As testament to why it is often fortuitous to have little, random bottles of herbed spirits and/or accents within easy reach, I offer these two cocktails that recently came out of my kitchen.
Herbal Cocktail #1 (a.k.a. Piscojito)
Candied mint (which of course you have left over from when you last made mint simple syrup - like, say for Derby Day juleps)
1/2 lime
1 bar spoon mint simple syrup
2 oz Pisco
Splash of club soda
Thickly cover the bottom of a rocks glass with candied mint. Muddle 1/2 of a lime and 1 bar spoon simple syrup into mint and leave hull in the glass. Add 2 oz Pisco and 2-3 ice cubes, stir, and top with club soda.
Herbal Cocktail #2
1 1/2 oz rosemary-infused gin* (which you've been steeping for weeks)
1/2 oz dry vermouth
1/4 oz simple syrup
1 or 2 shakes of salt
Shake with ice, and serve up in a chilled cocktail glass.
*Oh -- so you'd like to know about this whole "infusing" hoo-ha? We'll get to that soon enough. Right now, I've got some Thai basil vodka that's screaming to be shaken and sipped.
1. More about savory and herbal cocktails from a small distillery in Oregon. Not sure what is going on in Oregon, but there are a dozen small distilleries there making some cool distillates.
http://www.subrosaspirits.com/saffron_recipes.html - Saffron vodka drinks
http://www.subrosaspirits.com/tarragon_recipes.html - Tarragon vodka drinks
Jamie from Vessel in Seattle liked the Tarragon vodka a lot:
http://spiritsandcocktails.wordpress.com/2007/10/23/sub-rosa-the-magic-esdragon/
Jonathan Forester of Slashfoods liked the Tarragon vodka: http://www.ticketman.netwww.slashfood.com/2007/10/21/vodka-notes-sub-rosa-taragon-infused-vodka/
Phil Varner of Lamb Martini in Portland liked 'em both: http://www.lambmartini.com/2007/10/10/sub-rosa-tarragon-and-saffron-vodkas/
Deidre Woollard of Luxist wrote about all the fuss the Feds had with the label design and wording: http://www.luxist.com/2007/10/14/sub-rosa-spirits-labels-cause-controversy/
Melinda at 6:15PM on Nov 16th 2007