Gild The Lily Recipe

Combine 0.5 cup granulated sugar and 0.25 cup warm water in a small saucepan or bowl. Stir until the sugar is fully dissolved to create simple syrup base.

Add 0.25 cup Pinot Noir to the sugar syrup and stir to combine. Taste and adjust: this yields a lightly fortified, wine-forward gomme. If you want a thicker gomme, heat gently for 1–2 minutes while stirring (do not boil) to concentrate slightly, then cool.

Cool the mixture to room temperature, transfer to a sealed container, and refrigerate. Keeps for up to 2 weeks. Use 0.5 oz per cocktail as directed below.

Chill glass

Place a rocks glass or coupe in the freezer for a few minutes or fill with ice and water to chill while you build the cocktail.

Add 1.5 oz Idaho bourbon, 0.5 oz apple brandy, 0.25 oz Douglas fir liqueur, 0.5 oz Pinot Noir gomme, and 2 dashes Angostura bitters into a mixing glass.

Fill the mixing glass with ice and stir vigorously for 20–30 seconds until well-chilled and properly diluted (the mixing glass should frost slightly).

Discard ice/water from your chilled serving glass if you used it to chill. Strain the cocktail through a fine strainer (or Hawthorne/ julep strainer) into the chilled rocks glass over a large ice cube or into a chilled coupe without ice, depending on presentation preference.

Express the oils of the orange peel over the drink by holding it skin-side down above the glass and giving it a firm pinch, then run the peel around the rim and drop it into the drink.

Optional: lightly slap a small fresh spruce or fir tip and rest it on the glass edge or float on the surface for an evergreen aromatics accent.

Serve immediately.