Basil & Grapefruit Martini

I posted this picture on Facebook a few days ago and when I said that I was drinking a basil & grapefruit martini, several people asked for the recipe. Well, I was at a restaurant so I don’t know exactly how it was made but today I decided to experiment a bit and came up with something similar. The main difference is that I think the martini at the bar used pure grapefruit juice (maybe fresh squeezed?) rather than the sweetened grapefruit juice you get in the juice section of the grocery store. I’m sure it would be better with fresh squeezed (isn’t everything?)– the grapefruit flavor would be more concentrated and the drink would probably be a bit tarter and less sweet (depending on how much simple syrup you added).

 

Basil Grapefruit Martini

• 2oz Vodka
• 4oz Grapefruit Juice
• 1 Tablespoon Basil Syrup
• fresh basil leaves for garnish

I added some ice cubes to the shaker to make it nice and cold and refreshing. Like all cocktails, feel free to add more or less alcohol to taste- because this recipe uses vodka the flavor mostly comes from the juice and basil and won’t be very different if you change the amount of alcohol. If you use fresh squeezed grapefruit juice and its too tart, add a bit of plain simple syrup. For a less sweet cocktail, substitute some or all of the basil syrup for fresh basil leaves muddled with the juice.