Cocktail of the week: Pine’s evergreen sour – recipe | The good mixer

I wanted something on our list that was as fresh and Northumbrian as possible. Using the fresh pine that grows all around the restaurant adds a layer of freshness and unique flavour to this sour, while the lime juice brings some body and more complex sourness, and also lifts the crisp juniper in the gin.

Evergreen sour

Serves 1

35ml gin – a good, juniper-led one, ideally. I use Hepple, because it’s local to us, and it’s made with fresh green juniper, which works brilliantly here
20ml freshly squeezed lemon juice
20ml freshly squeezed lime juice
35ml pine syrup (see above)
1 egg white (optional, though it does bring some texture to proceedings)
1 pine frond, to garnish

For the pine syrup
25g caster sugar
25g pine needles, washed

First make the syrup. Put the sugar and pine needles in a small pan, add 50ml water and heat gently, stirring, until the sugar dissolves. Blitz the mix with a hand-held blender, then strain and store in a clean jar in the fridge, where it will keep for about 10 days (it’s past its best when it starts to darken in colour).

To make the drink, put everything bar the garnish in a shaker, dry shake, then add a good handful of ice and shake again. Strain into a rocks glass filled with more ice, garnish with the pine frond and serve.

• Bobby Morrison, head bartender, Pine restaurant, East Wallhouses, Northumberland