Death On Two Legs

An old-school pure-cocktail post? How delightfully antiquated! I'm a little sad at how uncommon these have become, but that's how it goes. It doesn't really help that I've settled into a mixing style that relies on simplicity, showcasing spirits and classic recipes. Which makes things easy, but not exactly flashy or generally blog-worthy - at least most of the time.

It's become something of an odd trick that I hit my mixological stride only after I've already had a considerable amount. Thus, last weekend a friend and I had already had enough to render us insensible when I decided to break out my bottle of Alto del Carmen Pisco Reservado. This, I figured, would be interesting to try, being quite an oddity: a pisco both from Chile and which spent enough time in oak to change color. After a quick taste, I somewhat-coherently decided that it would do very nicely in a simple Sazerac-style drink (I think I mumbled something like "Sure, why the fuck not?").

The pisco being fairly sweet and floral to begin with, I decided to swap the traditional absinthe rinse for a smoky mezcal instead, which was a superb decision. Here, the result, to which my friend mumbled in turn something like "Dude, thass a fucking good drink."

2 1/4 oz Alto de Carmen Pisco Reservado
1/4 oz rosemary-citrus syrup
2 dashes Peychaud's bitters
2 dashes Regan's orange bitters

Rinse an old-fashioned glass with mezcal (I keep an atomizer loaded with mezcal for applications like this) and place it in the freezer. Stir the ingredients over ice and strain into the prepared glass, squeeze a strip of lemon peel over the glass and discard, then repeat with a fresh strip of peel and drop in as garnish.

Fucking good drink! And to cap it off, I figured a Queen reference was in order; I could have sworn I'd used this name before, but not according to my recent trawling through archives. So, the pretty pale pink drink with the punchy backbone wins it.

Tasting #3: Holiday Party Redux

Just about two years to the day after my first tasting menu presentation, I was invited back (in a fit of poor judgment, no doubt) to handle drinks for another holiday party!  This was a great experience for me, in that it allowed me to think back on what worked well vs. not so well at the previous event, while reworking the format for a slightly bigger crowd.

Five drinks wound up being a little impractical the last time around, so we shortened to three rounds (I cheated by doing two variations on the same formula for round 2, as you'll see below).  To start things off, we added a relatively gentle communal punch, which gave everyone a chance to settle in and grab something to eat while getting into the spirit of the event.  The other major difference this year, although it doesn't show in the menu below, is that I recruited volunteers from the crowd to help out with measuring, stirring, and shaking.  I've done this with friends at home, and it's a great way to keep everyone engaged while also demonstrating one of the points I try to get across the most fervently: that with a little instruction, anybody can put together a good drink.

(There were a lot of pictures taken as well - I'll try to hunt down some copies and post them up here.)

PRIMER: ROSY CHEEKS PUNCH
1 oz (8 oz) gin (Tanqueray)
½ oz (4 oz) overproof white rum (Wray & Nephew)
½ oz (4 oz) cinnamon syrup*
½ oz (4 oz) Campari (or similar)
½ oz (4 oz) lime juice
3 oz (1 standard 750ml bottle) sparkling wine
4 oz (1 standard 1 liter bottle) soda water
To build: Combine in a large glass, or punch bowl over a large block of ice. Garnish with cranberries, orange slices, rosemary sprigs – whatever you want! (All of the above at the event, which was maybe a bit much, but which got compliments on its appearance!)
Other notes: You can make this as an individual drink, or as a communal punch for 6-8 people (using the amounts in parenthesis).

DRINK #1: OLD-FASHIONED, RUMMY STYLE
2½ oz aged rum (Plantation 5 Year)
¼ oz cinnamon syrup*
¼ oz falernum (John D. Taylor)
3 dashes Angostura bitters
To build: Stir over ice and strain into a chilled glass, or just stir over a large ice cube; garnish with a small strip of lemon peel squeezed over the glass.
Other notes: Don’t skimp on the rum here; you want a smooth operator for this one.

DRINK #2 (A/B): SILVER & GOLD HOLIDAY FIZZES
Silver:
1½ oz gin (Tanqueray)
1 oz falernum (John D. Taylor)
1 oz lemon juice
½ egg white
Gold:
1½ oz gin (Tanqueray)
1 oz apricot liqueur (Rothman & Winter)
1 oz lemon juice
½ egg yolk
To build: Shake once without ice and once with ice, then strain into a highball glass and top with 3-4 oz of soda water to taste.
Other notes: Two different variants on the same basic formula; you can omit the egg for a plain fizz if you’re squeamish, but this way nothing goes to waste.

DRINK #3: FRANKENSTEIN’S ZOMBIE
1½ oz aged rum (Plantation 5 Year)
1 oz overproof white rum (Wray & Nephew)
½ oz apricot liqueur (Rothman & Winter)
½ oz falernum (John D. Taylor)
¼ oz cinnamon syrup*
1 oz pineapple juice
1 oz lime juice
2 dashes Angostura bitters
To build: Shake vigorously and pour unstrained into a highball glass; garnish with flaming rum in a lime shell only if it’s your first drink of the night. (I was asked why I made this point at the event, and it bears repeating: alcohol is flammable, and you don't want to set your bar/home/self on fire.)
Other notes: This is a cobbled-together version of several different Zombies that can be found in the wild; the original goes back to 1934.

*For Cinnamon Syrup: Combine 1 cup each of white sugar and water in a saucepan and add 4 whole cinnamon sticks. Heat and stir until the sugar dissolves, and let stand for at least 1 hour or overnight. Strain, bottle, and keep in an airtight refrigerated container.

I'm sure they'll never read it here, but I'd like to extend my thanks once again to our hosts, both for the aforementioned hosting duties and for inviting me back.  Events like this are always a blast, and it was fun to get participants a little more hands-on this time around!

Blood Moon Panic

This kind of one-off cocktail post is becoming a rarity! Still, tonight's a special occasion: a super-cool lunar eclipse, which as a space nerd I just had to watch. I joked to my wife that I should make a drink to celebrate the occasion, then demurred when she agreed, and rapidly changed my tune again.

I'll list this in slightly weird order, because I made a non-alcoholic version for my wife that excluded the rum:

1 oz lemon juice
3/4 oz sour cherry syrup (made from preserves)
3/4 oz apricot nectar
3 dashes Bitter Truth Jerry Thomas' Own Decanter bitters
3 dashes Peychaud's bitters
(2 oz aged rum, specifically Ron Methusela)

Shake and strain into a large glass over a frozen watermelon cube, then top with 2 oz (with booze) to 4 oz (without booze) soda water and stir gently.

I wanted something with the deep brownish-red color of the lunar eclipse, and in this I succeeded, though in retrospect I might have made this a beer cocktail with a dark stout of some kind. It's pretty tasty as is, though, and I like having a booze-free variant available.

The name, by the way, refers to a particular brand of apocalyptic idiocy that I find entertaining, if completely wrong. The so-called "blood moon" is cool, and rare to see, but an entirely predictable phenomenon!

Freethinker Punch

As is becoming our yearly tradition, we hosted the 4th of July again this year, an event that plays well to my main culinary strengths: pork and booze. Per my standard party trick, the latter was a non-alcoholic punch base flanked by spirits and wine, a configuration I can't recommend highly enough. Not suggested with fireworks, though; we loaded up on lawn games instead.

I got a bit of feedback that this wasn't my best punch to date, which is fair. I wasn't too much bothered, since this capably performed its dual mission of fueling the party and soaking up a ton of random shit that had accumulated in my fridge, which is a thing that happens. Sigh - such trials and tribulations!

This is about a quarter-serving of the amount for the party, so based on the amount we had left, I'd say enough for 6-8 people or so?

4 oz lemon oleo-saccharum (we've made this before, but it deserves a rundown... just not now)
4 oz mango shrub (a cup each of diced mango, apple cider vinegar, sugar, and water, allowed to steep together in the fridge for 2-3 weeks)
4 oz lime water (a bunch of spent lime shells, infused in water for about 2 weeks)
4 oz lime juice (not the juice of said limes, because 2-week-old lime juice is nasty)
8 oz cantaloupe juice (spiked with about 1/2 teaspoon citric acid for balance)
8 oz green tea
12 oz ginger beer (Reed's)
16 oz soda water

Combine in a punch bowl over copious ice. Serve with your favorite white spirits and wine.

Mocktail Month Addendum: Berry Motijo

Mocktail Month being officially over won't stop us. Increasingly my wife (aiming to provide a health-conscious counterbalance to, well, me) is requesting booze-free drinks, and I'll be damned if I won't build up a repertoire to keep her happy. After all, she's dealt with me building up a high-test repertoire to keep myself happy. It's the least I can do.

This is really just a tea-soda hybrid; an iced tea augmented in the same fashion as sparkling water, with a hefty handful of mint to boot.

5 oz chilled green tea
1 oz strawberry-lemon syrup
3/4 oz lemon juice
12-15 mint leaves

Muddle the mint in the bottom of a shaker with the syrup. Add the juice and tea, shake like crazy to break up the mint, and strain over fresh ice in a highball glass. Garnish with a wide swath of lemon peel, or another big bunch of mint, or a fresh strawberry, or all of the above.

Mo-"tea"-jo? Get it?!? (I know, it's fucking terrible, but it works.)

I think we might take this whole Mocktail [insert arbitrary unit of time] concept and generalize it into another regular thing. The Mocktail Moment. I like it!

Pithy Reply

I've been trying a technique lately in an effort to recycle, wherein after juicing a bunch of citrus, I'll take the spent shells and pour some inexpensive spirit over them in a Mason jar. I'll let this stand for a while, infuse a bit, then strain off to produce a slightly bitter cordial. It's a simple, cheap way to wring a little more flavor out of what would otherwise be waste.

The result is also an easy way to put a twist on an otherwise basic cocktail. Like this one, which became a straightforward response to an unspecified request for "just a drink" (in which case you're getting whatever I have to use up). It was named (terribly) for its various citrus content, combined with a self-referential pun. Fucking meta, man.

2 oz grapefruit-infused white rum
3/4 oz lemon/orange syrup
1/2 oz lime juice

Shake and strain over a fresh large ice cube. Hurl disdainfully at the freeloader who begged it from you. (Or, like, drink it.)

Easter Special

Did I forget to post this one? I forgot to post it. But that's okay - a little backlog helps make up for the terribly unproductive Mocktail Month so far. Honestly, it's been a lot of the same, and it's hard to get excited enough about a basic soda to throw a post together, even if it is handmade.

I have ideas in the works, though! I'm convinced that there has to be a way to make a substitute Negroni, or at least an Americano, probably involving Sanbitter but preferably something I can make at home. Maybe a tea concentrate and a heavily spiced syrup?

Until then: this. One of the signals that I'm getting fairly decent at this stuff is that when I ask my mother what I can bring for brunch, her response these days is as likely to be "How about you make something?" as the old standby bottle of wine. I made this low-caliber punch-type thing for Easter. The name wrote itself.

For ease of transport, the end product was a scaled-up bottled cocktail. The proportions given in the picture aren't the final version; I just needed an illustration for the post. A couple trial runs produced the following end proportions.

This makes roughly two liters of finished cocktail.

12 oz light white wine (I used a cheap gruner veltliner, but a mild pinot grigio or sauvignon blanc would do fine too)
9 oz gin (nothing fancy; New Amsterdam here)
6 oz Byrrh
3 oz Aperol
3 oz cinnamon syrup
1 1/2 oz orange juice
1 1/2 oz lemon juice

Mix this together and bottle until ready to serve. When ready, combine with an equal proportion of soda water and serve in wine glasses.

Mocktail Month: Kitchen Counter

Well folks, it's gotta happen now and again. I obviously love a good drink, but there can be too much of a good thing. My wife and I are therefore embarking on a new, extended edition of Mocktail Week, because obviously we still need something to drink, and I'll be recording our favorites as we go.

Now, fear not - this won't be as stringent as the original Mocktail Week. We're still allowing ourselves the weekends, and I'll pop in with an occasional proper cocktail here and there, but we might mostly towards the comforting simplicity of beer and whiskey. Besides which, we'll probably still be at least somewhat moderate. One of the better things about an extended booze-free period is its ability to reset your tolerance, which is great! It'd be nice to go out sometimes and not suffer regrets when the bill arrives.

So: an initial entry for our inaugural day. This one was kind of a kitchen-sink approach, but then I named it after where most of the first attempt wound up.

3/4 oz cinnamon syrup

3/4 cranberry tonic syrup (I'll provide the recipe later)

1/2 oz orange juice

1/2 oz lemon juice

Shake and strain over fresh ice, then top with 5-6 oz soda water and stir.

A good start, but I'd like to amp up the bitterness quotient a bit, maybe with a black tea concentrate or something; the tonic, while tasty, didn't have quite enough bite. We might see a revised version of this one. 

Expert Level

Here's a simple, straightforward cocktail that really took off after an unexpected twist.

2 oz pear-infused gin
3/4 oz cinnamon syrup
1 oz lemon juice

Shake and strain into a double old-fashioned glass over a large ice cube; top with 2 oz Fulton Expat.

I originally tried topping this with good old soda water, but that fell somewhat flat; the Expat added welcome spice, bitterness, and body that really kicked this into the stratosphere. If you can't get the Expat, a decent Belgian dubbel and a dash of bitters ought to do.

Man, I dig a good beer cocktail; an unexpected success is even better.

Subway Sour

So you followed my recommendation and turned an unimpressive gifted plonk into a syrup. Here's a nice, straightforward way to use the stuff.

Nothing complicated; this is just a streamlined New York Sour, one of my favorite uncomplicated classic cocktails. This version handily integrates the red wine that would be floated on top in the original.

1 1/2 oz rye or high-rye bourbon (I used Wild Turkey 101 myself, if you're forced to use something 80-proof then bump up to 2 oz)
3/4 oz mulled wine syrup
3/4 oz lemon juice

Shake well and strain into a cocktail glass. No, don't garnish - it's pretty enough on its own.

Valentine's Cocktail

I'm really not a big fan of Valentine's Day, it being, in my opinion, a manufactured holiday created mostly to sell sappy pablum in a ridiculous attempt to relieve post-holiday winter doldrums. (Wow, that got bleak quickly.) But, setting expectations low in the first place provides me with the ability to pleasantly surprise my wife by applying even a modest amount of effort.

On Friday, I took a much-needed day off from the day job, which pretty much committed me to making some kind of romantic gesture. So: flowers. And, playing more to my skill set, a drink utilizing both sparkling wine (the beverage of romance!) and blood orange, one of her favorite fruits.

Hence, this very pretty concoction! (Served in equally-pretty, recently acquired coupes!)

1 1/2 oz rose petal-infused gin*
1/2 oz spiced cranberry syrup
1/2 oz blood orange juice
1/2 oz lemon juice

Shake and strain into a coupe glass, then top with 1-2 oz sparkling wine to taste. Garnish with a large coin of peel from the expended blood orange. (I was going to trim the peel into a heart shape, but figured that would be a bit too much.)

*A relatively simple one: take 1 tablespoon of dried rose petals per 4 ounces of gin, combine in a glass vessel, and infuse for about 24 hours. Strain through a coffee filter, pressing gently to extract all the gin, and for every 4 ounces of gin add a drop (yes, a single drop) of rose water and three drops of Fee Brothers Rhubarb Bitters (easily omitted, but I like the bit of freshness they add).

So far as a name for this one, I'm leaving the post untitled because I can't decide between "Gun & Rose" or "Love Gun" (this being a variation of the French 75, a drink named after a cannon). The former is great as a reference, but I like the suggestiveness of the latter.

Walnut Blossom

I experimented tonight with a small batch of walnut-infused bourbon; this was one of the more successful results, a variation on the classic Bee's Knees. It's actually closer to the formula of a Gold Rush, but that's a more modern drink.

1 1/2 oz walnut-infused bourbon
3/4 oz honey syrup
1/2 oz lemon juice
1 small dash Angostura bitters

Shake and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon twist, if you insist; or maybe a walnut half dropped into the bottom of the glass.

I'd like to try this as a toddy too - but I'll need more walnut bourbon for that.

Beauregard Gin Fizz

The Ramos Gin Fizz is one of those well-regarded classic cocktails that you will never see on any cocktail menus (except maybe in its hometown of New Orleans). Reason being, it's a damn tasty drink but it is also a horrific pain in the ass. Egg is finicky enough to integrate that it takes its own technique to properly emulsify; add cream, and you've got a drink that takes at least a minute of sustained shaking to get right. That's troublesome even at home (after every round, I swear my arms are going to fall off) but I can't even imagine cranking out dozens each night.

Still, every now and again a floral, refreshing, richly textured cocktail is worth it.  Winter must be eroding my brain again.

2 oz gin (I'd have used Old Tom if I had any)
1 oz lemon juice
3/4 oz blueberry syrup
3/4 oz half-and-half
3 drops rose water
1 small egg white (or 1/2 a large egg white)

Dry shake (as in, combine everything and shake without ice) until you can't take it anymore, then add ice and shake some more. Keep shaking. Do your arms hurt yet? Keep shaking. You're not done. Keep shaking. Curse eggs and dairy, curse yourself for choosing such a beverage, curse your cruel and capricious God. Keep shaking.

After a subjective eternity, strain into a tall, footed fizz glass if you've got one (or your thinnest, tallest glass if you don't) and top off with 2-3 oz of chilled soda water. Stir gently, garnish with a little drizzle of extra blueberry syrup for super-fanciness. Such a difficult cocktail should not go undecorated.

St. Andrew's Sour

Hey, a picture! I actually remembered to take one this time, before the entire thing disappeared.

This is a really straightforward sour, complicated only by a wee dash of bitters and my beloved blueberry syrup (I think I'm making more when this batch is through). There's a little bit of soda in here already, but the flavor's concentrated enough that you could pull this out into a highball if you increased the volumes.

2 oz scotch (blended Speyside)
3/4 oz lemon juice
1/2 oz blueberry syrup
1 dash Angostura bitters

Shake and strain over fresh ice in a rocks glass, top off with a brief splash of soda water (~1 oz). Garnish with a lemon wheel if you like (I juiced my last lemon instead).

Yeah, okay, this is just a cold version of another recent cocktail, but who cares? Versatile stuff, this blueberry syrup!

Accretion Disc

Ah, now here we go. A proper wintery drink featuring my previously-featured blueberry syrup, and equipped with a fantastically nerdy name. I submit that there is none better, at least this time of year.

2 oz scotch (a Speyside blend)
3/4 oz blueberry syrup (up to 1 oz, to taste)
1/4 oz lemon juice

Add 6-7 oz boiling water to a heatproof mug; add the above and stir to combine. Garnish with some ground nutmeg.

Easy Cider Punch

This is a simple, low-proof punch that I put together for our Christmas party, and then assembled again at request for our good friends' New Years' party (making this Kader Punch #2, I suppose). Unlike a lot of my recent punches, it's alcoholic, but not overly so; somewhere around the 5% ABV you see in craft session beers.

In truth, it started out as an attempt to use up multiple gallons of cider we brewed this year, which were intended as our original party favor. Seeing as it was the first time we'd ever home-brewed... well, anything, that probably wasn't the best plan. The initial fermentation went fine, but the secondary fermentation (to dry out and carbonate the cider) didn't take properly, and we found ourselves with a couple dozen 22-oz bombers of fairly sweet, lightly alcoholic apple juice. What to do? Add some acid, add some bubbles, and serve in a punch bowl. Easy peasy.

We served ours alongside a couple bottles of spirit for enhancement (because it's a fucking party, after all) and I was amazed at how quickly it went. Quickly enough that once again, I didn't manage to get a picture. Between both parties, we're talking like 4 gallons here, more if you include the volume of ice, polished off to the last drop. Everybody found their favorite spirit combo, too. My sister swore by vodka, my personal favorite was scotch, but most people settled on gin. The only combination that didn't work was when I accidentally added horseradish-infused vodka to my glass of punch. Just... no. Learn from my horrible mistake. (I drank it, of course, to punish myself for such foolishness.)

Anyway, because this used home-brew cider, duplicating the recipe is a little bit problematic. Most ciders you find at your friendly neighborhood booze-mart will be carbonated, which is better for consumption on its own, but they'll get expensive in these quantities. There's not a lot of still cider out there, but Crispin does make a still, affordable boxed version which would do nicely. Failing that, you could brew your own, which is really pretty easy, or you could just pony up and buy a sufficient quantity of sparkling cider.

1 3-liter box (or 5 22-oz bomber bottles) apple cider

2 750 mL bottles brut rose cava (Cristalino is my highly affordable go-to) 

2 1-liter bottles soda water (or break out the siphon)

4 oz lemon oleo-saccharum

4 oz thyme syrup

4 oz cranberry juice (the actual real stuff, not cranberry cocktail)

10 dashes Peychaud's bitters

10 dashes Angostura bitters

Chill the cider, cava, and soda water. Add ice to a punch bowl, then add the syrups, cranberry juice, and bitters (you can pre-measure and combine these in a Mason jar for speedy service or transport). Add the cider and stir to combine. Carefully add the cava and soda water, then stir gently. Taste and adjust to your liking; if it's too sweet, try a little lemon juice and additional bitters, if too tart add some extra cider. 

Serve with a few spirits that you want to use up (along with measuring glasses so people don't accidentally over-serve) and get the next batch ready, because the first will be gone quickly.

Loony Lemonade

An easy drink, this, and way too easy-drinking. Sorry about the awful name, but it was just too easy.

1 1/2 oz Loonshine
1 oz thyme syrup
1 oz lemon juice

Combine over ice and top with 4-5 oz soda water. Stir and garnish with a large lemon coin.

Southern Side

I have kind of a contentious relationship with mint.  Keeping some around for use in juleps and such is great, but it always winds up on a top shelf in our fridge, where it remains forgotten until I notice its decidedly brown color.  At that point, it's just gotta get used.

Using up a near-empty bottle of mezcal seemed like an interesting merger, and I vaguely remembered a recipe from Speakeasy that sounded like a good fit - which actually wound up being a Prohibition-era classic from the Savoy Cocktail Book.  I swapped some mezcal in for gin to provide a smoky flavor, and at that point a pineapple syrup seemed only obvious.

1 1/2 oz gin (Tanqueray)
1/2 oz mezcal (Vida)
1/2 oz pineapple syrup
3/4 oz lemon juice
1/4 oz orange juice
2 bunches mint (about 15-20 leaves)

Shake well to pulverize the mint and strain into a cocktail glass.  Garnish with a strip of orange peel.

If you prefer, you could double-strain this to remove the tiny mint pieces, but I kinda like the texture they provide.  It also provides a nice visual impact, so you'll want to garnish with a mint leaf instead to keep the color.

The Remington (and sundry derivatives)

I was quite surprised by this relatively simple combination, which seems like it ought to be a well-known classic.  Granted, in proportion and construction, it's basically a Collins, but with some signature ingredients.

2 oz white whiskey (I used the local MN13 - good stuff!)
1 oz peach-brown sugar syrup
3/4 oz lemon juice

Combine in a tall glass over large cubes, stir, top with about 2 oz soda water, and stir again.

This version, the Remington, is quite a good one.  However, the simplicity of this combination makes it easy to swap out the peach for other flavors.  To wit:

For a Derringer, use cinnamon-brown sugar syrup.

For a Palomino, use vanilla-brown sugar syrup.

For a Caballero, use ancho chile-brown sugar syrup (yum).

How that's for a post - not just one cocktail, but 4 in one go!  Don't be silly, it's not cheating at all.

Baby Blue Punch

One last stop before we break the non-alcoholic streak, I promise.  This is a recipe that I've been meaning to record for some time; it was the first large-scale non-alcoholic punch that I produced and presented in my beloved self-mix format.  Seemed appropriate since it was being served at a baby shower (also hence the name).  Alternative name: Caias' Punch, after the baby in question.

For once, a picture!  I can't take credit for the punch bowl, unfortunately, but I can claim the garnish.

I'm recreating this as best I can - I didn't write down the recipe at the time, which I regret, but I did a lot of adjusting on the go anyway.  Consider this a consolidated, streamlined version.  This also makes a lot of punch - about 9 liters in total - and I'm not going to scale it down here, but it's pretty easy to cut in half.

8 cups water
4 lbs sugar (a standard bag of the regular white stuff)
2 lbs frozen blueberries
2 vanilla beans, split
2 tbsp black peppercorns
Rind from 4 medium lemons
16 oz lemon juice
12 mint sprigs

Place the lemon rinds in a non-reactive bowl and pour a couple ounces of sugar over them.  Muddle the peels until the sugar begins absorbing the oil and set aside.  Combine the water, sugar, vanilla, and peppercorns in a large stock pot over medium heat and bring to a simmer for about 10 minutes.  Add the blueberries and lemon peels, including the oil-soaked sugar, and bring back up to a simmer.  Turn off the heat, add the mint sprigs, and let stand and cool for 2-4 hours.

Add the lemon juice and adjust to taste; you can easily add a bit more lemon juice, sweetener (honey would be nice here) or vanilla extract if desired.  Carefully strain the whole concoction into the storage vessels of your choice - I love my reserved pair of 1.75L Tanqueray bottles, featuring convenient transport handles!

To serve, pour your storage vessel into a large punch bowl over ice, and add an equal volume of cold water.  Top off with soda water to taste; a full liter was just about right for 1.75 liters of syrup plus 1.75 liters of water.  Yep, that's 4.5 total liters, and that's why you want a large punch bowl.  Keep refreshed with plentiful ice and serve next to some chilled white wine for spritzers, a bottle of gin for highballs, a couple of jiggers for measuring, and brief instructions.  My personal favorite combination wound up being about 1 oz gin, 3 oz wine, and 5 oz punch.

Optionally, garnish with lemon wheels, speared with mint sprigs for a nice flowery look.  I took some pictures of this one which I'll add here later.