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It's Beltane!
(I mean, yes, it's been Beltane "season" for roughly a week now, but standardized-calendar-wise, it's today).
My wife took the day off.
I didn't, so I do have to go to work today, but I'm doing a slow morning and am hoping I can take a break for Beltane Shenanigans in a few hours.
I'm thinking about Hidden Temple gin - which is a (for me) really expensive gin that also happens to be the first gin I ever tried. Juniper like heck on the front, but - unexpectedly - crab apple blossoms at the end. It made me think "This is Beltane".
(Related: Hawthorn flowers - we have a little cluster of the feral/invasive trees just a couple of houses down from us, along one of the walking trails, and they bloomed on Monday morning - they smell a lot like sweet-tarts, or other acidic candy. Think rockets, if you're Canadian. Magnolia smells like cinnamon hearts once you get past all the heady perfume).
Anyway. Due to the aforementioned fancy drink, I have tended to think of Beltane (and, for other reasons, High Summer in early August) as "gin cocktail offering" days, rather than, say, whiskey offering days.
My plan for a snazzy gin cocktail - provided I can find some elderflower fizzy pop (likely) at the nearby Italian grocery store - for Beltane is:
2 tbsp basic gin (though rhubarb-hibiscus from Collective Arts wouldn't be amiss)
2 tbsp rose water
2 tsp runny honey (pine honey acceptable; dandelion honey or apple blossom honey also acceptable) - ideally blended into the rose water
Elder flower pop OR prosecco OR dealcoholized sparkling white wine
Dash cherry blossom bitters
We'll see if I can find that elderflower stuff, and give it a try.
(I mean, yes, it's been Beltane "season" for roughly a week now, but standardized-calendar-wise, it's today).
My wife took the day off.
I didn't, so I do have to go to work today, but I'm doing a slow morning and am hoping I can take a break for Beltane Shenanigans in a few hours.
I'm thinking about Hidden Temple gin - which is a (for me) really expensive gin that also happens to be the first gin I ever tried. Juniper like heck on the front, but - unexpectedly - crab apple blossoms at the end. It made me think "This is Beltane".
(Related: Hawthorn flowers - we have a little cluster of the feral/invasive trees just a couple of houses down from us, along one of the walking trails, and they bloomed on Monday morning - they smell a lot like sweet-tarts, or other acidic candy. Think rockets, if you're Canadian. Magnolia smells like cinnamon hearts once you get past all the heady perfume).
Anyway. Due to the aforementioned fancy drink, I have tended to think of Beltane (and, for other reasons, High Summer in early August) as "gin cocktail offering" days, rather than, say, whiskey offering days.
My plan for a snazzy gin cocktail - provided I can find some elderflower fizzy pop (likely) at the nearby Italian grocery store - for Beltane is:
2 tbsp basic gin (though rhubarb-hibiscus from Collective Arts wouldn't be amiss)
2 tbsp rose water
2 tsp runny honey (pine honey acceptable; dandelion honey or apple blossom honey also acceptable) - ideally blended into the rose water
Elder flower pop OR prosecco OR dealcoholized sparkling white wine
Dash cherry blossom bitters
We'll see if I can find that elderflower stuff, and give it a try.
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[ive got some leftover sparkling white wine and elderflower celebratory drink, and a bottle of rhubarb and ginger gin to hand... im missing the rest but writing down the recipe for next year. that sounds delish ]
[i too tend to think of gin as a brighter half of the year drink, for solar days and full moons. and elderflower just cements that feeling ]
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Rosewater is easy to come by if you have a Lebanese or Persian grocer nearby (or if you have a large grocery store with a pretty standard - for Ottawa at least - Baking Needs aisle, tbh).
Cherry blossom bitters are something a local distillery makes, so I don't know if they're common. but you definitely don't require them and a standard herbal bitters would do in a pinch, probably.
To report: It was very tasty!
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I'm not usually one for florals, though I've been enjoying the jasmine-lychee purple kombucha which is VERY floral smelling, so I seem to be developing a taste for them.
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