La Vie en Elderflower

For this cocktail, Amy Stewart likes to use syrup she makes with flowers from her black elder bushes (Sambucus nigra). You can find that recipe in her new book, The Drunken Botanist: The Plants That Create the World's Great Drinks (Algonquin Books, March 2013; $20). But if you don't have the flowers to steep for 2 days, take her suggested shortcut and use St-Germain elderflower liqueur instead.