My days of a ladies-who-lunch cocktail extravaganza are long gone – actually, they never were, since I didn’t have the resources or lifestyle to go drinking at lunch every day (one of few regrets), but these are desperate times calling for desperate measures. And so I give you this drink for the noonish hour – and it’s safe to have even if you are, like me, working from home these days.
This mocktail is something I’ve been working on for several years, and I think I finally cracked the code. Previous attempts were too tart, too sweet, too pungent, too bland – the whole Goldilocks dilemma. This time around I’m noting exactly how I did it, because it turned out beautifully.
It begins with about two generous tablespoons of honey in a small glass. To this I add about ¾ cup scalding hot water, three slices of fresh ginger (skin removed) and the juice of half a lime. Stir well. Pour over a cocktail shaker of ice and shake it like the Spice Girls. This is a simple syrup of sorts, minus all the boiling, and made healthier from the honey instead of sugar. When it’s cold, I pour enough of it to fill about a quarter of whatever cocktail glass I’m using. To this I add a favorite citrus seltzer of choice – in my case it was grapefruit seltzer. Garnish with some lime and it’s finished. (In simpler terms, the ratio is one part of the ginger-lime-honey syrup to three parts seltzer.) You could get fancier and more refined by boiling the syrup for a bit to bring out more of the ginger, but I prefer this gentler version. The days are staying lighter for longer – a more delicate touch is welcome.
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