One of the things that Charles likes to do for us in the evenings is mixing together fancy cocktails for us. We received a really lovely bar set for our wedding and he has definitely been taking advantage of it. I, of course, don’t mind one bit!

One of the best things you can do to up your cocktail game is to invest in some different flavor syrups to go in your drinks. Now, when I say “invest”, I don’t mean that you have to invest money. Instead, you can invest time, and that’s what we did. We recently made what I want to call “Recycled Cocktail Syrup” which is a chain of two recipes, one after another to make two flavors of syrup.

Recipe #1 - Ginger Syrup

You will need

• 8 ounces of ginger (about a hand-sized chunk)

• 1 cup of sugar

• 4 cups of water

• 2 tablespoons lemon juice

Roughly chop the ginger and add it to a large saucepan with the sugar, water, and lemon juice. Bring to a boil and simmer for a full hour. Strain this into a bottle and store in the fridge for up to a month. Save the ginger.

Okay. Here is where the fun part comes in. We’re going to reuse that ginger.

Recipe #2 - Recycled Ginger-Cranberry Syrup

You will need:

• 8 ounces cranberries

• 2 cups of water

• 1 cup of sugar

In that same pot, that still has the ginger, add in 8 ounces of cranberries (raw or frozen), the water and sugar. Same deal! Boil it down for about an hour. The ginger will add a nice background note to the cranberries, and a little extra sweetness because they were already boiled in sugar. You will need to spend some time straining this one because the cranberries gel a little on their own. You can add extra water if you want it to be a little thinner. Store for up to a month.

Bonus! Here’s a recipe for the cocktail that we made with this tonight.

Cranberry Ginger G&T

• 2 ounces of your favorite gin (we used Aviation)

• 3 ounces of your cranberry syrup

• 7 ounces (one bottle) of Fevertree Aromatic Tonic

• Ice

In a cocktail shaker, add your gin, syrup, and ice. Shake well and pour into glasses. Top off with tonic. Makes two, for you and your sweetie. Garnish with fresh strawberries, sugared cranberries, or a slice of candied ginger.

I hope you enjoy! Let me know if you make these!