Rosemary is our ingredient of the season (season of the season?). This is our second rosemary drink. We’ve already discussed infusing vodka with the herb, and today we’re using it to infuse simple syrup for a gin-based drink.

You may recognize the photo above from Alex’s striped birthday recap. As I mentioned before, we were catering to the adults this year. Being the proud Pennsylvanians that we are, family gatherings always involve a case of Yuengling, but we often like to include a fun* alternative or two. With the little guy underfoot, I’m trying to be more smart in my planning. An alternate drink is awesome, but one that doesn’t have to be made glass-by-glass is even better. So, when I saw this recipe on A Cup of Jo, I couldn’t wait to try my first group-sized cocktail!

The original recipe called for gin, but I used my favorite substitute ~ Art in the Age’s Sage, which they describe as being a “garden gin” made from plants collected, grown, and chronicled from the Lewis and Clark expedition.

Ingredients & Such

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup water
• fresh rosemary
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice & lemon slices
• 1 cup Art in the Age Sage
• 1 bottle of Prosecco

• Make the simple syrup. Mix together the sugar, water, and a few sprigs of rosemary. Bring to a boil until the sugar dissolves, then remove from the heat and let cool.
• Mix the cool simple syrup together with the remaining ingredients.
• Serve with a garnish of rosemary and/or lemon slices!

I loved this drink! It was delicious, and the combination of lemon and rosemary gave it a fresh and somewhat light flavor that I think would make this perfect for any sort of spring or summer event, particularly one outside on the green, green grass.  That said, I loved it so much that I’ll probably find an excuse to make it year round. Come back in December and I’ll be telling you that with its rosemary garnish, it’s the perfect drink for your Christmas party (especially if you add some frozen cranberries to the punch bowl!). 

The drink was strong, but as Joanna recommends, you can add a second bottle of Prosecco to lighten it a touch.  I kept it to one bottle, because our gathering was small, and as it was we still had some left over, and I would say that that is the only downside of the big-batch cocktail. On the other hand, I put the extra in the fridge, and happily sipped on it for the rest of the week. The Prosecco’s bubbles faded, but it still tasted delicious. 

*While the party was in full swing, I referred to this drink as being fun. Our sister, Kristin, then told me that she’s noticed (and it drives her crazy), that as women age they start to use fun as an adjective more often than they should (Isn’t that shirt fun? Look at this fun rabbit hole we’re going down. Should I go on?). Does this drive you crazy too? Or did you see this post and think, “my word, what a fun drink!”? Apparently we aren’t the only ones caught up in this debatable use of the word!