Happy cocktail Friday! This week’s happy hour is especially happy since it’s a long weekend for many of us here in the US (myself included). Why not make it special with this amazingly simple but complex in flavor cocktail – it’s a Pineapple Lavender Gin & Tonic. It’s not the island-y drink you’d normally expect with pineapple juice, but instead it’s a classed up G&T.
By boiling down the pineapple juice into a syrup, you get more depth of flavor and the heat gives the pineapple a bit of a “golden”/caramelized flavor. It also sweetens the drink without overpowering it with too much of that bright pineapple flavor you’d get from plain juice. You can control how much lavender flavor you get in the drink by adjusting how long you “steep” the dried lavender buds. I really love how the touch of lavender complements the floral notes in the gin (I used St. George’s Botanivore Gin, btw).
Cheers!
Pineapple Lavender Gin & Tonic
Ingredients
- 12 oz Zevia Tonic Water
- 6 oz pineapple juice
- 3 oz gin
- 1 tsp dried French lavender (I found these at World Market)
Instructions
Add pineapple juice to a small pan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, then lower to a simmer for 30 minutes or until juice is reduced to about 3 tbsp total.
Pour reduced pineapple syrup over dried lavender and allow it to steep for 3-5 minutes. Strain out lavender and allow syrup to cool.
Add ice to 2 serving glasses. Divide syrup, gin, and tonic water evenly between the glasses. Stir before serving.
Add soaked juniper berries and lavender flowers as garnish, if desired.
For my macro trackers out there, I wasn’t able to create a My Fitness Pal barcode for this recipe since I would have had to decide for you whether to put the alcohol calories in as carbs or fats – that’s up to you! The 14 carbs listed here are just for the pineapple juice and tonic water. For my non-macro trackers, here’s more info on what I’m talking about.
