Rebecca Nielsen's Recipe

Grape Lemonade Martini

Category: Cocktails

Serves/Makes: 2
Difficulty: 1
Prep Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:

5 ounces grape rum (recommend Grape Jack brand)
2 ounces "Super" Lemon Simple Syrup* (recipe follows)
5 ounces good lemonade (recommend Simply Lemonade brand)
lemon slices for garnish

Preparation:

Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker filled 2/3 full with ice. Shake until very cold (about 45 seconds). Pour into chilled martini glasses and garnish with a lemon slice.

*Super Lemon Simple Syrup - In a small sauce pan over med-low heat, combine 1 1/2 cups sugar with 2/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice and 1/4 cup water. Stirring constantly, heat until sugar is dissolved. Let stand at room temperature for at least 2 hours. Syrup will be the consistency of maple syrup. Store in a covered container in the refrigerator.

Cooks Notes: I "smuggled" two bottles of liquor home in my suitcase from a recent vacation to Florida. One was this awesome Grape Rum. The grape flavor is at first distant but then creeps up on you which makes it pair well with other flavors without being overpowering, and it doesn't have that fake "extract" taste.

The reason why I call the lemon simple syrup "Super" is because it is thicker than your normal simple syrup and much more intense with the large amount of fresh lemon juice. Keep this on hand for all your drinks. A great way to get your family to drink more water is add 1 T of the Super Syrup to a glass and fill with sparkling water. It makes the water not so boring.