Sometimes you can imagine exactly how a cocktail will taste just by looking at the recipe. That’s how I felt with this one, and I knew it had to be good. Chamomile-infused tequila is utterly perfect with lemon and honey, yielding a refreshing twist on spiked lemonade. Since the scent and taste of chamomile usually reminds me of cold winter evenings, this makes a nice end-of-summer cocktail to help ease the way to autumn flavors.
I did find that the honey didn’t mix in quite well enough, leaving the cocktail a little more sour than I would have liked. Adding more was hopeless since the drink was so cold by then, so I mixed in a tiny bit of simple syrup. What I’d recommend is using honey simple syrup (equal parts honey and water) instead of straight honey, and maybe amping up the amount to as much as 1/2 ounce. Try it and see what you like.
Also, the recipe calls for Cocci Americano, which is a white Italian aperitif wine. It is often used instead of Lillet in the Vesper Martini. Here, I did the opposite, substituting Lillet since I don’t have a bottle of Cocci Americano.
History: According to this article, the Eveleigh Lemonade was invented by Dave Kupchinski, bar manager of Eveleigh in Los Angeles, for an edition of the Sporting Life sponsored by Combier. It’s still on the menu at Eveleigh.
Eveleigh Lemonade
1 oz. chamomile-infused tequila*
1/2 oz. Cocci Americano (I used Lillet)
1/2 oz. triple sec
3/4 oz. lemon juice
1/4 oz. honey (or honey simple syrup to taste)
Combine all ingredients in a shaker and shake with ice until well-chilled. Strain into an old fashioned glass filled with ice. Garnish with a lemon wheel.
*For chamomile-infused tequila: Imbibe provides instructions for infusing an entire bottle of tequila, but I wasn’t really planning on making that many cocktails, so I took about three ounces of tequila blanco and mixed in a small handful of chamomile and half the zest of a small lemon. I let it sit overnight, but I think more like three hours would be better. If you don’t have chamomile, just use a chamomile tea bag.
Recipe adapted from Imbibe.