Yeah! My very first cocktail at Making Life Delicious.
I do enjoy the occasional mixed drink and this is one of my “go to” favorites. After all, I usually have lemons and the rosemary bush in my backyard grows year round, so I can make this just about anytime.
I got the idea (aka I stole the idea) for this cocktail from a restaurant near Kill Devil Hills, NC.
I like my drinks to be tart, so this lemontini is right up my alley. The rosemary adds a little extra something that takes this libation over the top.
Interestingly, the garnish on this particular martini does more than make the glass pretty. As you lift the drink to your lips, the scent of the lemon and rosemary in the garnish enhances the taste of the drink.
I usually use about 2 shots per cocktail, but it doesn’t matter as long as you keep the following ratio. I like to record my cocktails in ratios because it makes it a lot easier to scale up for a party.
Fresh Rosemary Lemontini
- 2 parts vodka
- 1 part lemon juice, freshly squeezed with the pulp strained out
- 1 part simple syrup (See Note)
- 1 sprig of fresh rosemary
- ice, preferably crushed
- GARNISH: lemon peel & rosemary sprig
NOTE: Please, please, please don’t ever buy simple syrup. Do you have sugar in your house? Do you have water? Then you have what you need to make your own. Put equal parts sugar and water in a saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring, until the sugar is dissolved. Many recipes call for boiling the syrup for some period of time, but I never do. As soon as the sugar is dissolved, take it off the heat. Transfer to another container and chill before using because warm simple syrup melts ice quickly resulting in a watered down cocktail.
First, prepare your glass for the cocktail. Peel off a piece of lemon peel and curl it into a tube. Cut a slit into the bottom of the tube.
Fit it over the edge of the glass. Then take a small sprig of rosemary and place it in the center of the tube.
Pretty, is it not? Also fragrant.
Add the first 4 ingredients to a cocktail shaker. Fill the shaker with ice and shake 20-30 times. The shaking is important because it releases the oils from the rosemary, cools the drink and dilutes the alcohol slightly.
Strain the drink into your prepared martini glass garnished with lemon peel and a fresh rosemary sprig.
Elegant, delicious, easy…one of my favorite cocktails.