At the end of this blog I will share with you the cocktail recipe for a Gin and Tonic that will actually convince you that you like Gin and Tonics. But first, I'll tell you a funny story about the pre-cocktail days of Venise and Belinda, aka the Simple Goodness Sisters. And also, I'll stop referring to us in the third person.
You've heard a lot of Grandma Nancy, aka "the Nanc" if you've been following along with us for a while. you haven't yet had the pleasure of hearing about her sister, Aunt Patty, but today is your lucky day. Aunt Patty and Grandma Nanc are one of many sister teams we've had the privilege to look up to in our families (our mom was one of 5 girls, who are the other role models.) We believe in the importance of seeing in person, by example, who we can become as women. These women did that for us. Through all of the tape line down the middle of the shared bedroom, bickering, or even worse, silent treatment years of childhood and adolescence, we saw adult women leaning on their sisters, laughing with their sisters, confiding in and growing with their sisters nd we filed that away for later. Now, we're best friends, but it took a while to get there.
Nanc and Patty regularly laughed until they peed. The laugh wasn't loud, it was the signature family laugh of silent guffaws and struggling to breathe, not dissimilar to a donkey bray but paired with shaking shoulders and desperately crossed legs. I think that's the first fact you should know about those goofballs. They were known by their husbands as troublemakers whose ability to make trouble increased by threefold in the presence of the other. With a deep sense of humor and an utter lack of an embarrassment bone (a genetic trait we happily inherited along with bright blue eyes and wide shoulders) these two were the belles of their retirement community's Comedy Club and a bomb waiting to go off at a dinner party.
They also shared the incredible closeness, the unmatched intimacy, of sisters whose lives hadn't always been easy but they chose to laugh through it regardless. Their mother, our great grandma Adeline, was a beautiful and sad woman, who'd been denied the option to marry her first love by her father and brothers, and later struggled with alcoholism and depression, subjecting her girls to her troubles in an era when help for a woman with these troubles, or her children, wasn't readily available. They each married young, as was the age, and as was a means to an escape from an unhappy home (though family members who lived nearby made sure the girls were safe and cared for.) They were both whip smart, promise filled, and went to beauty school, as girls from the Kent Valley in that day did.
Through marriages, children, homes, and their own troubles, the two stayed close to one another both geographically and emotionally. They raised their children together over backyard bbqs and water skiing on Lake Tapps, where Aunt Patty lived. Nanc, while from the same blue collar family and with her own ability to tell a dirty joke, traveled internationally, and loved to host a dinner party with good china. Aunt Patty and Uncle Clay owned a bar for years, and loved to gather family around them for beers by the lake. Aunt Patty never missed a chance to tell a joke at her sister's expense, as sister's do. When it came time to retire, they both chose to Sunbird in Arizona, reconnecting their childhood closeness over daily happy hours, comedy club, golfing, and jeeping with Aunt Patty's husband Clay. At those happy hours, Aunt Patty drank Gin and Tonics and smoked cigarettes and made fun of her older, more proper sister Nancy.
So when Aunt Patty died, leaving her older sister devastated and all of us surrounding the Nanc, needing to make her laugh, we gathered up supplies for a round of Gin and Tonics. We grabbed gin from Grandma's infamous bar, a location in which half the bottles were watered down from the years of our adolescence. We managed to find an unmolested bottle of gin (variety since forgotten but not a good one), some Schweppes, a few limes, and proceeded to make and then spit out, the gin and tonics. We hated them. And it made Nanc laugh, and then us laugh, until we peed.
This recipe is our remedy to the Gin and Tonic we couldn't stomach that day. We've since developed a deep love of gin and an appreciation for botanical, New American styles of gin that sing with a whole harmony of flavors instead of slamming juniper down your throat in a single, harsh note. We have also discovered Tonic syrups like Bradley's Tonic, Meriwether's,and & Tonic, all great artisanal tonic concentrates that add additional layers to the tongue. We've learned the importance of a hearty citrus addition, beyond a limp, anemic squeeze of lime. Best of all, we've made our Lemon Herb syrup, which adds a sweetness and a whole lot of citrus and herb flavor to a gin and tonic when you don't have a tonic syrup or a ton of fresh citrus available to you. For the complete G&T novice, you can add more Lemon Herb syrup, for an experienced G& T enthusiast, 1/4 ounce will do.
Because citrus is a classic part of a gin and tonic recipe, and because all four of the herbs that we use to make the Lemon Herb syrup (sage, rosemary, thyme, and a slight touch of lavender) are commonly found in new American style gins, this is a match made in Heaven. We think Aunt Patty, up there and laughing, would definitely approve.
makes 1 cocktail
To Make the Cocktail:
Add lemon or lime wedge to a cocktail shaker and muddle gently to express oils from the peel. Add all other ingredients to a shaker. Shake and strain into a fresh glass of ice. Stemmed glasses with large bowls and an open top make for a fun presentation and will keep the drink very cold. Top with club soda and stir gently. Garnish with a sage leaf or thyme sprig if available, and a crescent slice of lemon.
For this week's garden to glass cocktail recipe, we're featuring a drink we love to make with one of our upcoming Spring launch flavors of Simple Goodness Sisters' syrups, Lemon Herb. The flavor is the stuff your summer dreams (definitely ours!) are made of. Even better, we're sharing a non-alcoholic mocktail, or "soft cocktail" version of the drink as well, for everyone who loves garden to glass flavor but isn't interested in a tipple.
We go to bottle the Lemon Herb syrups this upcoming week (as well as Blueberry Lavender and Berry Sage) and are taking presale orders on all three, as well as our "Garden to Glass" Edible Garden Kits starting April 3rd, so be sure to reserve one of each at our website!
To say we are excited about this next round of flavors is a massive understatement. We're extremely thrilled to be sharing a little bit of Simple Goodness Farm with you through these farm to bar drink mixers, as every drink syrup flavor has an herb or flower featured that is grown by us. Our herb fields have been maturing and evolving for three years to get to the point where we can share it with you through these flavors and we are so pleased to be able to do so!
Here is a little more about the newest flavor, followed by the recipe for the lovely Seattle Sling (your vodka soda's more interesting older sister, says older by 4 years Venise, wink wink.)
Lemon Herb- Fresh, botanical, herbaceous. Belinda's favorite flavor to date, this syrup combines all of the flavors of the cult favorite cocktail from our catering business, the Seattle Sling, into one syrup for the easiest cocktail possible. This syrup, when added to vodka, is like a vodka-soda's sophisticated, world-travelling bff. Think of it like the classic Provence savory spices in your cupboard- rosemary, sage, thyme, and lavender come together with the zing of lemon for a sweet-sour-savory syrup that creates a balanced cocktail with minimal effort. Simply add bubbly water and a botanical gin (always optional) for a tasty and refreshing drink. It also plays well with other spirits, makes a fabulous white wine spritzer, and pairs beautifully with fresh citrus juices or muddled cucumber. While everything we make and grow at Simple Goodness Sisters make delicious garden to glass cocktails, we encourage you to drink it however, whenever you want. Try this drizzled over pound cake or as a glaze on shortbread also!
The Seattle Sling
Why this drink: As a cocktail, this drink has been a constant hit for our cocktail catering company each summer since it was invented. As a mocktail, its equally intriguing, thanks to flavors that most of us are intimately familiar with but don't often find in our glass. The drink showcases herbs that, although Mediterranean in origin, grow really well here in the Northwest on Simple Goodness Farm. It takes advantage of the growing hype for lavender flavors in drinks but keeps things nuanced with the addition of other common kitchen workhorse herbs: rosemary, sage, and thyme.
Combined with refreshing lemon in both the syrup and fresh juice, the drink stays refreshing. While it can be made sweeter if your taste buds are asking for that, this drink was originated as a more interesting "grown up" version of a gin and soda or vodka soda- approachable, clean tastes without a lot of sugar.
We originally featured the mocktail version on the blog Om Mama Co with expectant mothers in mind, so it is a great drink to serve for baby showers or to your thankful partner, but anyone and everyone will benefit from it's powers!
Lavender and sage are both calming, cleansing herbs that have strong aromatic powers to help you breathe easier, slow down, and enjoy the lingering warmth of late summer. The drink tastes complex and nuanced, far beyond your average mocktail. With minimal sweetness for those who are watching sugar, and a strong lemon flavor to help ease nausea in expectant mothers, this drink will set the tone for a relaxing evening.
Non-Alcoholic Version of The Seattle Sling
Makes 1
Glass: rocks glass, wine glass, or short juice glass work well
Ingredients:
Shake all ingredients except for the club soda in a cocktail shaker with ice. Strain into a fresh glass of ice and top with the club soda. Garnish with fresh herbs and a candied citrus wheel or peel.
Alcoholic Version of The Seattle Sling
Makes 1
Glass: rocks glass, wine glass, or short juice glass work well
Ingredients:
Shake all ingredients except for the club soda in a cocktail shaker with ice. Strain into a fresh glass of ice and top with the club soda. Garnish with fresh herbs and a candied citrus wheel or peel.
