Exciting things are happening for me.
Out of the rubble of a grieving heart have come wonderful opportunities and personal success for me, and my hobby interests, my coping mechanisms, and various leisure pursuits have led to a business! Not only that, but I now have a business partner to help with/do all the things that I’m not good at in business (and life) like licenses, trademarks, spreadsheets and math, so that I can concentrate on the things that I am very good at like concocting herbal libations, inventing what I think are clever drink names, designing labels and serving good cheer.
The future looks bright with the possible launch of my own line of Edgehill Herb Farm bitters, liqueurs and ready-to-pour cocktails. While my business partner works on business plans and raising investor capital, I am happily steeping, infusing and blending the herbs, spices, fruits and vegetables – the things that I grow – into carefully chosen base alcohols to make my own line of delicious and unique bitters, liqueurs and cocktails.
For Christmas giving and serving this year I made an old Sicilian recipe that I found for a Bay Leaf Liqueur called ‘Laurino’. I made a gallon with hundreds (I kid you not) of bay leaves from my ever exuberant Laurus nobilis, Sweet Bay Laurel bushes and aged it over the summer and fall. This week I bottled it to give away but I also wanted some for myself to serve and mix with this Christmas.
Last night I kicked off more than just the holiday, I premiered (to one enthusiastic niece) a prototype product line, and I made, invented really, a bay leaf riff on my favorite drink, The Rosemary Rusty Nail, and I came up with possibly the greatest cocktail drink of all time. I said possibly. I am not bragging, well, maybe a little, but I am so pleased with both the liqueur and the cocktail! Not only is the Laurino a heavy contender for being the star in the new line of Edgehill Herb Farm Liqueurs but the tipple I make with the Bay Leaf Liqueur, something that I’m calling ‘Rest on Your Laurels’, is going to make me super popular, if not hugely successful.
If you happen to have some Laurino then you can make this cocktail. If you don’t have any Laurino, then you’ll have to wait until I have some ready for sale! Until then please content yourself with a Rosemary Rusty Nail.
Resting On Your Laurels
Makes one drink
1 shot Laurino
2 shots blended scotch whisky
Garnish with a lemon peel and a fresh or dried bay leaf. (For the second round, if there is a second round, I add a cinnamon stick to the lemon peel and bay leaf garnish as a sign to myself that it’s round two since I have a personal two drink maximum.)
This cocktail packs a whollop (or if you’ve had two of them, it “whacks a polyp”.)
Here’s the Rosemary Rusty Nail for those waiting for Laurino . . .
Rosemary Rusty Nail
Makes one drink
1 shot Drambuie
2 shots blended scotch whisky
1 fresh rosemary sprig for a swizzle stick.
Serve at room temperature in a heavy bottomed double old fashioned glass. No ice.
– and Merry Christmas! Thank you for following me, liking my posts and reading my blog. I hope you all are as excited about your futures as I am about mine!
