Sweet Tea & A Grownup Arnold Palmer

Since I began my exploits into the realm of mixology, I've had tons of leftover Lavender Simple Syrup. It's also been hotter than balls so I made this...

Dorien's Sweet Tea
8 C boiling water
2 Lipton Iced Tea Brew Tea Bags
A handfull of mint
Lavender simple syrup to taste

Boil the water and steep tea for 5 minutes, throw mint in while it's hot and let it cool on your stove. Transfer to a pitcher and into the fridge when it's tepid. You can sweeten the tea after it cools or while it's hot (the syrup dissolves regardless). It's so simple but so refreshing when all you want to do is take a nap in your refrigerator. Alright, now for the doozie, on the 4th of July we modified this recipe and made these...

Grown Up Arlonld Palmers
1 part vodka
3 parts "Dorien's Sweet Tea"
1 part lemonade

Good luck with that. Happy Friday.

Kumquat & Lavender Gin Rickey ('The Mouth Party')

Last weekend, I won (barely) the 2010 Lake Hume Conquistador's Original Drink Contest. That sounds a lot more official than it really is. Basically what it means is that I now have a crystal moose on my fridge.
He needs to be mounted and engraved but for now, he's just a freestyle moose, hagnin' out with the booze.

I kid you not, there were some really, really good drinks made on this camping trip. One couple, boiled pine cones in lemonade chilled it and served it like a Gin and Juice. One drink had pine liqueur, another made fresh grapefruit juice, another made one called 'Gone Swedish Fishing" with lingonberry syrup and a Swedish fish floating at the bottom of the glass. All were super tasty. The one that I voted for and tied with was a muddled drink that had mint, lime, cucumber, gin and ginger beer. We won in a tie breaker but we probably should have just tied. That drink was awesome. I'm going to try to get the recipe to share with you because I really want to make it again. Until then, here's what I made...

"The Mouth Party"

-Gin
2 (750ml) bottles of Tanqueray Gin
1 lb of kumquats (approximately enough to fill a strawberry basket)
One big jar

-Lavender Simple Syrup
1 T culinary lavender
2 c refined white sugar
1 c water

-Mixers
Limes, oranges, grapefruit, lemons (a combo of any, or all mixed together)
sparkling water

For The Gin

2 of these.

Take the kumquats and wash and quarter them all. Then peel back the meat and discard into your compost. The skin on a kumquat is much much sweeter than the meat inside. You can leave it on but it will make your Gin very bitter.

It should look like this.

Add the gin to the kumquats and let the citrus flavor sink into the gin.

I eventually filled this jar to the top with gin. Also, make sure your jar is airtight. Find it a home on the counter or in a cabinet (not in the fridge) and leave it alone for 2 + months.

For The Lavender Simple Syrup
(make a few days before you drink the cocktail)

Add sugar and water in a sauce pan

Culinary lavender can be purchased at a specialty store, online or at a local farmer's market. Don't cook with the sachet kind please.

Add lavender to sauce pan.

Simmer on medium heat until sugar is melted, and mixture is the consistency of maple syrup.

Let the syrup cool and strain off lavender buds.
I put it in the fridge in a $2 squeeze bottle from the restaurant supply store. Otherwise it gets messy.

Mixing The Cocktail

1 part citrus juice (any are good, I use lemons and limes the most)
1 part lavender simple syrup
2 parts Kumquat Gin
4 parts sparkling water

Gently shake it up (beware of the soda explosion), put a little syrup on a plate and rim the glass with it then garnish with a wedge of citrus or a sprig of fresh lavender (I didn't have any). It's like a really complex grownup lemonade. So, so good.


I only had one, I swear.