ST. GERMAIN, S'IL VOUS PLAÎT

It may be mid-August, but summer's not over yet - how do I know for sure, you ask? For starters, my apartment is still a million degrees mid-day, and I can't even look at my cashmere without sweating. The benefit to all this? It's still prime St. Germain-drinking time.

St. Germain is an artisanal liqueur made from elderflowers, found on hillsides in the French Alps (glam). During the short harvest season in the spring, bunches of the white blooms are hand-carried by bicycle (so glam) down the mountains to the collections area, where they are immediately macerated using a method honed over 100 years of production. Once the few weeks of harvesting are over, as the company website says, c'est fini. Those are all the elderflowers for all the St. Germain for the entire year! Each bottle is individually numbered with the year the flowers were picked (the most glam), making each bottle its own floral time capsule.

Glam glam glam.

This past weekend I decided to fully immerse myself in the glamour of St. Germain, finding new ways to utilize our diverse liquor cabinet and experimenting with some intriguing mixers and accents - there are worse ways to spend a summer weekend.



LA PREMIÉRE
The first cocktail we tried was the classic St. Germain apértif - St. Germain, champagne, lemon and something sparkling. The original calls for soda water, but we only had lemon soda. The result was effervescent and bright, bringing to mind the smell of fresh mown grass and a floral perfume that has almost faded away.

 

L'apertif originale

Drink this on the next blistering hot day you have, as it may be the last of the season.

AVEC RYE
For our next adventure, we decided to get a little Nouvelle Vague with a Jean-Luc Godard. Two parts bourbon (we used rye), one part St. Germain, dashes of lemon juice and black pepper syrup. Mix all ingredients over ice and shake, strain into a glass over ice and garnish with a lemon.

Jean-Luc Godard

Drink this towards the end of a fantastic date - it will leave you both Breathless.


AVEC COGNAC
Cognac is a favorite in my house, so of course we had to find a way to pair it with St. Germain. We performed an adaptation of the Aurora - over ice, pour an ounce each of cognac and rye, a quarter ounce of St. Germain, and instead of bitters and simple syrup we added lemon soda and lemon juice. We also tried another iteration with sriarcha and Worcestershire which was a savory delight.

Aurora

Drink this when you don't have to be too active afterwards - my family doesn't call cognac "French Nyquil" for nothing.


AVEC MKS
And of course, what bartending experiment is complete without an entirely new creation of your own? Introducing Le Palmier - over ice, pour two parts white Bacardi rum, three parts Saint Germain, and topped with lemon or orange soda.

Le Palmier

Named for our own tropical-ish paradise, drink this for one last getaway of the summer.
Au revoir!