It's spring! For our house, that means finding ways to entertain the kids inside a lot because spring is also allergy season and my 8 year old has horrible allergies to ... the outside world. Don't get me wrong, load up on allegra and benadryl and go have some fun. But he knows he'll struggle and has already started asking about getting shots. And he HATES shots.
Speaking of shots, spring is a great time to start seeing fresh produce and preparing your bar for some tasty warm weather cocktails. Let's keep it simple to start - with simple syrup! Any time you need some, don't bother running to the store. It's literally just taking 1c water and 1c sugar and heating it until it dissolves. But let's get fancy. Take ANY fruit that you like, and throw a cup of them into the mixture after the sugar dissolves. Let them sit in the mixture for at least 30 minutes and BOOM ... flavored simple syrup. This takes your basic Tom Collins into a StrawCollins (if you use strawberries). Hot tip as well, if you like strawberries, is that you don't even need to use the actual berries. Those tops you cut off? Throw those in. Your simple syrup will still be a pink hued strawberry version.
From there, just take any cocktail that you might see over at @drinks_with_andy (or any of the other million cocktail accounts) and if you think "hmmm, that would be better with a flavored syrup" ... give it a shot!!
Happy cocktailing, ya'll! Cheers!