The Painted Bunting – a cocktail recipe by Michelle Hartsell Cocktail Engineer

This cocktail has all those nice summer flavors - berries, herbs, citrus all rolled into one.  This is a nice colorful drink for a 4th of July celebration.  

Start by making a lemon-thyme simple syrup:

• 2 good sized springs of lemon-thyme or thyme
• a few thin slices of lemon
• 3/4 cup of sugar
• 3/4 cup of water

Bring to a soft boil and stir until sugar dissolves.  Then turn down heat, cover and slow simmer for ~20 minutes.  Once cool filter into a glass container (I use a dressing jar).  Keeps in the refrigerator for about a week.

To build the cocktail to a shaker 1/3 filled with crushed ice add:

• 5 ounces of good quality vodka
• 2 to 3 ounces of the lemon-thyme simple syrup

Shake and strain into two long glasses ~2/3 filled with ice to which a mix of fresh blueberries and raspberries plus a couple of thin slices of lemon have been added.  Top with club soda and garnish.  Makes two refreshing and colorful cocktails.


Happy Independence Day!