For regulars at Jianna, a well-loved Italian spot tucked against Greenville, South Carolina’s Reedy River, there’s an unspoken menu hack: an order of “the purple drink,” aka Respect Your Elders, which mixes violet-hued gin, elderflower liqueur, lemon juice, and tonic water. The floral cocktail  was a short-lived star at the bar before moving off the menu. “To this day we still receive regular requests for it, and we’re always happy to oblige,” writes Andrea S. Royko, managing partner and general manager at Jianna and contributor to chef Michael Kramer’s new cookbook, Jianna. The drink gets its splash of color from Conniption Kinship gin, crafted in Durham, but Empress gin works as an alternative. 

Ingredients

• Respect Your Elders (YIELD: 1 cocktail)

  • 1½ oz. Conniption Kinship gin

  • 1 oz. St-Germain elderflower liqueur

  • ¾ oz. fresh lemon juice

  • Splash of tonic water

  • 1 sprig rosemary (for garnish)

Preparation

1. Add gin, elderflower liqueur, and lemon juice to a shaker with ice and shake vigorously. Strain into a rocks glass over fresh ice and top with tonic water. Garnish with rosemary.

By Gabriela Gomez-Misserian
Recipe by Andrea S. Royko

JIANNA Copyright © 2024 Michael Kramer. Photographs copyright © 2024 by Andrew Cebulka. Published in the United States by Story Farm.