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Lovage in the Garden

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Liquor.com
Liquor.com

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Published 08/9/21
Lovage in the Garden cocktail

Liquor.com / Tim Nusog

This cocktail was created by Los Angeles bar pro Matthew Biancaniello, author of Eat Your Drink, who specializes in “culinary cocktails.” The list of ingredients does include flavors more common in salads than in alcoholic beverages, including golden-orange Sun Gold cherry tomatoes; lovage leaves, which lend a celery-like flavor; ghost pepper salt; even a hopped vodka. 

In this cocktail, these unusual components combine to produce a savory, spicy, gently bitter, and ultimately wonderfully balanced result. Surely you’ve heard of (and likely partaken in) drinking your dessert? Why not drink your salad, too?

Ingredients

  • 3 Sun Gold cherry tomatoes
  • 4 lovage leaves
  • 1/2 ounce agave syrup
  • 2 ounces Hophead vodka
  • 1/2 ounce Luxardo bitter aperitivo (can substitute Campari)
  • 3/4 ounce lime juice, freshly squeezed
  • Pinch of Hepp’s ghost pepper salt
  • Garnish: lovage sprig

Steps

  1. Add the cherry tomatoes, lovage leaves and agave syrup into a shaker and muddle gently.

  2. Add the vodka, Luxardo bitter aperitivo, lime juice, and ghost pepper salt, plus ice, and shake until well-chilled.

  3. Strain into a rocks glass over fresh ice.

  4. Garish with a lovage sprig.