Sips & Synopsis - This Weeks Makings

• In-between Energy

• Trivia Question

• Drink of the Week - Rosemary Pear Collins

• Mocktail Moment: Spiced Pear Sparkler

• What Golden Hour Teaches Us About Cocktails

☀️ What’s in Your Glass This Week...

This week we’re leaning into the in-between energy: when daylight lingers, the evenings get cooler, and cocktails get cozier, but not heavy. It’s the golden hour of the year, and we’ve got drinks to match the mood.

✔️ 3 warm-toned, seasonal cocktails for late-summer sipping
✔️ 1 pear-perfect mocktail
✔️ A story about slowing down and savoring the shift
✔️ Some links for the prettiest golden hour hosting details
✔️ A quote and trivia to toast the light

Let’s mix a little sunshine with a little sweater weather.

Trivia Question❓

What fruit, often used in late-summer cocktails, is technically a member of the rose family?

Answer at the bottom of the newsletter

🍐 Drink of the Week: Rosemary Pear Collins

Crisp, botanical, and not too sweet, this cocktail is late summer elegance in a glass.

Ingredients:

• 2 oz pear juice (fresh or bottled)

• 1.5 oz gin

• 0.5 oz lemon juice

• 0.5 oz rosemary simple syrup (see below or buy here)

• Club soda to top

• Garnish: rosemary sprig + pear slice

Directions:

1. In a shaker, combine gin, pear juice, lemon juice, and rosemary syrup with ice.

2. Shake well and strain into a tall glass over ice.

3. Top with club soda.

4. Garnish with a rosemary sprig and a thin pear slice.

🌿 Rosemary Simple Syrup Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 cup water

• 1 cup granulated sugar

• 3–4 fresh rosemary sprigs (about 5 inches each)

Directions:

1. In a small saucepan, combine the water and sugar over medium heat.

2. Stir until the sugar is completely dissolved (don’t let it boil).

3. Add rosemary sprigs and simmer on low heat for about 5–7 minutes.

4. Remove from heat and let the rosemary steep as it cools: 15–30 minutes for a stronger flavor.

5. Strain out the rosemary and pour the syrup into a clean glass jar or bottle.

6. Store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

Pro tip: Want extra depth? Add a small strip of lemon peel while it steeps!

Bonus Cocktails

🍏 1. Honey Apple Bourbon Fizz

• 2 oz bourbon

• 1 oz apple cider

• 0.5 oz honey syrup

• 0.5 oz lemon juice

• Club soda to top

• Shake all but the soda, strain into a rocks glass, top with soda, and garnish with an apple slice or cinnamon stick.

🍋 2. Cider-Spiked White Negroni

• 1 oz gin

• 1 oz Lillet Blanc (or dry vermouth)

• 1 oz white vermouth or Suze

• Splash of dry hard cider

• Stir first three ingredients with ice, strain over a large cube, top with cider. Garnish with an apple peel twist.

Mocktail Moment: Spiced Pear Sparkler

• 2 oz pear juice

• 0.5 oz cinnamon syrup (or maple syrup)

• 0.5 oz lemon juice

• Sparkling water to top

• Garnish: cinnamon stick or thyme sprig

Shake juice, syrup, and lemon with ice, strain into a glass, and top with bubbles. Cozy, fizzy, and refreshing.

What Golden Hour Teaches Us About Cocktails

You know that moment when the sun hits the windows just right and everything glows for about 20 minutes? That’s golden hour…and cocktails have a version of that too.

It’s that late-season sweet spot: not quite spritz weather, not yet mulled wine. It’s warm honey light, orchard fruit, and one last dinner outdoors.

Enter the Rosemary Pear Collins. The rosemary syrup takes just 10 minutes. The pears were ripe this time of year, but not overripe. The drink is chilled, herbal, quietly complex and every person who tastes it stops mid-sip with an: ohhhhh yeah.

That’s golden hour. Not flashy, not loud. Just simple magic that hits exactly right.

🛍️ Hosting in Golden Hour Style

• Gold-Rimmed Highball Glasses – elegant and elevated without trying too hard

• Linen Cocktail Napkins (Earth Tones) – reusable, photogenic, and perfect for that golden hour with low chairs, a vinyl playlist, and a self-serve drink station.