The Dark-Eyed Junco – a cocktail recipe by Michelle Hartsell Cocktail Engineer

I was thinking of my 1st cousin Chris, who is coming to visit this week, when I made this nice fall cocktail.  Once the temperatures start cooling at night, I find a nice warming cocktail to be just what the barkeep ordered!  For this one I wanted something bourbon-based, herbal and a tad citrus-y.  There's a flavored simple syrup in this one, and they're simple to make.  And if you ever need a very talented sound engineer, Chris is your guy! 

To make the simple syrup to a small sauce pan add:
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup fresh cold water
5 or so fresh sage leaves & peel from 1/2 a lemon

Soft boil for ~25 minutes, then strain into a glass jar (I use those salad dressing jars) and let stand to cool.  Save the candied peel and sage leaves for the cocktail.  The simple syrup will keep in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks.

Prepare (2) small (~5-6 ounce) cocktail glasses by rubbing some lemon peel and sage leaves on the inside of the glass to release some of the oils.

To build the cocktail, to a shaker 1/3 filled with cracked ice add:
5 ounces good quality bourbon (I used Bulleit)
1 ounce Amaro Siciliano liqueur
1 ounce fresh-squeezed lemon juice
1 ounce of sage-lemon simple syrup

Shake and strain into the (2) cocktail glasses.  Add one each candied lemon peel and sage leaf (they will sink to the bottom).  Add one fresh lemon peel and one fresh sage leaf to float on top.  

And that's the cocktail!

The Dark-eyed Junco winters in the Nashville area.

Enjoy.

Michelle