Hard strawberry RHUBARB (tea) lemonade + a giveaway

Now that Thom and I are adults who no longer blow through bottles of hard liquor, we keep the booze cupboard (is it a cupboard if it has no doors?) stocked with the good stuff. Not necessarily the overpriced, top-shelf “good stuff” – but the organic, made with wholesome ingredients good stuff; the kind of stuff you could sip on all day because it’s so smooth and delicious and not completely terrible for you. The kind of stuff you hide from your friends because they’ve all got mile high tolerances and SERIOUSLY GUYS WHERE’D YOU FIND THAT VODKA?

If we’re playing favorites, Art in the Age is definitely it. We first got hooked on the company a couple of years ago when we were introduced to ROOT – and shortly thereafter, SNAP. Each of the spirits went on heavy rotation and eventually earned a permanent spot on our top shelf. After our house tour went live on Apartment Therapy (do yourself a solid and read the comments, they’re pretty entertaining) (also, the jade tree is dead – one point for Thom) AITA sent us a bottle of RHUBARB (tea) and I sipped on it for a few days before deciding to put the spirit to use in something seasonal and fruity. And although I’m not really into mixed drinks (straight up gin lime, please), this drink is definitely something I can get behind. Because is there an adult beverage more appropriate for this time of year than hard lemonade? With strawberries and rhubarb? I think not.

CHEERS!

Oh, and did you notice this place got a little facelift? Big thanks to Emma Kebin (yup, Kebin – not Kevin) for being straight up bosses and putting up with my all around indecisiveness and excessive use of exclamation points/smiley faces. The site looks incredible – so me – and I really love it and hope you do, too.

To celebrate, Art in the Age is offering one lucky US reader a gift pack consisting of an AITA compass tote, Field Notes notebook, AITA letter pressed coasters, AND Hammerstone’s whiskey disks. (Due to liquor laws, they can’t send out a bottle of booze.) To enter, all you have to do is leave a comment on this post by 26 May at 8PM MST.

Giveaway is closed. Congrats, Nicole!

Notes: This drink is a bit on the sweet side. Thom says it’s as sweet as someone should expect hard lemonade to be, but if you’re not into drinking straight up sugar (like me), make your lemonade with half the original amount of sweetener; if it’s premade, cut it with equal parts of water and fresh squeezed lemon juice. If you can’t find RHUBARB (tea), cucumber vodka is a delicious substitute. Big thanks to Kels for leaving it behind at my birthday party – what a pal! And for those of you who are ounce illiterate; one ounce = two tablespoons.

HARD STRAWBERRY RHUBARB (TEA) LEMONADE

Strawberry simple syrup
1 cup sugar
1 cup filtered water
1 1/2 cups quartered strawberries

Mixed drink
2 oz RHUBARB (tea)
3 oz lemonade
1/2 oz strawberry simple syrup

Add the strawberries, water and strawberries to a heavy bottom saucepan set over medium heat. Once the mixture starts to boil, cook for 10 minutes then reduce heat to medium low and simmer for 15 minutes. Stir occasionally. Remove from heat and strain the mixture using a fine mesh sieve (the finer the sieve the smoother the syrup). If you’d prefer a more gelatinous syrup, skip the straining and blend the mixture until smooth. Allow the syrup to cool then transfer to an air tight container and refrigerate until ready to use.

For the hard lemonade, place a handful of ice into a small mason jar. Pour liquor over the ice, followed by the lemonade. Stir in simple syrup and serve.

Yield: about 1 cup simple syrup | 1 drink