Monastery

The Monastery is a sweet, fresh plum-flavored sour featuring slivovitz, a dry plum brandy. It was once featured on the menu at Baba, a Serbian restaurant in Arlington, Virginia.
We’re always fans of drinks that feature preserves, for their rich flavor and velvety texture. This time, we got lucky – we happened to have a Damson-plum jam from Trappist, a brand produced at St. Joseph’s Abbey in Massachusetts. Slivovitz is also made from Damson plums, so it was a perfect match, bringing out the complex fruit flavors of the brandy.
That said, we think nearly any stone fruit jam would be lovely with this, and pick up on different notes in the plum brandy. Peach might be pushing it, but a red plum or apricot jam would be lovely.

Ingredients
- 3 leaves Basil
- 1½ parts Plum brandy
- ½ part Lime juice
- ½ part Honey syrup
- 1 tsp Plum Stone fruit jam
Instructions
Muddle the basil leaves in a shaker. Add the remaining ingredients and ice, and shake very well. Double-strain through a fine mesh strainer into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a freshly-slapped leaf of basil.


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