Butterflies by the Lake

While I was a bartender for Chef Brothers catering company we did an event that served lavender lemonade. It was the first time I had tried lavender in a drink and it was delicious! Ever since then I wanted to create a unique cocktail based on the flavors of lavender and lemon. Needless to say, this drink has been long in the making.

When we decided to participate in the expo at The Barn at Lakeside Ranch in Hawthorne, Florida we knew it would be a good time to create this cocktail. Since it was March, lavender lemonade sounded “Springy” enough to get the attention of the wedding expo guests that day. We chose vodka since we knew this cocktail would have a lot of complex ingredients and vodka is a good clean spirit to let all the other flavors shine.

To start, lavender and lemonade would obviously be the base components of this drink but we knew, it needed something more. I personally love vanilla and flavored syrups so we set out intentions to incorporate those things as well. The Butterfly Pea Tea was originally added for color but it ended up being the earthiness we needed to balance out the sweetness of the many syrups the recipe would call for.

Before making this cocktail, you will need to brew and steep your Butterfly Pea Tea according to the directions on the package. You’ll also want to decide on whether or not to make your syrups or buy them. We made ours homemade because we are bougie like that. However, there are a lot of good, quality syrups on the market and having them on stock will allow you to use them for other recipes. You can also use Honey syrup because it blends easier in a cocktail, but we liked the earthy flavor of original honey, without watering it down.

Even though we are deep into Summer, we know this cocktail is diverse enough to be enjoyed over multiple seasons!! It is also delicious as a mock-tail. We recommend leaving out the vodka, but adding a little bit of soda water to cut the sugar. Let us know what you think and keep reading for more authentic, unique cocktails to come.

• Take shaker filled with ice then add:

• 2 oz Vodka

• 2 teaspoons Butterfly Pea Tea (already brewed and steeped by the instructions on the package)

• .5 oz Honey

• .5 oz of Vanilla Syrup

• .5 oz of Lavender Syrup

• Squeeze Large Lemon Wedge into shaker

• Shake & Strain into cup with ice

• Top with 2 oz Sparkling Lemonade (we liked Fever Tree Sicilian Sparkling Lemonade)

• Squeeze a 2nd Lemon Wedge on top