The Bon Vivant’s Companion

What to serve a cocktail virgin?  Not just someone who’s never had a drink before, but someone who’s dabbled in drinking and wants to trade up from Milwaukee’s Best to mixed cocktails.  Where to start?

I say, let them drink lemonade.  Everyone past the age of five has had a glass of the stuff, and lemonade is a resilient mixer.  It’s an easy base for batched cocktails and it holds a lot of liquor.  So go ahead, subtly layer flavors, or dump in a ton of booze.*

(*See everclear punch, and my first two years of college…)

Lemonade is also incredibly accessible.  Its natural balance of sweet and citrus reduces the need for multiple, flashy ingredients — more good news for beginners.

Dovetailing with the newbie theme, this post is my first for Mixology Monday.  I felt the need to present a sufficiently road tested cocktail.  So last night I played bartender for my book club ladies, a group of women whose feedback on literature, poor life choices, and cocktails is always appreciated.  They are a tough group, and there’s not a cocktail virgin among them, but who doesn’t remember their first time?  After much sipping and discussing, I’m pleased to say this rag-tag group of readers gave the lavender lemonade a unanimous thumbs up.  The virgin version even worked for our mom-to-be in the group, who declared her mocktail “good for the soul.”

Which, I feel, takes lemonade to a whole new level.

Here’s the recipe:

Lavender Lemonade:
1 ½ oz Vodka (preferably citrus flavored)
½ oz Lavender-ginger simple syrup
Mint
Blueberries
Fresh squeezed, or organic lemonade

Prepare in the glass portion of a Boston Shaker so you can see the cocktail as you build it.
Place 3 or 4 medium mint leaves, and 4 to 6 blueberries in the shaker.  Cover with ½ oz of the simple syrup.  Muddle ingredients.  Add ice.  Add 1 ½ oz vodka.  Add 4 oz lemonade.  Shake ingredients.  Pour contents of shaker into a tall glass.  Garnish with mint leaves and a straw.

Lavender-Ginger Simple Syrup
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
½ inch slice of ginger cut into thin pieces
1 tsp food quality lavender

Place sugar and water into small pot.  Once the sugar has dissolved all lavender and ginger.  Slowly reduce over low heat for 10 minutes.  Should produce about 1 ½  cups of liquid.  Store in fridge for up to a month.

When life gives you lemons – put them in booze.

You know the economy is bad when Confederate dollars are worth more than GM stock, and Monopoly money is up 2 to 1 against the US dollar. (Apparently, Monocle Guy did not get into sub-prime mortgages. He stuck to a strict “four houses for one hotel” policy.)

What are the rest of us to do? Sell a railroad? Learn Hobo code? Hope someone lands on Baltic Avenue and pays rent on our one mangy house?

I suggest we do what they did during the last Great Depression – drink copious amounts of American gin (minus the still in the bathtub).

In my search for an American solution to an American problem, I came across a small batched gin called Leopold’s. Handcrafted by Master Distiller Todd Leopold, this gin has a smooth blend of floral and citrus flavors. It impressively rivals Hendrick’s (a top notch British import) in complexity and character, and features nicely in my “Bailout Lemonade” cocktail.

To build yourself a Bailout, combine homemade ginger syrup with lemon juice in a Boston shaker. Muddle mint and cucumbers into the mix. Add Leopold’s Gin and shake.

For fun (and blatant social commentary) serve the Bailout over ice in a mason jar (a handy bit of glassware no depression era household should be without).

Bailout Lemonade

2 1/2 oz Leopold’s Gin

1 ¾ oz Ginger Simple Syrup

½ oz Fresh Lemon Juice

Soda Water

1 Slice Cucumber

2 Sprigs of Mint

Extra Cucumber and Mint for Garnish.

Put ginger simple syrup, lemon juice, mint and cucumber into half of a Boston shaker, and muddle ingredients together. (Muddling is the act of crushing ingredients together to release natural oils and flavor. The bar tool designed for this purpose is conveniently called a muddle or muddler. In a pinch, use a wooden spoon.) Add ice to ingredients and shake. Pour entire contents of shaker into a small mason jar. Add additional ice if needed. Top with soda water. Garnish with sprigs of mint and small pieces of cucumber.

Ginger Simple Syrup:

1 cup sugar
1 cup water
One small piece of ginger cut into slices.
Combine sugar and water in a small pot. Slowly bring up the temperature dissolving all of the sugar. When the mixture begins to simmer add slices of ginger to taste. Simmer for 5 minutes.

This will make about 1 1/2 cups of syrup that can be stored in the fridge for up to a week.

*Cocktail Notes:

This recipe calls for a lot of lemon juice. I want every drink to be consistent so I use organic Lemon Juice from the bottle. Juice squeezed from lemons can be hit or miss in amount and intensity. If you miss the real thing, add some to the garnish.

*No-Bartender, Party Friendly Version:

In a pitcher pour in a quart of the highest quality lemonade you can find. The lemonade will have sweetness so add ginger syrup to taste.  Stir in cucumber and mint (you can give this a little muddle before you drop them in). Make the lemonade mixture first, put the Leopold’s and soda water on the side.  Your guests can help themselves.