Pine syrup isn’t probably the most widespread cocktail ingredient, however among the many bartenders who’ve found it, this aromatic, arboreal sweetener has change into a staple of their repertoire. With delicate, wintery menthol flavors, pine syrup can immediately elevate a Gin & Tonic or put a brand new spin on the ginger-spice dimension of a cold-weather Pimm’s Cup. 

One such devotee is Han Suk Cho, of Kato in Los Angeles, who realized to make pine needle syrup in a conventional vogue from her grandmother whereas rising up in Korea. To make sol ip chung (typically written as solip-cha) includes packing freshly foraged younger pine needles in sugar and honey and leaving the combination to progressively ferment and liquify over six months. 

Fortunately, Cho has since tailored the recipe into a fast stovetop methodology that includes a a lot sooner extraction by merely steeping pine needles in heat easy syrup. Cho showcases her pine needle syrup in a bubbly, zero-proof highball she calls the Pine Sudachi Spritz, which additionally requires mint, sudachi juice (from a bitter citrus fruit) and glowing water. Visitors have mentioned the N/A cocktail reminds them of a G&T.

“Pine additionally goes properly with cucumber,” says Cho. “Each of them have a pleasant refreshing high quality.” And anytime she is utilizing her quick-method pine syrup in a blended drink, Cho features a citrus ingredient, like yuzu or the aforementioned sudachi. “Citrus acidity additionally enhances very properly with pine needle.”

The important thing to ending up with a pine syrup that expresses aromas evocative of a high-elevation forest stroll, in keeping with Cho, is to forage from bushes the place there’s good air high quality, in areas that endure a chilly winter, and to take action in spring, when there’s new tree development. Extra mature needles (and people from bushes in hotter climates) have a tendency to supply a woodier, much less attribute taste. However for an low season workaround, utilizing pine needle tea (accessible on-line) as the bottom for a easy syrup is a quick monitor to including that alpine taste. When Cho has used this methodology, she has discovered she wanted to extend the amount of dried pine needles “to match the efficiency and freshness” of newly collected needles.

Some bartenders, nonetheless, desire to seize pine’s signature aromatic high quality by means of one other product: pine buds (aka pine cones or gems). In Alpine Europe, custom requires pine buds within the manufacturing of mugolio (“mugo” refers back to the mountain pine, Pinus mugo, which may develop tall or current as a bushy dwarf plant; “olio” is Italian for oil) made in a course of fairly just like that of sol ip chung. 

For years, bartender Keith Mrotek, of Flora Room in Minneapolis, has been mixing drinks with Primitivizia, a bottled mugolio by Eleonora Cunaccia, a forager who canvasses the Dolomites for the choicest cones. Flora Room presently serves a bracing lengthy drink, the Mediterránea, that includes mugolio alongside alpine gin and alpine liqueur, ginger syrup and citrus. “Categorically, I’ve used [mugolio] in gin-based cocktails as a result of I really feel like it will possibly—magically—take away a few of the ‘pine’ style that gin cocktails have and mellow it out slightly bit,” Mrotek explains. “It provides complexity in a manner you can’t wrap your head round. It’s like MSG or shio koji.”

That very same complexity is at play at New York’s Seoul Salon, the place bartender Sungrae Choi’s housemade pine cordial calls on each pine needle tea and dried pine buds (each sourced on-line). The cordial is employed in a French 75–like cocktail he calls Seoul Forest, made with gin, pine soju, prosecco and mint bitters. The citrus notes of the gin complement the pine cordial properly. “I needed the cocktail to be extra vivid and refreshing.”

Choi, who like Cho has lived in Seoul, explains that pine is a touchstone of Korean tradition, representing sincerity and tenacity (as an evergreen would). Koreans usually embark on therapeutic “forest baths” to reconvene with nature, Choi says, and his cocktail is meant to evoke that sensation. “I needed to carry that pine taste to the bar, so folks can drink the cocktail and perceive that a part of Seoul.”