Listen, I love herbs. I love them all the time, in everything, but there is nothing I love more than the grounding presence of an earthy herb to balance something sweet. So when I first tasted a cocktail with rosemary in it, it was nothing short of a revelation. (It was, in all honesty, a revelation I had to have the following day once the headache had cleared–that's how delicious this drink was.) Thus I embarked upon a delicious journey of infusing rosemary, thyme, lavender, and any other fun ingredient I could think of into simple syrups to add to cocktails (and mocktails!).
You can spice up any basic liquor + soda cocktail format (think gin & tonic, vodka soda, etc.) with a flavored simple syrup and dazzle your friends. If you're not familiar with the principal of simple syrup, first of all you are my favorite kind of friend because when I hand you a rosemary-infused cocktail you will be very impressed. But second of all and more importantly, do not be afraid!
As the name implies, simple syrup is essentially liquid sugar made by boiling a 1:1 ratio of sugar and water. You can make it thicker or thinner by adjusting the ratio, and you can add whatever ingredients you'd like to infuse at various steps of the process depending on the way the ingredient behaves when heated. For example, fresh lavender does perfectly well being boiled in water before even adding the sugar, while rosemary maintains its freshness better when you add the sprigs later in the process or even afterward while cooling.
The recipe below is my recreation of the drink I had at the bar that fateful night to the best of my memory, but you can use it as a loose guideline to adapt based on your own flavor preferences. My advice is to consider the origin of your alcohol and think about herbs or flavors that complement it. For example, since gin is made with juniper berries, it lends itself to lighter, botanical flavors such as thyme, elderflower, or even lavender. I use vodka here because it's more neutral and therefore does not clash with the strong flavor of rosemary. If you're throwing a soirée for friends, a jar of herb-infused simple syrup is an easy addition to the bar that will elevate your cocktail game. Trust the hostess with the mostest.
Ingredients
For rosemary simple syrup:
3-4 sprigs of fresh rosemary
1 lemon - peels
1 cup/240 ml water*
1 cup/200 g sugar*
*This will yield approx. 1.5 cups of syrup, keep the 1:1 ratio and adjust the quantities to your desired amount. If increasing the quantity significantly, add a few more sprigs of rosemary.
For 1 cocktail:
4 cl/2 oz vodka (per drink)
Club soda (to top off)
Juice of half of lemon (about 2 tbsp)
1-2 tbsp of rosemary syrup
Steps
For rosemary simple syrup:
Add sugar and water to a pot and heat gently until sugar has dissolved, stirring so that the sugar doesn't stick to the bottom. Once dissolved, increase heat and bring mixture to a boil.
Add a few lemon peels and the rosemary and let simmer for about a minute.
Remove from heat and let it infuse as it cools, for at least 30 minutes and up to an hour.
Strain the syrup into a glass jar and store in the refrigerator if you don't plan to use it within the next few days.
TIP: If you're like me and can't bear to throw away food once you strain it out of another recipe, you can roll the sprigs and peels in more sugar and leave them to dry for at least an hour on some parchment paper. Then you can use the candied leftovers as cocktail toppers or even on baked goods!
For cocktail:
Fill a glass with ice. Add vodka, lemon juice, and 1 tbsp of rosemary syrup. Stir well.
Top with soda to taste and add more rosemary syrup if desired.
Garnish with a small fresh sprig of rosemary or a spiral of lemon peel. If you candied the leftovers from your syrup, you can decorate with those instead.
Alternatively, you can make a stronger version of this without the soda by shaking all other ingredients (I would add more lemon juice, but personally I'm not a fan of very strong cocktails!) in a tumbler with ice and straining it into a martini glass.
À la votre!
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