I’ve been meaning to experiment with mustard cocktails for a while, and tonight, it turns out, is the night.

A little inspiration-searching has turned up a couple blog posts by someone named Matt Turner who tends a bar called Anvil in Houston:

• Turner on the Anvil house blog
• Turner at Bon Appetit

Looks like gin is a solid choice. Which is lucky because that’s all I have. I’ve always loved a nice rosemary-gin fizz, and I thought mustard could make the perfect complement. Oh, and I added a kick of black pepper.

Here goes:

Mustard-Rosemary Gin Fizz with Black Pepper

• 1 1/2oz Gin (Plymouth in this case)
• 1/4oz Lemon juice
• 1 scant bar spoon Grey Poupon
• 3/4oz Rosemary-black pepper simple syrup (see below)
• Soda/seltzer/fizz (depending on where you’re from)

Shake first four ingredients with ice. Pour into rocks glass with rocks and mix with soda to taste (somewhere between a splash and halfsies).

Pairing recommendations:

• Freshly popped popcorn, tossed with a bit of olive oil, salt, black pepper, crushed red pepper, garlic powder and cumin
• Twin Peaks, on Netflix Instant

Rosemary-Black Pepper Simple Syrup

• 1c Sugar
• 1c Water
• 3 sprigs rosemary
• 1/2tsp ground black pepper

Bring ingredients to a boil in a saucepan with the lid on. Remove from heat and let steep for 10 minutes. Strain, cool and use.