When considering potential cocktail ingredients, you might not think about lavender as something that would work well in beverages. Frankly, you might not think about lavender as being potable at all, in any capacity. Some might consider it to be too “soapy,” which is not an unwarranted comparison; lavender can be found as a prominent ingredient in a variety of laundry detergents, cleaning products, soaps, air fresheners, and anything else you’d want to smell nice. However, once you most past the stigma, lavender is a versatile component for all kinds of cocktails.

Lavender, being a member of the mint family, is aromatic to its core, but requires much less water to grow, and as such, needs to be treated much differently than you would treat mint. Hanging and drying lavender will preserve it almost indefinitely if kept away from moisture and stored properly, something you wouldn’t dream of doing with mint, a reflection of just how differently this plant grows. This is an herb that absolutely thrives in infusions and syrups, which is how we’ll be using it.

The varietal of lavender used in cocktails is also very important, and can influence the resulting flavor immensely. The lavender smell you might associate most with being overly aromatic and “soapy” is most likely a varietal of French lavender, which is heavy-handed on aromatics, and generally not advisable for culinary use. English lavender is much more suited for culinary use; the varietal we’re using here is “Royal Velvet,“** and it’s an absolute stunner for most beverage applications. Some varietals of lavender contain toxic compounds that should not be ingested, so a bit of research may be in order before foraging those blooming lavender buds growing out of your neighbor’s sidewalk.

As a flavor, lavender can be considered loud, meaning it can be difficult to get it to play nicely with other flavors, bullying other softer flavors out of the way. As such, stirred, boozy cocktails with lavender, while not impossible, are much more difficult to pull off with any amount of consistency. Lavender works better when used with bigger, round fruit flavors, like berries (strawberries, raspberries) and stone fruits (peaches, plums).

Luckily for us, lavender’s two best friend in the whole wide world are lemon and honey, two components that are right at home in most cocktails, and the center of what we’ll be basing our cocktail around. We’re going to be making a sour, roughly categorized as any cocktail with sugar, citrus, and booze, as a template to work from. To do this, we’ll be infusing both the spirit (tequila) and the honey syrup with dried lavender buds. The honey syrup will allow us to dilute the honey a bit while adding flavor, and will prevent the honey from crystallizing at the bottom of the shaker tin from the sudden change in temperature. If you don’t like tequila, just use vodka or gin or grappa or singhani or whatever clear spirit you’d like or have on hand, the important thing here is technique, as we’ll be making an egg white sour.

Egg whites give us the added benefit of toning down overly sharp spices and herbs, allowing lavender to be a dominant flavor without dominating the whole drink (think of lavender as a lead guitar solo being compressed for final mastering and release by the egg white). If you don’t want to use egg white or get weird about raw eggs in your cocktails (which is completely understandable), you can go without raw protein entirely. Substitute egg white for 0.5 fl oz of aquafaba, the leftover liquid from draining a can of chickpeas, which will provide enough protein to emulsify the mixture completely without the use of egg. For bonus points, a barspoon (about 1 tsp, or 1/8 fl oz) of strawberry or raspberry jam will go a long way towards ramping this cocktail up. And, if you want a lavender cocktail without worrying about all this prep work, infuse a bottle of tequila with lavender, drain it out, and buy a bottle of strawberry margarita mix. I was shocked at how good this was.

You can also use the lavender-infused honey from this recipe anywhere you would normally use honey, but I would recommend drizzling over sweets and desserts like strawberry shortcakes or lemon ricotta pancakes, or using as a sweetener in cocktails like old fashioneds.

Belle Rock Fizz (serves one)

Ingredients:

Equipment:

Cocktail shaker
Jigger, or small liquid measuring cup
Strainer
Chilled coupe glass (the freezer is your friend)
Barspoon/teaspoon

In shaker tin without ice, combine the egg white (add egg to shaker before adding other ingredients to prevent ruining the cocktail with unwanted yolk) followed by lemon juice, honey syrup, jam, and your infused tequila. Shake hard, without ice, for about 60 seconds, or until it feels like your arm is about to fall off, then add about 3-4 small/1 large ice cube(s). Shake hard for another 30-40 seconds, then strain into a chilled coupe glass. Your cocktail should look like a nice, fluffy cloud at this point. Garnish with a few stray lavender buds, which should sit right on top of the drink, and enjoy your new egg white mustache.

Lavender-Infused Honey

Ingredients:

2 cups local honey
1 cup filtered water
*1-2 tbsp dried and freshly extracted English lavender buds, lightly muddled to release oils, to taste.

Equipment:

Stovetop/heat source
Saucepan
Mesh strainer

In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, combine the honey and water, stir to combine. Once the honey and water are fully integrated, add the lavender, and cook until the mixture is simmering. Leave the mixture on a very low simmer, stirring throughout to ensure the honey is not burning, then allow to cool. Strain (through a metal sieve or cheesecloth lined tea strainer, to your preferred level of clarity), then store in an airtight container for up to two months.

Lavender-Infused Tequila

Ingredients:

1 bottle Tres Agaves Reposado Tequila
*1-2 tbsp dried and freshly extracted English lavender buds, lightly muddled to release oils, to taste.

Equipment:

Funnel
Strainer

Using a funnel, dump the desired amount of lavender into the bottle, then allow to sit for 12-24 hours, until all the color fades from the lavender buds. Strain into a separate container, ensuring all lavender material has been removed from the container, then label the bottle and funnel back into the original container.

*All the recipes were made using Royal Velvet varietal English Lavender that I pulled from the stem myself, lightly dried over the course of about four days. If you’re using ground, dried, or processed lavender, the level of lavender you need will likely be much lower, and will be more difficult to strain when making infusions. Always err on the side of caution when infusing, as you can always add more flavor but can’t take it out. That being said, for this application, the egg white is very forgiving and will flatten lavender flavors that would otherwise be considered “too sharp.”

**All the lavender used to make this were grown locally and harvested by hand at Belle Rock Farm in Kents Store, VA. Please check out their website if you’re interested in bud on bundle lavender, which is super cool, and may even make your cocktails taste better? Who could say.