Make it at Home: Lavender Lady Cocktail

Pure Joy's Lavender Lady is one of our most popular specialty cocktails, so we thought we would share our recipe. Lavender flourishes here in Santa Barbara County, which makes this drink a perfect ace up your sleeve when entertaining out of town guests. This "batched" recipe makes it easy to pre-make around 8 servings of this drink, so you can throw it in a pitcher and serve it throughout the evening without having to individually mix drinks.

we start with fresh local organic culinary lavender

We source our culinary lavender at the Santa Barbara Farmer’s Market. Lynette, our executive chef and owner, prefers Royal Velvet lavender. It is one of the sweetest Lavandula angustifolia varieties. However, any local varietal you can find will do.

Lavender Lady Cocktail Recipe

makes enough to fill a 60oz pitcher

 4 cups vodka or gin

1 cup St Germaine liqueur

1 cup lavender simple syrup (1 cup water; 1 cup sugar; 3 tb lavender flower)

1 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice

 To make the lavender simple syrup, combine 1 cup sugar with 1 cup water in a saucepan. If you are scaling this recipe (making a larger or smaller batch), always use equal amounts water and sugar. Bring the water to a boil over medium heat, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Remove the lavender flowers from their stems. Press the lavender firmly to "bruise" it and release the flavor and scent. Measure out 3 tb of the crushed flowers, and add to the sugar and water mixture once it is simmering. Reduce the heat to low and cook the syrup, undisturbed, for 20 minutes. Let the syrup cool until it is lukewarm and strain it through a fine mesh sieve. Chill.

Pour all of the ingredients into a pitcher and stir to combine.

Prepare the glasses by running a lime wedge around the rim to give it a bit of flavor. If you want, you can also dip the glass into a plate of sugar for a sugared rim.

Fill the glasses with ice, and top with the cocktail blend. Garnish with a sprig of culinary lavender and a spring of mint or a lime wedge.

Thanks to our Pure Joy Catering Executive Chef and Owner, Lynette La Mere, for this delightful recipe!