Fun with Infusions

World Market is like my new happy place. So many fun things there. They have these fun “luxury botanicals” for infusing gin/spirits. I jumped right in on the cocktail happy hour box and infused my 750ml of Botanist Islay Dry Gin with half of the vial for gin infusion. The vial has dried juniper berries, hibiscus petals, rosemary and lavender in it. I let all the dried botanicals infuse for about 24 hours before straining them out.

Then…I had to make a cocktail…It’s full of bright botanical flavors…and makes me think of all the wonderful smells of Christmas…and the color 😍 The song Fancy by Iggy Azalea came on when I tasted it so let’s call it “Fancy by Iggy”. It’s just a fancy-fied Tom Collins with the bonus botanicals & strawberry .

2oz infused gin

0.75oz lemon juice

0.75oz strawberry syrup

Easy peasy- shake it all up with about 1/4 cup of pebble ice. Dump into a festive mug/glass…the Mer-Santa was it for me. Top up with about 1-2 oz of sparkling water and more pebble ice to fill…garnish with a lemon slice and a fancy cherry.

Of course, I had to made a Negroni with this gin…too.