Ay Carumba this was good!!!
Yeah, not for me the humblebrag…This was awesome!
I was really worried that it would be an epic fail…It was the garlic in the spice rub that threw me, how would that work in a cocktail? However, in the end the strong flavour in the simple syrup was the thyme with the pepper and spices providing more of a background notes and warmth. (Yes, I’ve been reading wine labels again!)
I based this on a recipe from Martha Stewart which you can find here.
I also used tequila not vodka. Just because I had some that has sat on my drinks trolley for about 10 years. Seriously. I think it was given to me as a housewarming present for the last house I moved into.
I really, really wanted to use the Spice Peddler Big 5 mix in a cocktail but I thought it would be better to infuse the mix into the simple syrup. So, I mixed a teaspoon of the pepper mix into the sugar and water, and then I threw the thyme in as well to make a thyme and pepper simple syrup. Dammit, I should have thrown the grapefruit rind in as well…ah well, next time! Maybe some chilli too…
Then I kind of completely forgot about it as we were trying to hang some pictures in the new house and either the beloved or I have a skewed view of reality because it took us over 30 minutes and the use of spirit level before we could agree that a painting was straight….and this was before we started on the cocktails.
So what I ended up with was the thick black syrup you can see in the photo above. What you can’t get from the photo is that this mix of thyme, sugar and pepper smelled ridiculously like marijuana.
Or so I was told.
By the complete stranger who just happened to knock on the door at that exact moment. Then disappeared equally as quickly. Didn’t catch his name, Officer. So sorry.
Which in turn reminded me of something that never happened and is a total figment of my overactive imagination.
So imagine if hypothetically you turned up unannounced at your parent’s house. And the imagine that said house smelled overwhelmingly of….erm…thyme and pepper infused simple syrup. And imagine they were being a little silly and giggly.
Move over Quentin Tarantino, I think I just bested you in the Mexican Standoff stakes…
The problem with accusing your parents of “imbibing the thyme and pepper simple syrup” is that then then they know that you are also familiar with “thyme and pepper simple syrup”.
So, what do you do?
Borrow the drill you came to get and GTFO of Dodge is what.
Cos, you know possibly they were also just making cocktails.
I mean, if that had ever happened.
Which it didn’t.
Wow, this post is making my head spin. What will not make your head spin, or spin only in the right way is this cocktail. Which is super. – tangy from the grapefruit ,zingy from the pepper, aromatic and resiny from the thyme….
Drink it, enjoy, have a fabulous, fantastic Christmas everyone!
Special thanks to Mercy and the team at The Spice Peddlers for their trust and belief in me.
And major thanks to everyone for reading and your kind words over the year.
Without you, this would just be fun.
With you, it’s super awesome.
