A couple weeks ago I celebrated my birthday with a few different treats, including a wonderful barbeque with Jesse and his wife Prathima. In exchange for their hospitality, delicious homemade food, european-style cakes and oysters, I brought over my most recent cocktail creation. Serendipitously, the aperitif paired extremely well with the Rhode Island, Wellfleet, and Blue Point oysters that we shucked ourselves.

Honestly, it took nearly a month to post this because I couldn’t come up with a name. According to Prathima, it tastes like an orange tic-tac, but as a name, that sounds a bit misleading to me. My boyfriend Eugene was helping me think of an appropriate name when he, a fellow political science nerd, thought of the non-violent Orange Revolution in Ukraine. I really just like the sound of “Blood Orange Revolution,” but I also think it reflects the power of the elderflower syrup, rosewater, and lemon to radically transform and subdue the blood orange soda.

Blood Orange Revolution

• 1 1/2 ounces of gin
• 1/2 ounce of elderflower syrup (thank you, Ikea)
• 1/2 ounce of rosewater
• some lemon juice, to taste
• top with blood orange soda, to taste (I prefer San Pellegrino)

In a cocktail shaker, combine the gin, elderflower syrup, and some lemon juice. Pour into a cocktail glass and top with blood orange soda. I’d say rather than worry much about the lemon juice, be conservative at first and stir in more to your liking once the cocktail is initially composed.