The Genevieve is fancy, Spring seasonal cocktail that is definitely a favorite of ours.

It's a great one for a wedding or for a garden party, even an Easter brunch. It's light enough to serve in the morning or during cocktail hour and it helps set a definite vibe- a very classy vibe. The rhubarb on the farm is the first fruit to produce during the start of our season, and so it is a welcome sign of Spring. Hot house rhubarb is also available in our area as early as February, so you can get the rhubarb stalks from the grocery store to make a fancy garnish, if you'd like.

The Genevieve is a special drink for us, because it launched the Simple Goodness Sisters syrup brand.

This drink was recently featured on SipNorthwest.com as a feature cocktail. It can be a little complex to make completely from scratch because of the Rhubarb Vanilla Bean Simple Syrup, but our already bottled Rhubarb Vanilla Bean simple syrup makes this fancy cocktail a breeze!

Our friends are as much a part of our success as our family and this fan favorite Happy Camper Cocktail original recipe is in honor of one of our besties, Genevieve. Genevieve was one of the OG Happy Campers who offered her critique on everything from the Happy Camper logo to the cocktail menu and this recipe is one that she insisted we put on our menu at our very first event. The event was a public one, where thousands of vintage and antique shoppers came through and tried the drinks from the cute, converted camper bar. 

The Genevieve cocktail was so popular at the event that it led to customers asking how they could recreate it at home. Belinda would explain the recipe, especially the fresh rhubarb and vanilla bean simple syrup that made the drink so special, and she'd watch as folks' eyes glazed over. It seemed complicated, and they just wanted to drink. Store owners asked Belinda to stock it if she ever decided to sell it.

All of this hullabaloo gave Venise an idea- bottling the syrups so people could recreate the garden to glass menu of the Happy Camper Cocktail Company would be a great idea for another company. And that's how Simple Goodness Sisters was born. It took a year of research and certifications and such, but the syrups launched about 15 months later at Proof Northwest, Seattle's distilling festival, to great fanfare.

The Genevieve cocktail
Makes 1 cocktail

Glass: champagne glass or coupe

Ingredients:

2 ounces Batch 206 Counter Gin
1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice
1/2 ounce Simple Goodness Sisters Rhubarb Vanilla Syrup*
1 ounce brut sparkling wine
Garnish: thin slice rhubarb

Combine the gin, lemon juice and syrup in a shaker of ice, shake for 20 seconds or until the outside of the shaker is chilled. Strain into a coupe glass and top with the sparkling wine. Garnish. Sometimes we use a lemon wheel, sometimes a thin slice of rhubarb that's been dipped in our floral sugar. 

The Genevieve Non-alcoholic cocktail
Makes 1 mocktail

Glass: champagne glass or coupe

Ingredients:

1 dash rhubarb bitters (leave it out if you prefer to abstain from all alcohol)
1 ounce fresh lemon juice
1 ounce Simple Goodness Sisters Rhubarb Vanilla Syrup*
1 ounce non-alcoholic brut sparkling wine
Garnish: thin slice rhubarb

Combine the  lemon juice and syrup in a shaker of ice, shake for 20 seconds or until the outside of the shaker is chilled. Strain into a chilled glass and top with the sparkling NA wine. Garnish.

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