Boston Tea Party

The roundup post for Mixology Monday 100 is up! This month's theme was a tribute to Paul Clarke of The Cocktail Chronicles, centered around simplicity, elegance, and timelessness. As a result, it's a fantastic list of recipes, and best of all, they're very accessible - I've got the ingredients to make most of them already. Check it out!

My own Mixology Monday submission was the Old Cuban, an existing recipe that I really like. But today I do have an original cocktail that I think is pretty darn good. The idea for it came from one served at Miel in Boston's Intercontinental hotel. It's a really lovely French restaurant right on the Fort Point Channel, but for some reason it seems to be perpetually empty. This was good news for us a couple of years ago when we were trying to make a reservation for a large group during graduation season in Boston - good luck finding a table in May and June. But Miel turned out to be positively lovely, and they served one cocktail using tea-infused vodka that I really liked and wanted to replicate at home. Thus the Boston Tea Party was born.

As I've said before, I'm not big into vodka because I find it pretty tasteless, but that exactly quality makes it a great spirit to use for infusions. I haven't tried very many yet, but this tea-infused vodka is easy and really good. Just leave a teabag in some vodka for a while. How long depends on how much vodka and how strong you want the flavor. I infused about a cup of vodka yesterday, and left the teabag in for roughly six hours. I've done it overnight as well. I always use decaf tea since I'll probably want to be drinking this in the evening.

With tea-infused vodka, honey simple syrup, lemon juice, and a splash of ginger ale or ginger beer, this cocktail tastes exactly like sweet tea. Drinking it reminded me of the big batches of the stuff my grandmother used to make and store in jars in the fridge. It's crazy how dead-on the flavor is. It's an incredibly refreshing cocktail, perfect for the end of summer.

Boston Tea Party

2 oz. tea-infused vodka*
3/4 oz. lemon juice
3/4 oz. honey simple syrup**
1 oz. ginger ale or ginger beer

Combine infused vodka, lemon juice, and honey simple syrup in a shaker. Add ice and shake until chilled. Strain into a rocks glass filled with ice and top with ginger ale or ginger beer (lemon-lime soda works nicely too). Garnish with a lemon wheel.

*For tea-infused vodka: pour desired amount of vodka into a cup measure or glass. Add a teabag. Let sit until dark brown in color, four hours to overnight.

**For honey simple syrup: combine equal parts honey and water in a saucepan. Bring to a low simmer and stir until honey is dissolved. Let cool before using.