Beach Plum Gin Liqueur

By Hugh Merwin

Credit: Todd Coleman

Long Island's violet blue beach plums are an unyielding bunch�they remain bitter even after they're simmered in boiling sugar for jam, which is how they're usually eaten. But local distiller Greenhook Ginsmiths has found a way to tame the wild fruit. This cousin of sloe gin�England's time-honored buckthorn berry liqueur�is made by steeping beach plums in a bath of gin and cane sugar. The result is a balanced sweet-tart infusion that I mix with grapefruit juice, Angostura bitters, and soda for a newfangled fizz.

Greenhook Ginsmiths Beach Plum Gin Liqueur, $48.99 for a 750-mL bottle at Drink Up NY; 800/658-8149