Of all the gin joints...

...in all of New York, I walked in to The Back Room on the Lower East Side earlier tonight. The reason? To take part in the first official Next GINeration Cocktail Challenge, hosted by New Amsterdam Gin.

For those of you who haven't heard about New Amsterdam, it's an American-made gin named after old-school New York and packaged up in a sleek glass bottle inspired by the Empire State Building -- nice, right?

The challenge was to create a cocktail inspired by Manhattan in just 10 minutes using ... New Amsterdam Gin, of course. Inspired by my frequent travels through the three notoriously late airports of New York, my drink was aptly names The Flight Delay. I tried to do a twist on the classic Aviation Cocktail, which I doctored a bit by adding orange juice to the mix, since I always drink OJ on the plane to keep me from getting sick.

How did it turn out? Let's just say I'll leave the mixology to the experts -- experts like Alex Ott, who was our host of the evening and who also created these Manhattan-inspired libations:

Five Points
1 1/2 oz. New Amsterdam Gin
2 1/2 oz. orange juice
2 1/2 oz. cola
1/4 oz. fresh lemon juice

Fill a pilsner or highball glass with ice. Pour in the gin, orange juice and lemon juice then float with coal. Garnish with a thick orange wheel.

Little Italy
2 oz. New Amsterdam Gin
1 1/2 oz. limoncello
1/4 oz. fresh lemon juice
2 1/2 oz. soda

Combine all ingredients except the soda in a shaker filled with ice, shake vigorously and strain over an ice-filled high ball glass. Garnish with a lemon wheel.