Simple Tarragon vodka cocktail recipes - minimal ingredients

This is a collection of Tarragon vodka cocktail recipes that you can make at home or in a bar with minimal ingredients. The Sub Rosa Tarragon vodka has a real affinity with lemons. Shaken in a mixing glass with a lemon peel adds just a little of the lemon oil to the cocktail and vastly enhances the flavor dynamics of the vodka. Can't get much easier than that. Here are some other easy cocktails you can make.


Tarragon "Martini"
1 1/2 Sub Rosa Tarragon vodka
Splash of Limoncello
Lemon peel

Put ingredients, including lemon peel in shaker.  Shake and strain into martini glass.  Garnish with an additional long lemon peel.   If you have some lemon sorbet, a large melon ball scoop or small ice cream scoop floating in the middle is visually striking. Linda Lausmann - Sub Rosa


Tarkhun Cocktail (the Russian word for Tarragon)
2 oz. Sub Rosa Tarragon vodka
2 oz. fresh lemon juice
1 oz. simple syrup
2 oz. 7up or Squirt soda

Build over ice in an Old Fashion glass. Garnish with fresh tarragon if you have some. Lance Mayhew - 50 Plates - Portland, Oregon


Hot Summer Night [Tarragon Smash / Mojito]
1 1/2 oz Sub Rosa Tarragon Vodka
1/2 oz fresh lemon juice
1/2 oz simple syrup 
Fresh mint leaves.
Fresh tarragon leaves
Squirt
Lemon twist and mint sprig garnish

Muddle a pinch of mint leaves with the lemon juice, simple syrup in bottom of rocks glass. Fill the glass with ice, pour in the vodka, and fill with Squirt. Garnish with a lemon peel twist and or a mint sprig. Mike Sherwood - Sub Rosa.


Monet 
1 1/2 oz Sub Rosa Tarragon vodka
1/4 oz Pernod (or similar pastis or absinthe)
3 oz fresh orange juice

Chill over ice in a shaker, shake vigorously and serve up. Lance Mayhew - Portland, Oregon


French Lemonade
2 oz. Sub Rosa Tarragon vodka
1 tsp. frozen Lemonade concentrate
1/2 oz. Triple Sec [or a good quality orange liqueur]
1/2 oz. water or sparkling water

Put ingredients in mixing tin or pint glass with crushed ice.  Stir and strain into martini glass.  Garnish with a sprig of mint.  If you don't have a fresh lemon, simple syrup or a bottle of Lemoncello, but just happen to have some triple sec left over from your last Margarita party.  Linda Lausmann – Sub Rosa


Simple Syrup
This is cocktail making 101 for most people, but here goes anyway. Simple syrup is easy to make and is used in cocktails to add sweetness and balance to fresh citrus juices like lemon or lime. With this recipe you can make as small or as large a batch as you wish and store it in the refrigerator in a well sealed bottle for weeks if not months, but not indefinitely.

Ingredients:
1 parts sugar [although some recipes call for 2 parts]
1 part water

Preparation:
Bring the water to a boil. Dissolve the sugar into the boiling water. Once the sugar is dissolved completely, remove the pan from the heat. Allow to cool completely and bottle. We usually use one cup of water and one cup of sugar.

You can take a small amount of your simple syrup and flavor it to take a cocktail in a totally different direction. Try heating a teaspoon or two of grated fresh ginger or cardamom pods to a quarter cup of your syrup for some extra zing. It's easy to do.