Drinks

Gettin’ Figgy With It

October 8, 2021 by Jennifer

It’s October and everywhere you look it’s apple and pumpkin everything. But there’s another fruit out there this time of year. It doesn’t get a lot of love, but it’s just as much a part of fall as the other two: the fig.

Figs are a huge part of fall and are absolutely delicious. Available in several different varieties, these little bulbs are great in appetizers, entreés and desserts. They add a wonderful, earthy sweetness to whatever you’re making. I love wrapping them with prosciutto or adding them to salads. I’ll even eat them straight off the tree. While the Black Mission are the most well known, there are also Brown Turkeys, Calimyrna and Sierras. Each has a slightly different flavor, but they’re all delicious and make for a nice autumn alternative to the more popular apple and pumpkin.

While figs are usually used in food recipes, they also add a wonderful flavor to cocktails. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good apple cider spiked with bourbon, but a fig cocktail is unexpected. It’s a nice change of pace when you’re appled out. Besides, apples are here through the end of the year (and beyond). But figs start disappearing in November. In short, you want to make this drink now!

I know I’ve always said that bourbon and scotch are my go to liquors during the cooler months, but that doesn’t mean gin and vodka go into hibernation. I still pull them out for certain cocktails. I mean, you just can’t make a Dirty Martini without gin, and there are certain fall cocktails that are simply better with vodka, like a Cider Mule. So, for this cocktail, I pulled out my Ginger Vodka from Infuse Spirits.

The ginger vodka is full of spice thanks to the fresh ginger floating in the vodka. That’s right, there’s real ginger in the bottle. That’s what Infuse does. They take real ingredients and stuff them inside each and every bottle so you get real lemon or apple or grapefruit flavors. There’s no chemical aftertaste, so as a result, your cocktails don’t taste artificial. They taste pure, which makes for a more satisfying drink. I love drinks that are made with real ingredients. If something calls for lemon or lime juice, I squeeze a fresh lemon or lime. I make my own simple syrup, too, and man, can you taste the difference! The same can be said for Infuse: you can absolutely taste the difference.

I chose the ginger vodka this time around because I wanted to keep with the fall theme. Ginger, vanilla, maple… they all scream fall to me, and it just so happens they also meld with figs. And since you all know how I like a little fizz in my cocktails, I upped the ginger quotient by topping the drink with a splash of ginger beer. The final result is a cocktail that’s sweet with a little spice and perfect for the cooler weather.