Eight Oaks, the award-winning, family-run distillery in New Tripoli, grows all of its own grain for its spirits. So naturally, they grow the herbs and many other ingredients for their extensive list of refreshing seasonal cocktails, too. Imagine taking a sip of the Meadow cocktail while relaxing in one of the distillery’s many inviting Adirondack chairs, scattered around the fire pit. The view? The rolling hills and farmland of western Lehigh County, complete with a barn and grain silo.
What you have here is the best of summer in a vivid, easy-to-sip cocktail that you mix right in the glass. “It’s simple, but it still feels special,” says Carly Butters Snyder, COO of Eight Oaks.
A Word About Butterfly Pea Tea
The beautiful presentation of the Meadow cocktail comes from butterfly pea, a flower that lends its purpley-blue hue to all manner of drinks. You’ll need to make the tea ahead of time and chill it, but you can buy the powder online very easily or at well-stocked health food stores (try Healthy Alternatives, Frey’s Better Foods, Nature’s Way Lemon Street Market.)
Here’s a quick geeky science lesson about this ingredient: The tea color changes based on the pH of what it’s mixed with. When paired with lemons, for example, it turns more purple. It naturally separates when you add it, but if you stir the drink, it integrates the color.
To make butterfly pea tea, bring a pot of water to boil and add about a cup of dried butterfly pea flowers. Turn off the heat, stir, and strain out the dried flowers. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 weeks. Use it in lemonade, this drink, iced tea, or just drink it cold with some lemon or lime.
Try another summer cocktail: Watermelon Feta Negroni
Photo by Taylor Van Kooten
The Meadow Cocktail
Ingredients
- Ice
- 2 ounces Eight Oaks American Gin
- 6 ounces lemonade
- 2 ounces butterfly pea tea chilled
- Optional garnishes fresh mint and lemon slices
Instructions
- Fill a 12-ounce Mason jar with ice. Add the gin and lemonade. Top slowly with the butterfly pea tea—the color will be suspended until you stir it. Garnish with fresh mint and lemon slices, if desired.
- Variation: Steep 2 teaspoons of dried lavender in a 750 ml bottle of gin for 24 hours. Strain, and use lavender-infused gin in this cocktail.
