Now that Spring is in full bloom, it’s time to take advantage of all the fresh cocktail ingredients available to us!

In collaboration with Savvy Housekeeping, may I present a truly refreshing and beautiful Spring cocktail — made with herbs and fruit straight from the bountiful Savvy Housekeeping garden!

We used fresh lemons and lemon verbena along with Tru2 Organic Gin, which I highly recommend for this (and other cocktails for that matter).

Lemon verbena has a flavor that is like a mild mint with a lemony finish, so we thought it would be perfect for muddling and mixing. And we were right.

Lemon Verbena Spring Fling

1/2 cup fresh lemon verbena
1/2 a lemon
2 tbs. simple syrup
2-3 oz. gin (depending on how strong you like it)
club soda

Muddle the lemon verbena, fresh lemon juice and simple syrup at the bottom of a tall glass (collins glass). Then add the gin. Put crushed ice on top (this not only keeps it cold but also stops the leaves from getting in your mouth). Top off with club soda. Garnish with a slice of lemon.

NOTES:

We tried making lemon verbena simple syrup. It tasted like a high-end throat lozenge. Unless you want a Ricola cocktail, I don’t suggest it. Also, we tried it with another high-quality gin and found that it wasn’t as balanced as when made with Tru2 and we had to add some more lemon and simple syrup to balance the juniper flavor of the gin.