Gin cocktail with pomegranate and grapefruit

Gin cocktail with pomegranate and grapefruit

MAKES 1 COCKTAIL

One of the first times we saw a full-grown pomegranate tree was at a café where it was growing over an arbor. It was fall, and the beautiful red pomegranates were dangling through the trellis. It was hard to not be inspired by that scene. When hanging from their delicate branches in the fall, the fully ripe pomegranates open up and offer their seeds to the world. With this in mind, pomegranates were one of the first fruit trees we planted in our garden, trellising them over an archway that allowed the fruit to dangle within easy reach. It is one of our favorite autumn harvests. This drink muddles a small handful of ruby-red pomegranate seeds with fresh grapefruit juice and gin. Balanced with a bit of simple syrup and some orange bitters, it is a refreshing late-summer or fall cocktail.

INGREDIENTS

• 3 tablespoons pomegranate seeds
• 1 1/2 ounces fresh grapefruit juice
• 1 1/2 ounces gin
• 1 ounce Simple Syrup 
• A few dashes orange bitters
• Ice

DIRECTIONS

1. Muddle the pomegranate seeds in a cocktail shaker. Add the grapefruit juice, gin, simple syrup, bitters, and ice.
2. Shake vigorously for 15 to 20 seconds. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.