It is not easy keeping up a blog when you spend two to three weeks of every month shuttling across the "pond" to the UK and France in search of the truth about spirits and cocktails. Go ahead. Say "poor babies". You'd be right in some respects. We've worked hard for the past 14 years, seeking out the best that the world of cocktailiania has to offer. Those grueling days of testing new spirits--and old ones,too--as well as cocktails from various friends, associates, and new acquaintances. It can drive you to drink!

At our 5th annual gathering of the tribe in the UK countryside last week, we asked a few friends to bring some worn, vintage cocktail volumes to Chipping Campden, where we had set up camp for the week on a 1600s estate with four buildings. (We love supporting the not-for-profit Landmark Trust and its mission to restore some of the UK's finest examples of architectural magnificence.)

Imagine spending a week of your life in a remarkable historic setting doing nothing more than cooking, shaking, stirring, eating, drinking, and roaming the countryside to remind yourself why you're alive. Try it some time--better than going to a spa for a day.

Part of the week was spent roaming the Cotswolds in search of Donnington BB, a lovely bitters made at the Donnington Brewery situated between Lower Swell and some other place along single-lane country roads. (If you want to try a pint, we highly recommend going to the Farmers Arms in Guiting Power which is 1 of 14 Donnington public houses that carrY this lovely brew. The food is true pub grub in its finest sense: local, fresh, and well-executed.)

Because on page 49, under the heading "Daisies" there appeared a recipe for the Cosmopolitan , made with GIN!

That's right, folks! Gin. And raspberry syrup.

One of our intrepid crew of house guests--that included Robert Hess (drinkboy.com), Dre Masso (Worldwide Cocktail Club), Nick Strangeway (The Hawksmoor), Nick Blacknell (Beefeater Gin), Sasha Petraske (Milk & Honey), and Simon Ford (Plymouth Gin)--had purchased fresh raspberries at the Oxford Covered Market. I made up a batch of syrup without explanation, until Saturday night. That's when we unleashed the book and its peculiar recipe on the assembled household after a teatime snack of spiced, slow-roasted beef brisket and local British cheeses and a hefty dinner of slow-roasted goose stuffed with autumn fruits and served with a red wine, herb-scented sauce.

Once we got the post-prandial Jenga game started, Nick S. made up a batch of this newly discovered concoction. A major hit, by the way. Simplicity itself. And although it looks familiar, it beats the yonks off the most-commonly known recipe.

We're not the only ones to discover the Cosmo in this thin volume, Jeorg Meyer also noticed it once Robert put up our scanned copy in a more public area.

OK. Had enough of our ramble? Ready for the recipe?

THE COSMOPOLITAN
Jigger of Gordon Gin (we used Beefeater and Plymouth is our batches)
2 dashes Cointreau (also try a splash fresh Seville orange juice)
Juice of one lemon
Teaspoon of raspberry syrup (ours was made fresh)
Shake ingredients over ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

Simple enough.

Becoming a happy basket case (like Dre, here) after a week of fun, frivolity, and serious great friendship does have its good points.

As for next year, we're teaming up with Nick B. to make the 6th annual tribal gathering a joint event, somewhere in the UK.

Cheers, until later.--Anistatia