Hello long weekend! It’s been a long, and unseasonably hot week and I need a nice drink for the upcoming weekend. I went into this week’s drink looking for something light and refreshing since it’s touched 90 degrees that last few days. I was in a little bit of a rut trying to find something until I just happened to look at the bottle of Lillet in my fridge and sitting there prominently on the back of the bottle is their recipe for a Lillet Spritz. Its a simple mix of Lillet and tonic with strawberries, mint and cucumber as garnish. It seemed easy enough until it came to finding mint. Apparently there has been a run on mint going into the long weekend, and the only ones I could find at my stores were either tragic looking and not worth spending the money on. I really should start growing my own. Mrs. Sharkbait suggested using some fresh thyme I have growing in our kitchen. She asked for credit here but “only if it works”. Let’s see how much credit she gets…

Lillet Spritz

3 parts Lillet Blanc

3 parts Tonic water

Garnish with strawberry, mint and cucumber

So for my equal parts, I used 3 ounces of Lillet to 3 ounces of tonic. It also doesn’t necessarily specify a glass. However it does show a wine glass on the back of the bottle. However I chose a collins glass this time. Mainly because I didn’t feel like washing stemware when I was done and figured a collins glass would be acceptable.

The spritz has a sweet, herbal and fruity aroma. The thyme really stands out here, as I imagine the mint would as well, had I been able to find some. I think I would prefer the mint smell over what the thyme brings to the table, but that’s a personal preference I think. I wouldn’t skip on the herb garnish though, What it brings here is necessary.

I’m pleasantly surprised by this. I was afraid the Lillet would be extremely sweet, especially with the fruit garnish, but it cant be farther from the truth. It is a nice mixture of the slightly sweet and slight dryness from the wine, and the slightly bitter carbonation that the tonic water brings. It is very well balanced, and extremely refreshing. Its been an excellent choice for the mini heat wave we’ve had over the last couple days. The Lillet flavor does stand out the most, but it isn’t too bad.

One thing I would do differently is muddle the strawberries, mint (thyme in my case) and cucumber. It was kind of hard to pick up the flavors they imparted here, so I think crushing them and allowing their natural juice to come in more direct contact with the drink might change up the flavor profile ever so slightly. Though I will say eating the booze soaked strawberries at the end was rather excellent, so maybe they were on to something after all. The thyme did play, so kudos to Mrs. Sharkbait. I think the mint might be better, but the thyme was a good quick substitute if, like me, you can’t find any mint.

This will most definitely be in the rotation this holiday long weekend. I can even see changing up the mixers as a way to get some different flavor profiles out of it. Sparkling wine could be good, or even plain soda water. Though if you were to go that route, I would highly recommend muddling the fruit for the reasons I mentioned above. Soda is fairly neutral and I would be afraid the Lillet would come on too strong in that case.

(Banner image courtesy Matthew Tetrault Photography)