Ginger - Vodka Spritzer

Well, another weekend gone by and another cocktail has been tried, tested and filed under, AWESOME. I came up with this on a whim and was pleasantly surprised with the end result. The goal, other than the obvious, was to make use of the all the ginger in our fridge (left over from my homemade ginger ale experiment) - and what better way than to turn it into some sort of alcoholic elixir? Since I am in a simple-syrup craze recently, I am discovering that by taking the time, (all of 5 minutes, plus cooling time), to make a flavored syrup opens the door to stand out, unique cocktails. The only problem that I ran into was that I didn't have enough ginger to yield the amount of syrup I had hoped for. (Meaning, we only had enough for a few drinks, *sniff, sniff*). The 3 oz that I had only amounted to about 1/2 cup of syrup. It's best to use about 12 oz and you will yield about a cup and a half to have on hand. It will last a few weeks, covered tightly in the fridge.

Ginger Syrup

Yields about 1 1/2 cup of syrup

12 oz. fresh ginger, sliced thinly

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/2 cups water

In a small sauce pan, bring water, sugar and ginger to a simmer for about 2 minutes. Pour syrup through a fine mesh stainer, discard ginger. Cool syrup completely before using.

Ginger - Vodka Spritzer

Makes about 2 cocktails

8-12 fresh mint leaves, plus a few for garnish

4 oz. ginger simple syrup

4 oz vodka

juice of 1-2 limes (1 - 2 oz)

4 oz of club soda

In a shaker, muddle mint and add vodka, lime juice and ginger syrup. Add a few ice cubes and shake vigorously. Pour over 2 cups with ice, or martini glasses, without ice and finish off with club soda.

*Note - I'm thinking that candied ginger would be a fun garnish, as well. Try it!