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Spring has arrived in Cape May, NJ! That means blooming flowers, budding trees, and lively weekend gatherings. In honor of Spring, we’ve made another list of our favorite warm weather cocktails you can make at home and enjoy with friends and family.
Concrete Junglebird
Ingredients:
.25 oz demerara
.5 oz lime juice
.75 oz Campari
1.5 oz caramelized pineapple concentrate
.75 oz Appleton Reserve Jamaican Rum
.75 oz chai infused Jameson Black Barrel
Instructions:
Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake vigorously and strain into a double rocks glass. Garnish with a pineapple leaf.
Courtesy of Harold’s at Arlo Soho.
GM-P Collins
Ingredients:
2 oz Ford’s Gin
.75 oz Fennel Syrup
.75 oz Lemon Juice
1 dash Scrappy’s Celery Bitters
2 dashes of Peychaud bitters
Pinch of salt
Soda
Instructions:
Combine gin, fennel syrup, lemon, celery bitters, and salt in a small tine with ice, then shake. Strain into a Collins glass and top with soda plus two dashes of Peychaud bitters. Use a simple garnish of fennel frond.
Created by Marshall Minaya, available at VALERIE.
Lemon-Thyme Vodka Lemonade
Ingredients:
3 lemon wedges
sugar
.25 cup Lemon-Thyme Syrup*
.25 cup citrus vodka
.25 cup club soda
1 sprig fresh thyme, preferably lemon thyme
Ingredients and Instructions for Lemon-Thyme Syrup:
1 cup water
.75 cup sugar
1 small bunch fresh thyme, preferably lemon thyme
In a small saucepan, heat water and sugar until boiling, stirring to dissolve. Add thyme and remove from heat. Let stand until cool. Then, strain through a fine-mesh sieve while pressing to extract the most liquid. Cover and refrigerate. Will stay for three days.
Cocktail Instructions:
Trace the rim of a highball glass with lemon and dip into sugar. Reserve the lemon wedge.
Combine the other two lemon wedges in a cocktail shaker with syrup and vodka. Muddle hard, breaking the lemon skins to release oils. Then, cover and shake.
Finally, fill the rimmed glass with ice and pour the syrup mixture into the glass, with the lemon wedges. Top with the club soda and squeeze reserved lemon wedge over before adding to glass. Garnish with thyme sprig and serve right away.
Courtesy of Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten
Tequila Honeysuckle
Ingredients:
2 oz Milagro Blanco Tequila
.75 oz Honey Syrup
.75 oz Lime Juice
Instructions:
Mix all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake well. Strain into a coupe and add a simple lime wedge garnish.
Courtesy of The Ranstead Room, in Philadelphia, PA
Bee’s Knees
Ingredients:
2 oz Bombay Sapphire gin
1 oz lemonade
1 oz honey-thyme gastrique
Thyme for garnish
Ingredients and Instructions for Honey-Thyme Gastrique:
1 quart honey
1 quart white vinegar
1 large handful fresh thyme
Add vinegar and thyme to a saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. In another saucepan, heat honey until simmering over medium heat. Slowly add honey to vinegar and thyme mixture with care not to combine too quickly. Then, bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, and simmer for 12 minutes. Strain mixture into a container and let cool.
Cocktail Instructions:
In a shaker, mix gin, lemonade and gastrique. Add ice and shake until the outside of the cocktail shaker is frosted. Then, strain over a highball glass with ice. Garnish with a thyme sprig.
Courtesy of Lemaire at the Jefferson Hotel in Richmond, VA.
Harry’s is open seasonally, May through September, for apps, entrées and delicious specialty cocktails. Happy hour is every day from 4pm to 6pm. Here’s to spring!