Ruby Rhubarb Ginger Cocktail

A party in a glass. This bright pink cocktail combines tart rhubarb, spicy ginger, lime, herbal rhubarb spirits and gin for summer cocktail happiness.

Cheers! It’s rhubarb season. And I’m a total #Rhubarbgeek – as evidenced by the NINE rhubarb recipes we have created…and the recent Facebook Live my 4-year old and I did on an easy 5-Minute Rhubarb Sauce.

Another person who adores rhubarb is my mother-in-law.

Now, we don’t always see eye-to-eye. Our preferences in libations vary drastically. She is more a Mogen David wine fan than I. And we usually disagree about the size of ice cream scoop that is necessary for my children. But I’m super lucky to have her. She will drop everything to drive 9 hours from Michigan to care for my kids whenever needed.

And she has nine giant rhubarb plants in her garden.

With the recent bounty she brought me, I created this cocktail for The Recipe ReDux‘s May theme of Cocktails and Mocktails. This lovely sipper is sweet, like Grandma’s Ball’s preferred wine. But not too sweet, like quadruple scoops of ice cream. In fact, the tartness of rhubarb provides perfect balance to any cocktail.

You may be wondering: how do you get those tough vegetable stalks into a cool glass of refreshment? You make rhubarb sauce. This is easy because rhubarb cooks down in less than 10 minutes. Then not only do you have thick sweet-tart sauce to top pancakes, but, when strained, you have this gorgeous ruby-colored cocktail mixer.

And why add ginger? Because ginger and rhubarb taste awesome together. The sweet spiciness of ginger sort of unpuckers your mouth from rhubarb.

Why lime? The sour adds another zip of refreshment.

Frozen raspberries add brilliant color, because rhubarb is sometimes more olive green in color than pink.

Why rhubarb spirits? Why not! I was given my first bottle of Rhubarb Tea by a friend who knows I’m a #Rhubarbgeek (Deanna!) and its vanilla, cardamom, pink peppercorn, coriander aromas are now a favorite in summer lemonade. You could also just double the amount of gin.

And gin…. is best here because herbal notes complement the herbal vegetable. And because, well, I am a gin girl.  Ruby Rhubarb Ginger Cocktail for summer sipping via @TspCurry #TheRecipeReDux Click To Tweet

Would Grandma Ball approve? I’m not sure. But she would certainly try it. She’ll try anything. Remind me sometime to tell you the story about how she tried a fish eyeball when we were vacationing together in Florida a while back.

Do you like rhubarb? What beverages do you like to drink in summer?