Vodka Rosemary Lemonade Fizz

Are y'all rampin' up for the glorious stoop-squattin', patio-pimpin', get-up-n-grill weekend that's ahead of us (at least on the East Coast)? I am! I'm rampin' up so hard I'm writing this post blitzed!

Couldn't wait for the weekend, so I test drove a recipe for vodka rosemary lemonade fizz from the May 2009 issue of Gourmet. So glad I did, 'cause now I've got the lemon/rosemary syrup ready for this weekend.

The drink is essentially a rosemary infused sparkly lemonade (vodka optional, but come on...), and unlike many mixed drink recipes, I actually had the ingredients on hand. Win! And it actually tastes good - not that it's hard for any version of lemonade to taste good. Double win!

Vodka Rosemary Lemonade Fizz
adapted from Gourmet
serves about 5

I laughed at Gourmet's suggested 1 tablespoon of vodka per serving - that's about half a small shot! I won't even suggest an amount of vodka to use; just use your own judgment. I also like mine more lemony, so upped the syrup.

1 cup fresh lemon juice
1 cup sugar
2 (8-inch) rosemary sprigs, plus more for garnish
vodka
seltzer

• In a small pan, bring lemon juice, sugar, and rosemary to a boil, stirring until sugar has dissolved. Reduce heat and simmer for 2 minutes. Take off heat, and let cool to room temperature.
• Fill each 8-ounce drinking glass half full with ice, add 3 tablespoons of lemon/rosemary syrup, and vodka to taste. Top off with seltzer, and give the drink a stir. Garnish with a sprig of rosemary.
  

It's Here!

Forget the mulled wines, hot toddies, and champagne you'll be inundated with these coming weeks. Remember back in the summer when I told you about the smashingly delicious Firefly Sweet Tea Vodka being crafted down in South Carolina, and how it's distribution would be expanding?

It's in Delaware and New Jersey!!! (Pennsylvania, you still suck.) Firefly is being distributed by Southern Wine and Spirits in Delaware, and Fedway in New Jersey.

I called and put in an order at my local wine and liquor shop, Kreston in Wilmington, before the distributor even had the product in their warehouse, and...there's a case sitting in Kreston on 202 right now (minus the two bottles I just snagged). The stuff goes down like, well, sweet tea, so we've torn through the bottles we picked up in SC this summer.

Shimmy on down to Kreston and pick some up. And if your neighborhood liquor store isn't hip to Firefly yet, put in a request.

Southern Comfort

Ready for the most mind-blowingly awesome thing ever? Get this...sweet tea flavored vodka!!!

Firefly Vodka, a small distillery on Wadmalaw Island about thirty miles south of Charleston, South Carolina, has been making vodka out of the Southern native muscadine grape and infusing it with American tea from the Charleston Tea Plantation. Firefly Sweet Tea Vodka has only been on the market for a few months and is already the number one selling flavored vodka in South Carolina.

When I tasted the half vodka, half water, twist of lemon cocktail on the rocks for the first time, all I could say was, "Oh my god. Oh my god. It tastes just like tea. Oh, wow!" for about five minutes. Long Island Iced Tea tastes nothing like iced tea; Firefly Sweet Tea Vodka does.

This drink is scary good. Good because it tastes just like sweet tea (keep the vodka proportion half or less, and you cannot detect the alcohol). Scary because the 70 proof vodka goes down just like sweet tea; fast and smooth.

Firefly Sweet Tea Vodka is currently available in South Carolina, Nevada, New York, and Colorado, but will soon be rolled out in more states. I have absolutely no hope that the fascist Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board will make this vodka available, but keep your fingers crossed in Delaware and New Jersey.

We flew back with four bottles of the stuff. It's that good. And, no, you can't have any. Ok, I might give you a taste, but then go get your own bottle(s).