Simple Syrup, Complex Cocktail.

Life is far too short for boring cocktails.  I have a fair few mantra’s, but one of the more important one’s that’s cropped up since college is that.  I don’t drink a lot, so when I do, it has to be fantastic (do I sound like the Dos Equis man right now? Good.) I think if I had to choke down one more $12, watered down cranberry vodka or rum and coke with well liquor, I would weep.  Quite simply, I and my pallete are better than that.  We’ve developed taste.  We’re more sophisticated.  More discerning.  Less complacent.  More snobbish in our old age. 

While my neighborhood and the neighborhoods just across the river from me offer up some incredibly creative, inventive, delectible and sinful cocktails that leave me with absolutely no need for the boring mixed drinks, sometimes I’d rather just mix myself up something from my bar at home.  I’ve gone to fairly great lengths to make sure that what I have in stock there is great, but often times, I lack in the mixers department.  Most of the time, I rely on fruit and herbs I have laying around, along with my soda stream and juicer as my mixologist wingmen  This sounds fancy and fussy, but I prefer to make my own flavored seltzers, and I think the result is far more satisfying (and healthy).  Last weekend before we headed out camping, Toph and I packed up some bourbon along with a home made ginger ale I’d made by juicing a ginger root and adding that with agave syrup to seltzer.  It was amazing, spicy, sweet and cut the rough burn of the bourbon just enough for this lass to take a swig without a boozy shiver following in quick succession.  Anyway, my point here is, craft your cocktail, you will thank yourself in the end.  

The fixings

Now, one of the easier ways to add some depth of flavor and personality to your drinks (not to mention making it sound ever-so-impressive when you tell your freinds what is in their cocktail) is by using an infused simple syrup.  Making simple syrup is just that: simple. All it takes is equal parts water and suger, heated over the stove until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture appears clear.  To infuse it, all you need to do is throw whatever you’d like in with the sugar and water while you heat it.  I ran to my local gourmet food store, Marlow & Daughters tonight (with 15 minutes until they closed because, you know, impulse being what it is and all...) and made 5 tonight to keep in the fridge for up to 6 months to jazz up my cocktail musings. I threw vanilla bean in the first, ginger root in the second, orange peel in the third, cinnamon in the fourth, and a mixture of cardamom and ground clove in the fifth.  Now I can sit back for the next 6 months and know that whatever I might feel like making, however basic in combination, will always have the option for an added depth of flavor.  

Bottle it up!

Now that I’ve got that sqaured away, I’m on to discover the wide world of bitters.  First up is lavender, and after that I’ve got my eye on a curry one my local wine shop is stocking (aggressive, but then, so am I).