This time of year, my bar cart starts to shift from citrusy summer spritzes to cocktails that feel warm and a little more indulgent. Enter the Sparkling Fig’s Knees — my cozy, seasonal spin on the classic Bee’s Knees. It’s everything I love in a fall drink: slightly sweet, a little tart, and beautifully balanced.

A Sparkling Fig’s Knees for Fall Evenings

It looks elegant in the glass and tastes like you’re celebrating something, even if it’s just making it through a long week. As someone who’s always trying to find a fun way to make a spin on a classic, this one is probably one of my all-time favorites. Any chance I can get to use fig jam or prosecco (let alone both), I’m always the first to test it out myself. This Sparkling Fig’s Knees is always in my fall cocktail rotation and I know it’ll be on yours too!

Ingredients

• 2 oz gin
• ¾ oz fresh lemon juice
• ¾ oz honey syrup (1:1 honey and water)
• 1 tbs fig jam
• 4 oz chilled Prosecco
• Optional garnish: fig slice or sprig of rosemary

Instructions

1. Add gin, lemon juice, honey syrup, and fig jam to a cocktail shaker with no ice. We want the jam to incorporate with the other ingredients, so make sure to shake vigorously (think of it as a nice arm workout)!
2. Strain into a chilled glass filled with ice.
3. Top with chilled Prosecco.
4. Garnish with a thin slice of fig or rosemary for a little holiday flair.

This cocktail pairs beautifully with my Fig & Goat Cheese Appetizer for an easy yet elegant start to any fall gathering. I usually prefer to use fig jam over figs for two reasons. The first is that, here in Florida, quality figs tend to be hard to find. The second being that jam has a much longer shelf life and I can get way more out of it verses the fresh produce.

It can also be pain to strain out all the flesh from the fresh figs when mixing for cocktails (IYKYK). Because of those reasons, I typically gravitate towards fig jam.

Cheers Y’all,