Sweet Ginger

It appears to have been quite a boozy few weeks, what with my toasts to Noel Coward and Sex and the City 2 in my recent drinkily delicious posts all in a month. And here's another--but this one is for any tee-totaler, to be made without the faintest suggestion of incorporating any alcohol: homemade ginger ale!

Appellation is one of my favorite spots in town, a definitive wine boutique, if I may call it that, which also offers an extraordinarily well-curated batch of liquors. The gentlemen behind the counters are incredibly knowledgeable, helpful and kind--and so patient as well for those of us with many questions.

During a recent tasting of a few wines, an event that occurs as far as I know only over the weekends, I was slipped a recipe for homemade ginger ale. I would really like to try to make it, and thought I should pass it along here at Evenings With Peter. I think you should slip it into one of my favorites, a Shirley Temple, the sweetly fizzy concoction with grenadine (skip the Sprite) that you probably haven't sampled since you were a wee ain--at least when I finally prepare this cask of sweet ginger, the curly-haired non-alcoholic mixy is first on my list.

Homemade Ginger Ale

Adapted from Appellation

Ingredients

Ginger Water:

1 cup finely chopped peeled ginger

2 cups water

1/3 cup simple syrup

Club soda

Lime juice

Lime wedges

Preparation

Bring 2 cups of water to a boil in a saucepan. Add ginger. Reduce heat to medium low and let ginger sit in the simmering water for 5 minutes.

Remove from heat and let sit for 20 minutes. Strain liquid through a fine mesh strainer. Discard ginger pieces.

Make individual (tall) glasses of ginger ale by mixing 1/2 cup of ginger water with 1/3 cup of simple syrup and 1/2 cup of club soda. Add a few drops of fresh lime juice and a lime wedge to each glass.