I knew I wanted to serve a delicious, refreshing beverage in my booth at the Boutique Bridal Bazaar this past weekend. The other stipulation was that it had to be delicious with or without adding a splash of alcohol. I had once tasted a similar cocktail, using grapefruit in lieu of lemons and as it turns out, I do not prefer one heavily over the other when it comes to selecting a citrus.

To enjoy this beverage, you will need:

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup water

1 lemon

4-5 fresh rosemary sprigs

Club soda

Gin of your choice; 2 oz per cocktail serving

To prepare the rosemary lemon simple syrup:

Zest the lemon and have it handy near the stove. Place sugar and water into a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, stirring often, until sugar dissolves completely. Turning the heat down to a simmer, place rosemary sprigs and lemon zest into the boiling mixture and continue to stir until color has changed to a yellow color and rosemary is fragrant, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat, and let cool. Strain the mixture into a glass jar. Mixture will keep in fridge for about two weeks.

To prepare the cocktail:

Fill cocktail glass with ice. Pour in 1 oz of the rosemary lemon syrup over the ice, fill the glass with club soda. If using gin, leave a little room add a 2oz jigger full before filling glass with soda completely. Cocktail stirrers encouraged, but not needed to enjoy. Cheers!