in your #TeamPixel #NotPinkDrink pics on Instagram or post a comment on our Facebook page.

 

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