the holiday cocktail series // rosemary gimlet

photo by David Lebovitz

First up in our Holiday Cocktail Series is the Rosemary Gimlet. We found this herbal concoction when we were researching holiday cocktails for a client’s virtual event box concept for their company holiday party. Celebrated chef + author, David Lebovitz, highlighted the cocktail on his popular blog, which we love to reference for reliable food + cocktail inspiration. In his Rosemary Gimlet post, he had us when he wrote, “I tend to like my cocktails on the tangy or on the rugged side, rather than too fruity or sweet.”

When we’re offering cocktail suggestions on The Drink Calculator or for a Virtual Event Box concept for a client, we like to use recipes that allow the guests to control the level of sweetness. At Craven + Co., we all lean toward cocktails on “the tangy or…rugged side” like David. We also love that having the sweet ingredient (like rosemary simple syrup in the Rosemary Gimlet) on the side allows the cocktail to be experiential + engaging for the guest-cum-mixologist.

The Classic Gimlet is one of our all-time favorite cocktails because of it’s versatility with vodka or gin as the spirit. The Rosemary Gimlet is a subtle way to make the classic feel festive + holiday cocktail worthy. David mirrors our thoughts on herbs also as he explains his first taste of the cocktail,

“Herbs, I can go either way on. Rosemary in particular, is one of those herbs that if you use a little too much of it, the taste can be medicinal.

But when I saw it paired with gin and lime juice on a bar menu in New York, I figured it would be a nice combination for a winter cocktail. And after my first sip, I was convinced that it was.”

You can find David’s recipe and read more about his take on the cocktail here. This holiday season, we’ve all earned all the holiday cocktails we can muster. Cheers to making it to the home stretch of 2020!