Silly name ~ nice cocktail ~ for those now-in-season grapefruits!

This fantastic recipe comes from Dark Spirits: 200 Classy Concoctions Starring Bourbon, Brandy, Scotch, Whiskey, Rum and More ~ Since it's grapefruit season, we decided to try it, but it would be equally refreshing in the summer.

It's called Up In Mabel's Room ~ silly name, in my opinion.

We started by making simple syrup. Here's one recipe: water and sugar in about equal quantities, slow boil, while stirring until sugar dissolves, let cool).

So while that cooled, we squeezed the juice of one grapefruit.

We chose a Pomelo but you could use any type just fine. This Pomelo is shown next to a regular grapefruit.

We plan to try others and see what we like best. Ruby reds would be sweeter.

The Pomelos are huge, so we got 4 servings and still had leftover juice. They're supposedly great in salads, as the sections don't fall apart easily.

What you'll need for 2 servings:

cracked ice
3 oz Rye whiskey -- we chose two types to test out what we liked better
1.5 oz freshly squeezed grapefruit juice
1.5 oz simple syrup (honey could substitute)

Fill a cocktail shaker halfway with the ice. Add the other ingredients.

Shake well. Strain into 2 cocktail glasses (see top photo of this post). We gave our martini glasses to Goodwill not long ago, so used small wine glasses.

The Sazerac version had a nice color, and a crisp, tart flavor. Definite winter baking spice elements. Would be quite refreshing on a warm day. After that, we tried another version with Stone Barn Brandyworks' unoaked rye whiskey. They are local to Portland and use Bob's Red Mill rye to make their rye whiskey.

The end-result color was pale, so this rye seems better suited for a ruby red grapefruit that would impart better color. However...

The Stone Barn version let the grapefruit flavor come forward more than the Sazerac, and it had less of the tart flavor -- more sweetness and anise -- so take that into consideration, as you might want to reduce the amount of simple syrup, especially if you go with a ruby red grapefruit for this recipe. Tell us in the Comments what you've been experimenting with lately!