The Cocktail Artist

On a remarkably nice (warm but not oppressively hot and humid) Washington, DC evening, I met my daughter for dinner at the lovely French Bistro, Chez Billy Sud , in Georgetown. Naturally, we had to start with a cocktail, and we were both intrigued by the “Rosé Window” – a combination of St. Germain, local Capitoline Rosé Vermouth , lemon, and sparkling wine. We enjoyed it so much that we ordered a second round with dinner. It was bright and bubbly, not overly sweet - the perfect summer cocktail.  We neglected to ask the bartender for the recipe, but it wasn’t too hard to recreate it at home. Shockingly, it didn’t even require a trip to the liquor store since we had all of the ingredients on hand! We used a dry prosecco, since the floral St. Germain adds plenty of sweetness. The Capitoline Rosé Vermouth has a base of California Sangiovese Rosé with notes of orange and clove and just the right amount of herbal bitterness to work with the other ingredients in this cockta...

Strawberries are beginning to appear at our local farm markets, so naturally we started to think about creative ways to use them in a cocktail (no resorting to a daiquiri or strawberry margarita!) The rosemary in our garden is doing well, so we thought that nice herbal fragrance would pair well with the strawberry in a variation of the Aperol Spritz. We did a bit of experimenting...... and a few drinks later we were torn between using Aperol and it's more bitter cousin, Campari. it really comes down to personal preference. If you like a sweeter cocktail go with Aperol, but one of us is more partial to the version with Campari so that's what we have here. This is a nice refreshing pre-dinner cocktail - especially as the days get warmer.  It's the kind of thing you should be drinking on the patio (or a piazza in Italy).  So mix up a pitcher of these, put on the Sinatra music and relax - it's summer! Cheers! Strawberry - Rosemary Spritz 1 large or 2 small ri...