Cocktail time with Emily: Infusions
BY EMILY O’CONNOR
You are only limited by your own
imagination (and ingredients) — so why
not experiment a little? Every region has
its own seasonal variety of tasty potential
— but Astoria is a cornucopia of opportu-
nity for your home bar.
I was recently inspired by Fort George
Brewery’s Spruce Budd Ale. The brew-
ery’s employees went out and hand-har-
vested spruce tips from the area to substi-
tute for the ale’s hops. I wanted to utilize
fresh spruce tips by infusing gin with
them, eventually using them in a mar-
tini. I steeped a cup of fresh spruce in gin
(using a mesh bag for easier ﬁ ltration) for
24 hours in the refrigerator, adding two
large lemon peels after 12 hours. Then, I
double-strained the gin and poured it back
into the original bottle — storing it in the
refrigerator.
Depending on the ingredients and the
desired cocktail, using fresh or dry ingre-
dients can be equally successful. Dried
ﬂ owers and herbs oﬀ er the ﬂ exibility of
a stable shelf life. However, freshly-har-
vested local ingredients add another layer
of complexity to the ﬂ avor.
When picking dry ingredients to infuse
a spirit, think of anything that would steep
well for tea, like chamomile or hibiscus
ﬂ owers. Dry ingredients are more ﬂ exible,
however. When left in the spirit for a pro-
longed period of time, they bring out rich
and complex ﬂ avors when steeped for at
least 24 hours — but they should be con-
sumed within a month.
Even though I chose gin to infuse with
the spruce buds, vodka is also a great
spirit base because it has more of a neu-
tral canvas of ﬂ avor. Fresh ginger or any
citrus peel work well in vodka but if you
want a more savory or heat-forward route,
try pink peppercorns or fresh chili peppers
Lilac lemon drop
Photos by Emily O’Connor
ABOVE: A lilac lemon drop and a spruce tip-infused martini. RIGHT: Spruce tips.
BOTTOM LEFT: Lilac used for the lilac lemon drop.
like jalapenos or habaneros. This is great
in a spicy bloody mary alongside a home-
made brunch. Hotter ﬂ avors also work
well in silver tequila to add a kick to your
house margaritas this summer.
In some contexts, it is better to infuse
ingredients instead of the spirit. For exam-
ple, I have always loved lilac ﬂ owers and
wanted to make a seasonal lemon-drop
cocktail using the fresh blossoms. The
best way to make use of the ﬂ avor and
color of these delicate ﬂ owers is infusing
them in simple syrup, simmering it with
the freshly washed and sorted blossoms.
The best lilac varietal for infusion has
extra dark purple blossoms, which oﬀ er
botanical richness in ﬂ avor and a natu-
ral magenta hue. When sorting fresh blos-
soms, it is best to include as few stem and
leaf particles as possible. Achieving the
best consistency and ﬂ avor of any ﬂ oral
simple syrup requires a cooking process,
allowing the ﬂ owers to steep and the syrup
to reduce. Check the ﬂ avor often, poten-
tially adding more blossoms and stirring
regularly. I added fresh lemon juice at the
end to help extract color and balance the
syrup.
Practice makes perfect and if an exper-
iment ends with a tasty cocktail, all the
better. Trust your taste buds as you go
because the possibilities are inﬁ nite. Infu-
sion oﬀ ers yet another space to get cre-
ative with your home bar. As always,
please drink responsibly — never waste a
drop. Cheers!
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Ingredients
• 2 ounces vodka
• ¾ ounce lemon juice
• ¾ ounce lilac simple syrup
• ½ ounce Combier orange liqueur
Preparation
Shake and double strain into a chilled
coupe. Garnish with a lemon wedge and/or
sugared rim.
Spruce tip-infused martini
Ingredients
• 2 ounces spruce tip-infused gin
• ¼ ounce Lillet or Dolin Blanc vermouth
• 1 dash black lemon or orange bitters
Preparation
Stir and strain into a chilled coupe or
martini glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.
Emily O’Connor is the bar manager at
the Bowline Hotel.
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THURSDAY, JUNE 17, 2021 // 7