Deck the Cocktails with a Tom Collins

Adam Quirk, co-founder of Cardinal Spirits, the craft distillery in Bloomington, remembers one of the first Christmases he spent with his in-laws. He wanted to make a cocktail that would impress. He went simple: the classic, crowd-pleasing Tom Collins. But instead of a typical lemon wheel for garnish, he trimmed each cocktail with a rosemary sprig skewered with raspberries. “They were a huge hit, and it struck me that I could have put pretty much any liquid in that glass so long as it had that pretty, Christmas-y garnish, and they would have been well-received,” Quirk said. “Presentation is everything when it comes to holiday cocktails.”
By / Photography By | November 12, 2016

Ingredients

  • 1½ ounces gin (recommended Cardinal Spirits Terra Botanical)
  • ¾ ounce fresh lemon juice
  • ½ ounce simple syrup
  • Club soda
  • Rosemary and raspberries, for garnish

Instructions

Add gin, lemon juice, simple syrup and ice to a cocktail shaker and shake thoroughly. Strain into a Collins glass filled with ice and top with club soda. Skewer a raspberry or 2 with a rosemary sprig, and garnish.

Ingredients

  • 1½ ounces gin (recommended Cardinal Spirits Terra Botanical)
  • ¾ ounce fresh lemon juice
  • ½ ounce simple syrup
  • Club soda
  • Rosemary and raspberries, for garnish