A rosemary sprig is a garnish you smell before you taste: slapped against your palm and set in a Cranberry Rosemary Spritz it fills the glass with piney, resinous aroma, and touched with a lighter for a second it smokes like a winter fire. It is the herb of the gin and tonic revival, the holiday spritz and the brown-spirit sour, and it grows in a pot on any windowsill.

What is a rosemary sprig, as a garnish?

A three- to five-inch tip of fresh rosemary, needles on, stood in a drink or laid across the rim so that its oils reach the nose with every sip. Rosemary is a Mediterranean evergreen whose aroma comes from pinene, camphor and cineole, the same compounds that give gin its pine and a conifer forest its smell, which is why it sits so naturally beside juniper. It came into the bar with the Spanish gin-tonic of the 2000s, where a sprig in a balloon glass became standard, and spread to lemonades, spritzes, sours and smoked Old Fashioneds. Its flavour is strong and savoury, so it is nearly always an aromatic garnish rather than an ingredient; muddled, it turns a drink medicinal. It suits gin, vodka, bourbon, mezcal, sparkling wine, lemon, grapefruit, cranberry, honey and lavender, and it is the herb of winter in the way mint is the herb of summer. The Lavender Lemonade on this site uses it for exactly that contrast.

How to use it

Choose a fresh, supple sprig with no brown needles and rinse it. Just before serving, slap it once against the back of your hand or clap it between your palms, which bruises the needles and releases the oil, and stand it in the drink with the tip above the rim or lay it across the glass. For a torched sprig, hold the tip in a lighter flame for two or three seconds until it crackles and smokes, blow it out, and set it on the drink immediately; the smoke perfumes the glass and the needles taste faintly charred. Do this over the drink, away from hair and bottles, and never with a sprig that has been in spirit. For a rosemary syrup (simmered, a sprig per cup, steeped twenty minutes), use a quarter ounce; it is strong. Sprigs keep a week in the fridge wrapped in damp paper, and a plant keeps for years.

Substitutes

A thyme sprig, softer and more floral. A sage leaf, slapped, for an earthier note. A lavender sprig, for a sweeter herbal aroma. A sprig of pine or fir in December, which tastes like rosemary's wilder cousin. A rosemary syrup, a quarter ounce, for the flavour without the stem.

Cocktails with a rosemary sprig

The spritz: the Cranberry Rosemary Spritz. Alcohol-free: the Lavender Lemonade. Every drink that takes a rosemary sprig is listed below, and any gin and tonic, Paloma or whiskey sour on this site would take one.

Questions

Why slap the rosemary? To bruise the needles and release the oil; an unslapped sprig smells of little.

How do I torch it safely? Two or three seconds in a lighter flame over the drink, away from hair and bottles, then blow it out and place it.

Can I muddle rosemary? Better not; it turns bitter and medicinal. Use a syrup or a slapped sprig.

Which drinks suit it? Gin, bourbon and mezcal drinks with lemon, grapefruit, cranberry or honey; winter spritzes and lemonades.

Fresh or dried rosemary? Fresh, always; dried rosemary is for the stew. A supermarket pack or a pot on the windowsill is all you need.

How long does a sprig keep? A week in the fridge wrapped in damp paper; a plant keeps for years and costs the same as two packs.