The Shoulder Season: An Early Spring Cocktail with Gin and Citrus
In a normal year, March can be a depressing month. In a year where there’s a pandemic sweeping the world and you can’t leave your house because you want to protect your community . . . depressing doesn’t begin to cover it.
Here at Meryl, we’re trying to find delight in our own homes during this period of uncertainty—which means lots of cooking and experimenting. It also means lots of cocktails. And best kind for times like these are ones made from things you probably already have in the house; ones with ingredients that are easily interchangeable. Enter our new spring sipper, the Shoulder Season.
The Shoulder Season. The best of both worlds.
As we inch closer to warm weather, we inch further from citrus season. Let’s make the most of it! This cocktail mixes gin—perhaps the springiest liquor of them all—with whatever ripe, winter citrus you have at home. The key is: one sour citrus and one sweet citrus. The perfect citrus pair? Ripe grapefruit (sweet) and lime (sour). But the beauty of this cocktail is you can use any combination. Try blood orange and lemon. Swap grapefruit for pomelos or mandarins. Only have two sweet citruses? That’s fine too, just use a little less simple syrup to balance.
Time: 5 minutes, if you’re squeezing fresh juice.
Serves: One cocktail
Eat: Any appetizers that are ultra fresh—like chevre (or other fresh cheeses) with crackers and fava-bean purée.
1. Pour the gin, citrus juice, and simple syrup over a lot of ice in a shaker.
2. Shake aggressively until the shaker is too cold to handle.
Roughly 30 seconds.
3. Pour into your glassware of choice and garnish.
We like a big grapefruit twist and a sprig of rosemary for fragrance and color. Feel free to go wild!
4. Serve!
Um, excuse me?
I hate gin! Can I use vodka?
Okay. Sure. I guess . . .
Okay, jokes aside, vodka would be delicious here. Gin is just more delicious—it adds complexity.
I don’t own a shaker, what should I do?
No time like the present to up your bar game! Get a shaker, it will change how you make drinks; it will bring you joy. If you don’t have one, don’t just stir it. Use anything you have that can safely close. Some tupperware, perhaps?
How do you make simple syrup?
It’s super easy. Dissolve sugar (or honey!) in water on medium heat, at a roughly 2:1 ratio of water to sugar. Make a big batch and keep it in a sealed jar at room temp.
Once you start making more and more simple, you can also adjust it for your personal taste. Dylan likes a 1:1 ratio in her house.
I don’t have any rosemary—any other herbs that would work here?
Absolutely. Just another anything fragrant and green could be a delightful addition: basil, thyme, mint, cilantro, parsley.
What kind of gin do you keep on hand?
We’ve got some suggestions on where to start that journey here.
