Images taken from Farm Fresh Carolina
An important thing to remember about mixology, is that there’s never one true recipe. Every bar you enter could have a different way of making any cocktail. Now, they’re usually pretty similar across the board (for example, a regular gin martini will always be gin with a splash of vermouth), but if you think something could be stronger, sweeter, or alcohol free, you can change up the recipe. It doesn’t matter what you put in the drink, as long as it tastes good.
Now, at work this week, I made a certain cocktail that I thought would be pretty good, called the Raspberry Lemonade. I thought about making it at home, before I remembered that this cocktail used raspberry flavored vodka, which I didn’t have, and didn’t want to buy. Liquor is pretty expensive, and I don’t drink enough to really afford spending $30 on a bottle to make one drink. Which was unfortunate, because the drink would seemed really good.
Then, I remembered a TikTok I once saw. It was by Spirit Alchemist, an old man on who makes these really nice videos about making different milkshakes. I couldn’t find the video, but I remember a video he made making some blueberry infused syrup to use in a blueberry milkshake. I figured, why not try making a raspberry infused syrup to use in a cocktail.
My plan was simple, make some simple syrup, and add some raspberry’s to infuse the syrup with flavor. I decided to document this in a video, and it turned out very well.
I’ve known how to make simple syrup for a while, just equal parts sugar and water. I kind of just winged it and added a cup of frozen raspberry’s as it boiled, hoping for it to turn out, and it did. My brother suggested using the leftover raspberry mush as jam, and it also tasted pretty good. Its worth mentioning, that this isn’t just good for cocktails. Add a spoonful into some ice tea, pop, even soda water to add a bit of raspberry flavor to it. I’m exited to try making more flavors, from strawberry to cherry, maybe even peach.
But I’m not quite done. I still wanted to make the cocktail itself, and to do so, I recorded myself making it at home with freshly made raspberry syrup. I also thought it would be fun to explain the drink as I make it this time. With the Old Fashioned, I just made a cocktail. In this video, I wanted to explain the techniques I learned as I made the cocktail, hopefully making things easy to see for everyone.
A few things I should note here at the end, is that while I used some tools people might not have, you can do this all with stuff you have lying around at home. Everything accept for shaking (though I have seen people tape two plastic cups together to shake a drink), but you can just stir it to save the trouble if you prefer.
Another thing, is that this cocktail can be easily made non-alcoholic (which is called a virgin cocktail). I would just add a bit of extra syrup and lemon juice to make it a bit more flavorful if you do.