2 oz VeeV Acai Spirit
1.5 oz Jacques Cardin VSOP Cognac
1/2 oz homemade ginger syrup (instructions below)
1/2 oz lemon juice
2 dashes Regan's Orange Bitters
Dayaaaaaaaaamn! Sometimes a girl just can't catch a break... I was supposed to spend the summer solstice whooping it up all Celtic-like with my extended Chicago family, but as luck would have it, instead this girl was bored out of her mind at work. Booooooo!
Not to be subdued so easily, I went home and tied one on anyway with my other VeeV concoction. It isn't that I didn't like this drink; quite the contrary! The gals and I both agreed that the Ringwald was just more appropriate for the contest at hand. That said, I was really proud of this one too, and knew I could still roll it out to celebrate the upcoming holiday for which it's named.
Maybe it was a little nerdy of me, but when I saw the pretty yellow color, and tasted the warm citrusy blend of the cognac, ginger and fruits, the 15 year-old fluffy-bunny pagan still hiding somewhere in my psyche got all excited and glommed onto the whole solar thing. The rest of me decided that it was also a very summery drink in it's own right, and decided to indulge her.
For this one, I tried my hand at making ginger syrup: the experiment was successful for the drink at hand, but unfortunately the syrup starts to lose it's spiciness rather quickly and therefore it's potency in cocktails. I'll have to continue exparmentin'! as grandad would say, to solve that problem...
Anyway, you can make up a few ounces of ginger syrup rather easily like this:
Mash up about 6 ounces of fresh ginger root.
Heat about 1/2 a cup of water in a saucepan over medium-low heat, and completely dissolve 1 cup of sugar. Add the ginger and let it simmer very gently for about 20 minutes. Strain, cool, and bottle in a sterilized container.
Feel free to mix up a Solstice, and share your comments or suggestions below!
