I’ve been obsessed with ginger lately. I love the boost of flavor it brings to a dish and I seem to be adding it to everything. Why not add it to a drink? I love ginger beer. I knew I would love it in other drinks.

I’ve also been building my liquor cabinet and playing with drink recipes lately. My father has always been the bar master in my home growing up. He has a knack for creating amazing cocktails whenever the family entertains. I try to do the same in my home.

My usual drink of choice is a gin & tonic. My gin of choice is Bombay Sapphire. Though I am also known to get creative. Like I did with my Frozen Cantaloupe Mojitos, I like to play with flavor. I was in a martini mood, but wanted to go outside of my typical Dirty Gin Martini. I mean, I love olive juice, but you have to be in the mood, you know?

I’d been craving sweets all day and I had an excess of lemons in the house. Usually when we have extra lemons in the house, we tend to make some lemonade for the kids. I decided it was my turn to enjoy the bounty this time. I decided to make a lemon and ginger simple syrup and make a slightly sweeter gin-based martini.

I juiced 4 lemons, zested some lemon peeled and cut up some ginger and then stirred it in to some water and sugar. I heated everything up and let the sugar dissolve, while letting the flavors combine.

Once the sugar had dissolved and the lemon ginger flavor was well infused, I strained the simple syrup in to a bowl.

I let the simple syrup cool.

While the mixture cooled, I rimmed my martini glasses with some sugar.

Once the simple syrup was cooled down, I placed some ice in my martini shaker, added about 1/3 cup of the lemon ginger infused simple syrup and then added around a half cup of gin to the shaker. I shook everything and then pour the mixture in to my prepared martini glasses. I also garnished the glasses with some extra lemon zest.

I couldn’t wait to taste the martini. This lemon ginger martini didn’t disappoint. Amazing! If you’re not a gin fan, swap it for vodka. The drink is fantastic and I encourage you to try it.