My Three Favorite Summer Cocktails

Welcome Summer!! It's a time to celebrate the season - soak up the sunshine, wear a flower crown, dine al fresco and sip on flower-infused Summer Cocktails and Mocktails. Here are three of my favorites to sip on right now:

The Wild Rose

1.5 oz Wild Roots Spirits Cucumber Grapefruit Gin

1.5 oz wild rose cordial

2 dashes Peychaud's bitters

5 pink peppercorns

club soda, optional

Combine gin, wild rose cordial, bitters and pink peppercorns in a shaker with ice and give it a few good shakes. Strain into a glass and top with club soda if you wish.

Wild Rose Cordial

1 cup wild rose petals* or dried culinary rose petals

2 cups water

2 cups sugar

1/2 tsp citric acid

1 orange sliced

Bring water and sugar to a boil in a saucepan and then remove from heat while stirring. Add the remaining ingredients into the syrup. Stir to distribute, and allow to infuse for 30 mins to 2 hours. Pour the mixture through a fine mesh strainer and bottle.

*When picking roses in the wild, be sure not to pick all the petals from a single flower and never pick an entire bush clean. Only pick 3-4 petals from each flower leaving 1-2 petals for happy pollinators.

Elderflower Spritz

3 oz Brut Champagne

1.5 oz elderflower cordial

lemon twist

Pour elderflower cordial into a glass over ice. Top with Champagne. Gently express the oils from a lemon peel over the top of the drink and garnish with a twist.

Elderflower Cordial

20 elderflower heads

2 cups water

2 cups sugar

1/2 tsp citric acid

1 lemon, zested and juiced

Bring water and sugar to a boil in a saucepan and then remove from heat while stirring. Add the remaining ingredients into the syrup. Stir to distribute, and allow to infuse for 30 mins to 2 hours. Pour the mixture through a fine mesh strainer and bottle.

Orange Blossom Lemonade

32 oz of your favorite lemonade

5 oranges, juiced

8 oz orange blossom water

orange slices for garnish

Mix all the ingredients into a pitcher and garnish with fresh orange slices. Easy crowd pleaser.

Make it a cocktail

3 oz Orange Blossom Lemonade

1.5 oz Wild Roots Spirits NW Vodka

2 dashes of grapefruit bitters

Combine lemonade, vodka and bitters in a in a shaker with ice and give it a few good shakes. Strain into a glass and garnish with an orange slice.