Rosemary Gin Sparkler

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!! Andrew and I enjoyed celebrating Christmas in both New York and Maine. After focusing so much on tasty holiday treats for the past month, I thought it was time to share a celebratory cocktail, just in time for New Year’s Eve!

For the past few New Years’ celebrations, I’ve stuck to champagne only, and though delicious at the time, New Years Days have been filled with a lot of advil and water. This year, I still wanted to pop bottles, but I thought it would be fun to incorporate some additional holiday flavors: rosemary and cranberry (and hopefully less of a hangover…only time will tell!).

You’ll only need a few ingredients to make the perfect concoction to ring in the new year.

Start by putting together the simple syrup. Over medium-high heat in a small saucepan, mix together the sugar, water, and rosemary.

Let the mixture come to a boil and stir occasionally for 1 minute.

Remove the saucepan from heat, and let everything meld together for about 30 minutes and come to room temperature. Once cooled, remove the rosemary sprigs. You can choose to strain the syrup if you have a lot of rosemary pieces, but I didn’t strain it since all of my rosemary stayed intact during cooking.

Pour the simple syrup into a glass bottle, or covered glass container. If you’re transferring to a bottle, use a vessel with a spout, or you’ll have sticky simple syrup everywhere!!

Place into the fridge for at least a couple hours, overnight is even better. The simple syrup will last for about a month refrigerated.

Now it’s time to assemble the cocktail.

In a cocktail shaker, add 1 shot of gin, 1/2 shot of cranberry juice, 1/2 shot of the rosemary simple syrup, and 4 ice cubes. I have an aversion to sweet drinks, so this amount of the syrup was plenty for me, but feel free to add more syrup if you see fit.

Shake until well combined, about 10 seconds.

Strain the mixture from the the shaker into a champagne flute (I love the light pink color of this drink!)

Top off with champagne, a tiny sprig of rosemary, and two cranberries. Drink. Repeat until the clock strikes 12. Happy New Year!!

Rosemary Simple Syrup:

Cook: 5 minutes, Total: 5 minutes (plus 2 1/2 hours resting time)

Makes: 12 oz (1 1/2 cups) syrup (enough for 16 Rosemary Gin Sparklers)

1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup water
4-5 sprigs rosemary

Over medium-high heat in a small saucepan, mix together the sugar, water, and rosemary. Let the mixture come to a boil and stir occasionally for 1 minute. Remove the saucepan from heat, and let everything meld together for about 30 minutes and come to room temperature. Once cooled, remove the rosemary sprigs and put the simple syrup in a covered glass container in the fridge for at least 2 hours. The simple syrup lasts about a month refrigerated.

Rosemary Gin Sparkler:

Prep: 2 minutes, Total: 2 minutes

Makes: 1 cocktail