Rooftop Rhubarb Cocktail With Sustainable Vodka & Homemade Syrup

This recipe was previously published on Sustaining Life. I've never been a huge fan of vodka. It's generally flavorless and the cheap stuff reminds me too much of disgustingly drunken college parties. Isn't it incredible how our tastes change over the years? I looked back the other day to realize that it was less than a decade ago that I would readily take a swig of any kind of liquor straight from the bottle. Nowadays I'm hardly into drinking (unless it's natural wine or sour beer, then I'm all in) and am more likely to order a kombucha than a cocktail whilst out at bars. This is all to say that when I heard about Marble Distilling Co, I was surprisingly enamored with the idea of their vodka. Pure Colorado river water filtered by marble, combined with local Colorado mountain grains? I was immediately whisked away to a peaceful lodge by a rushing river, with windows open wide to clear blue skies and fresh mountain air. This is precisely the scene that plays in my mind when I taste the sustainably made vodka by Marble. It has a smoothness and a vanilla-sweet softness that evokes the serenity of water running over stone. I paired this soft and sweet flavor with something tart and punchy: rhubarb. I love nothing more than contradictions when it comes to warm weather beverages - sweet balanced by spicy, mellow notes conspiring with sour ones. Rhubarb's tangy taste is softened by being steeped in sugar and turned to syrup, a confection that I love to make each spring in anticipation of entertaining friends on our Brooklyn rooftop. I adore the tiny sweet and sour bubbles that arrive after a few days of steeping the syrup - the rhubarb ferments ever so slightly, creating a more complex flavor and that ever-lovely effervescence. Combined with sour notes of lime and grounded in mint's cool herbaceous-ness, there's nothing more perfect for enjoying in the sun on a summer afternoon. I just wish I were dipping my toes into Colorado's Crystal River with this cocktail in hand... Note: The prep time includes time for the rhubarb syrup to steep. (Allow a few hours. For stronger flavor, all syrup to ferment for a few days.)