Hudson Valley Spirits: A Toast To Spring

A Toast To Spring (and a spicy Switchel Tea to warm you up ’til the snow melts!)

This is first post for our new series, Hudson Valley Spirits, where we will share cocktail recipes using our favorite offerings from Hudson Valley distilleries. Today’s guest post is written by Marica McKeel. 

We came across The Hudson Standard and their delicious handcrafted Shrubs at a craft market at Hasbrouck House last fall. What is a Shrub? I asked the same and they happily explained as we sampled a few. Very tasty.
“Shrubs originate from an early American tradition of blending fruit, spice, vinegar and sweetener to make a tart and delicious syrup. Shrubs make refreshing sodas, fantastic cocktail mixers and inspired ingredients in dishes.”

With all of the recent snow and cold outside I was looking for some inspiration for a warm cocktail and thought I’d try the 2 Shrubs flavors we bought from the market: Switchel and Raspberry Verbena… Turns out one of the best things to warm you up on a chilly winter day is The Hudson Standard’s recipe for Switchel Tea.  Not a “cocktail” exactly, but certainly delicious, simple, spicy and warm.

Switchel Tea

1oz Hudson Standard Spicy Switchel

6oz hot water

Cinnamon stick (optional)

Now for the cocktail part. Even though it’s cold outside I opted for one that sounded tasty and easy: Raspberry Verbena Spritz. A toast to Spring!

When it comes to cocktails I’m not one for exact measurements – I’ll leave that for the architecture. I’ve based this recipe on The Hudson Standard’s “Double Standard” drink recipe, but adjusted slightly to add a little spritz and keep it easy.

Raspberry Verbena Spritz

2 parts 1857 vodka

1 part raspberry verbena shrub

Juice of 1 lemon

Thyme sprigs

Ice and cocktail shaker (or mason jar to shake instead)

Seltzer water to taste

We are still working on stocking our bar up here at TinkerBox so I had to make do with a Mason jar, slightly oversized strainer and a wine glass for this cocktail but hey, we’re resourceful. Luckily we were given a beautiful potato vodka made in Upstate NY as a housewarming gift from friends so we are mixing in style on that front.

Mix all the ingredients together, including all but one or 2 of the thyme stems, into a cocktail shaker – in our case Mason jar – and shake.

Strain the mixture into your serving glass, garnish with the remaining thyme, add the spritzer – as much or as little as you like…

..fill with ice, and enjoy!