About a year ago—after over a decade as a die-hard wine drinker—I fell in love with gin.
I KNOW. But hear me out. I’ve noticed that gin is a very polarizing subject. I’ve met tons of people who absolutely love it, and a similar amount of people who tell me I’m insane and gin is the grossest thing ever. I haven’t really found anyone who’s like, “yeah, it’s cool sometimes”. Apparently gin is an all-or-nothing 🙂 But I kind of think that’s because people maybe haven’t had a great gin cocktail. In my experience over the last year, gin mixes so well with so many different flavors, and so that’s what led to today’s adventure.
I was first introduced to the idea of a gimlet via my Cheese, my bff in Los Angeles…and actually before I became a gin drinker. We capped off an awesome girls’ weekend with homemade pizza (courtesy of her now-hubby) and French gimlets. A French gimlet basically adds elderflower liqueur like St. Germain to a regular gimlet, which is gin and lime juice. I fell in love…and three drinks later she told me I’d have to Uber to LAX because there was no way she was taking me now 🙂
Ahhh, girls’ night…
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So today I bring you a lovely twist on a regular gimlet, where we take the bright botanical gin and fresh lime juice combo, and add to it a delicious herby rosemary simple syrup. It takes like 5 minutes to make the simple syrup yourself and you’ll feel pretty badass. Then top it off with some tonic water to lighten it up and provide fun fizz. Behold—the fizzy rosemary gimlet!
Fill a cocktail shaker halfway with ice cubes. Measure the gin, lime juice (I use about half a lime’s worth), and rosemary simple syrup into the cocktail shaker.
Cover the cocktail shaker and shake for about 10 seconds, until the mixture is very cold. Pour into a small cocktail glass and add a few of the ice cubes from the shaker. Top with tonic water and garnish with a sprig of rosemary or a slice of fresh lime if desired.
Yeah, my garnish game needs some work. But it’s pretty delish regardless!
Fizzy Rosemary Gimlet
- 2 ounces of gin (I’d err on the side of a strong botanical one)
- 3/4 ounces of fresh lime juice (fresh is CRITICAL)
- 3/4 ounces of rosemary simple syrup (it’s a 2-minute recipe!)
- 1/4 cup (or more) of tonic water
- Ice cubes
- Fill a cocktail shaker halfway with ice cubes. Measure the gin, lime juice, and rosemary simple syrup into the cocktail shaker.
- Cover the cocktail shaker and shake for about 10 seconds, until very cold. Pour into a small cocktail glass.
- Add a few of the ice cubes from the shaker into the glass and top with tonic water.
- Garnish with a sprig of rosemary or a slice of fresh lime if desired.
Adapted from David Lebovitz
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I’m in the no to gin camp. Tried it once and got all melancholy — but nice work
Ha! I’ve heard that from a lot of people and it definitely feels like a “love it or hate it” drink. But maybe you haven’t had the right kind!