Ring in the New Year with a New Martini

Welcome to my page! I am so excited to share my new Holiday “sip” with all of you! As you should know by now, I love cocktails and creating drinks that I can share with my family and friends. Typically inspired by something I drank at a restaurant or found on Pinterest, I enjoy putting my own spin on these recipe finds and making them more enjoyable, easier, or cheaper for my followers.

If you’re looking for a beautiful New Years Eve cocktail, you are going to love this fresh and mildly sweet White Cranberry & Rosemary Martini!
I was a bit apprehensive at first as the original recipe called for simple syrup, and although I was a bartender for many years, I had never made simple syrup from scratch before. Come to find, SUPER easy folks! I give 100% credit to my 14 year old brother, who apparently had made this before for his fresh lemonade. If you’re not familiar, simple syrup is an essential sweetener and ingredient in many cocktails. Some will use agave in place of this, however, if you have a stove and can boil water, you can can make it in 2 minutes! Just mix equal parts water and sugar, bring to a boil, add crushed rosemary, then let stand for 30-40 minutes, before straining out the rosemary. As a rosemary lover, it was delicious!

Fresh ingredients are always what makes a craft cocktail superb. My Mom picked this rosemary from her best friend’s garden and it smelled delicious! Once it was infused into a syrup, it made for an excellent sweetener that you can keep for up to a couple of weeks! Note: do not substitute for dried rosemary, since this will not infuse correctly.

I am extremely lucky that my Mother has a lime tree! Pictured here are her limes which are uniquely yellow, with the most perfect sour. You can always tell how good a lime is by the juice that comes out of them. Have you ever cut into a lime and barely anything comes out? It’s the worst and my Mom’s never disappoints!

I actually had never tried a real cranberry until I made this cocktail. It has a mildly sour yet hard exterior and does not really have much taste. I’m still not sure how I feel about it honestly, so let’s just say it’s better for decoration. Pictured here is my amazing and supportive brother who taught me how to make simple syrup and helped me stage this blog post.