Day 8 of my “10 Days of Thanksgiving” is a Ginger, Cardamom and Rosemary Gin Cocktail. I love a well-crafted cocktail and I wanted to create a festive and seasonal drink for the holidays. This is a great drink to serve before or after dinner and even as a dessert.
I have been working on a gin and rosemary cocktail for a while. It is one of my favorite flavor combinations but found that it was hard to get the right balance of flavor. I had cardamom infused tequila a few months ago and had this light bulb go off in my head that this was the flavor I needed for my gin and rosemary cocktail.
One of the reasons I love making cocktails so much is the challenge of flavors. There is so much complexity and layers of flavor. It really just fuels my creativity and I kind of thrive on being challenged.
The rosemary is muddled into the gin to infuse it with flavor without being too overpowering in the cocktail. The ginger and cardamom syrup gives it some spice and sweetness. The acidity of the lemon helps balance the sweetness and the sweet vermouth gives it an extra layer of flavor.
If you have followed me for a while you know that I don’t use regular cane sugar that often but I find that the flavor of alternative sweeteners just doesn’t always pair well with certain drinks. I would not recommend substituting a different sugar in the ginger and cardamom syrup.
You can make the sugar ahead of time and I have doubled this recipe in one cocktail shaker for two drinks and it worked great.
Enjoy!
Ginger, Cardamom and Rosemary Gin Cocktail
- Prep Time: 15
- Total Time: 15 minutes
Ingredients
Ginger Cardamom Syrup
- ½ cup water
- ½ cup organic sugar
- 6 whole green cardamom pods
- 1 Tbsp chopped fresh ginger
Cocktail Ingredients Yields 1 Drink
- 1.5 ounces gin (I prefer Broker’s Gin)
- ½ sprig fresh rosemary
- 1 ounce sweet vermouth (I prefer Carpano Antica)
- 1 ounce freshly squeezed lemon juice
- ½ ounce ginger cardamom syrup
- 2 dashes angostura bitters
Instructions
- Heat a small saucepan to medium heat and add the water, sugar, cardamom pods and ginger. Let the sugar dissolve and the mixture infuse for about 10 minutes. Let cool and then strain out the cardamom and ginger.
- Add the gin and rosemary to a cocktail shaker and use a muddler or back of a wooden spoon to muddle the rosemary in to the gin.
- Add the sweet vermouth, lemon juice, cardamom syrup, angostura bitters and ice. Shake until the outside of the shaker is cold and slightly frosted.
- Use a Hawthorne Strainer and strain the drink in to a glass. Garnish with a lemon peel and a sprig of rosemary.
Notes
- I have doubled this recipe in one cocktail shaker for two drinks and it worked great.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1
Anonymous says
Where’s the recipe?
Jessi's Kitchen says
The recipe plugin malfunctioned. You should be able to see it now. Thanks for letting me know.
ayanshgroup says
Really this is very nice article thanks for share..
Punkerdunkermarie says
As a lover of gin, ginger, and cardamom, I was super excited about this. However, when I made the recipe as written there was way too much vermouth – it really overpowered and masked the ginger/cardamom flavors. I ended up doubling the gin and syrup and added a little more lemon, and liked it better that way.
★★★
Jessi's Kitchen says
So glad you found a way to enjoy it.
Lynzie58 says
So delicious! Love the balance in this savory cocktail that for once does not use St Germaine! A + and yes I am an educator lol
Rehoboth says
Very nice post.
★★★★★
John B says
What a nice find! We made it with Stockholms Branneri Pink Gin and Cardamom and Ginger syrups we’d already made for other drinks and we were extremely impressed. We’re adding it into our rotation and so needed a name for it – our favorite of the options we had ChatGPT brainstorm was Rosemary Cardamom Cascade.
★★★★★
Jessi's Kitchen says
Love it. So glad you enjoyed