The plum harvest is generous to a fault — more fruit than most households can eat fresh, more than enough to put up jam and syrup and still have plenty left over. This drink exists to close the loop on the garden-to-glass story without a spirit in the middle. The plum syrup is doing all the work: color, sweetness, tartness, and the particular stone-fruit flavor that no store-bought ingredient matches.
It's a five-minute drink once the syrup is made. If you haven't made the syrup yet, that's where to start — the Plum Simple Syrup recipe takes about 25 minutes and can be frozen in ice cube trays for all-winter use.
This mocktail uses the same plum syrup that goes into the Plum Bourbon Sour. Make one batch of syrup and you have ingredients for both. The cocktail and mocktail versions are more similar than different — the spirit adds warmth and structure, but the plum does the heavy lifting either way. See the full harvest-to-bar story on the Plum Guide.
Instructions
- Fill a tall highball glass with ice — pack it well. A well-chilled glass keeps the drink cold and maintains the carbonation of the sparkling water longer.
- Pour 1 oz of homegrown plum simple syrup over the ice. Follow with ¾ oz of fresh-squeezed lemon juice. Stir briefly — about 10 seconds — to combine.
- Taste the syrup-lemon base before adding the soda. If you want more plum, add another ¼ oz of syrup. More tartness — another squeeze of lemon. Fix the balance before the bubbles go in.
- Pour 4 oz of sparkling water gently down the inside of the glass. This preserves the carbonation — pouring straight down over ice knocks most of the bubbles out before the first sip. One slow stir from the bottom to integrate.
- Slap a fresh sprig of mint firmly against your palm — this bruises the leaves and releases the aromatic oils without crushing them. Press the sprig into the top of the drink so the leaves sit just above the rim. Add a lemon wheel on the side.
Variations
Scale for a Crowd
4 oz
3 oz lemon + 16 oz soda
8 oz
6 oz lemon + 32 oz soda
16 oz
12 oz lemon · add soda per glass
Pre-mix the syrup and lemon in a pitcher and refrigerate. Add sparkling water per glass at serving — adding it ahead kills the carbonation.
Cocktail Version
The cocktail version of this drink is the Plum Bourbon Sour — 2 oz bourbon, ¾ oz plum syrup, ¾ oz fresh lemon juice, optional amaro and egg white. The spirit adds structure and warmth, but the plum does the same work in both versions. Both use the same jar of syrup from the same trees. Must be 21 or older to consume alcohol. Please drink responsibly.