Whiskey-mint-hibiscus and Triple-sec-lemon-fennel drinks

I received an email from Ellen of the wonderful blog Down & Dirty asking: "Any chance you'd share the recipe for whiskey-mint-hibiscus drinks? Sounds delicious and intriguing."

I would love to! Here it is.

Mint and hibiscus

Ingredients:

• Whiskey: whatever you like best. Ten High bourbon is Matt's family's old faithful, so that's what we usually have on hand.
• Mint: a simple syrup, which is 1 part sugar dissolved in 1 part water. Matt made a pot of it on the stove with a big bundle of mint steeped in it.
• Hibiscus: we get bags of the flowers from the Mexican market, where it's called Jamaica, and make iced tea with it. It's tart.
• Plus club soda and some ice cubes.

Proportions: Since our method of mixing is to add a splash until each drinker is happy with his or her ratio of alcohol to herbal elixir, I'm going to guess at roughly 2 ounces of whiskey, 1 ounce of simple syrup, 1 ounce of hibiscus, 3 ounces of club soda.

Triple-sec-lemon-fennel drink

The 5th of July, which unbeknownst to me turned out to be a holiday, presented the unfortunate situation of nothing in the house to drink and no liquor store open in the state of Pennsylvania. But then I found a dusty old bottle of triple sec in the pantry. So...

• Triple sec (2 ounces)
• Bronze fennel (4 large feathers)
• Lemon wedges (2)
• Club soda (4 ounces)
• Ice cubes

Muddle the bronze fennel in the triple sec, and add the other ingredients. I will hope to have my very own Meyer lemon off my potted tree for the next round of these.

As far as the art of mixology goes, I'm betting both of these formulas could be improved and changed pretty dramatically (and I'd love to hear your suggestions if you try these!). I think the real recipe is: grab whatever is pungent and fresh and within running-out-the-back-door-in-bare-feet reach, and steep-muddle-mix with whatever happens to be in the liquor cabinet.