Yes, this rhubarb and rosé cocktail is called “Rhubarb Season”
Rhubarb season came late this year. At least at my grocery store, anyway. For months (or at least weeks), every time Kyle went to the store, I’d yell, “Check for rhubarb!” as he walked out the door.
If I were a different person, I might have loaded two small children into their car seats in a pandemic and pushed my SUV of a stroller through a crowded Saturday farmers’ market to find the pretty pink stalk in March or April. But I’m not that person. So I waited until Kyle finally spotted it at the grocery store. Then I waited while it sat in the bottom of the fridge for another week to make my rhubarb syrup. Then I waited another week to make this fucking cocktail because I’m still parenting in a pandemic and constantly on the verge of losing my shit here, people.
All of this is to say that while rhubarb season might just be kicking off at The Boozy Bungalow, it’s likely nearing an end in the natural world. But everything is okay because we’re preserving it, sort of. Plus, according to The Google, rhubarb season runs through June and I spotted it just today at my grocery store so EVERYTHING IS TOTALLY FINE.
Speaking of things being totally fine, my kids finally go to school/daycare next month after thousands and thousands and thousands of days of all of us being stuck in the house together, so maybe I’ll actually get back to regularish recipes, but honestly probably not.
Anyway, this cocktail is really simple once you make my semi-internet-famous rhubarb syrup. You just put a little syrup in the bottom of a glass (I prefer a coupe but you do you) and top it off with my favorite bubbly rosé, Good Clean Spumante Rosé. Kyle was reluctant to try it (I always try to make him taste my drinks at, like, 2 pm) but once he took a drink he was all, “Oh, I like that. I really like that. I’m surprised at how much I like that.” Um, RUDE. But also he shouldn’t be surprised because I’m very good at putting my favorite things together and making drink magic happen.
So, without further ado, here’s the recipe for Rhubarb Season.
Rhubarb Season
INGREDIENTS
Emily’s Semi-Internet-Famous Rhubarb Syrup
Good Clean Spumante Rosé
DIRECTIONS
Add a little syrup to the bottom of a cocktail glass then top it off with as much or little Good Clean Rosé as you’d like. Garnish with a lemon twist, or not. Enjoy!
Rhubarb Syrup
INGREDIENTS
5-6 cups rhubarb, cut into ½-inch pieces
2 cups sugar
2 cups water
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
Pinch cinnamon
Pinch cardamom
DIRECTIONS
Add the rhubarb, sugar, and water to a medium-size pot over medium to high heat, stirring occasionally. Once it reaches a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer, and add the vinegar, cinnamon, and cardamom. Stir, then let the mixture simmer for at least 30 minutes, or up to an hour. The longer it simmers the more syrupy it will become.
Strain the syrup into a bottle or mason jar and let it cool to room temperature, then seal and refrigerate. Did I mention you should SAVE THE FUCKING MASH?! Put it in an air-tight container and refrigerate it.
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No. 2
I call this drink No. 2. It’s a companion to No. 1, which I shared with my Patreon supporters. Like everyone’s new favorite drink, my Little Baby Spritz, this is also a fairly low-alcohol cocktail. You can sip it all evening (or day, whatever) and not get too annoying. You also won’t get too sleepy because it has caffeine! In fact, it’s pretty much the Little Baby Spritz plus cold brew coffee concentrate. I used Chameleon, but any cold brew concentrate will work.
The other ingredient? Aperol. Of course! The combination of coffee and Aperol actually reminds me a lot of my favorite (and local!) amaro, J. Rieger & Co. Caffe Amaro — which I love to drink on the rocks or with club soda, so it’s no surprise I love this drink, too.
No. 2.
INGREDIENTS
2 ounces cold brew concentrate
2.5 ounces Aperol
Club soda
Lemon twist, for garnish
DIRECTIONS
Add the cold brew concentrate and Aperol to a collins glass and stir. Add a handful of ice, top off with club soda, garnish with a lemon twist, and enjoy!
And if you’re interested in the boozier companion cocktail, No. 1, consider becoming a Patreon Supporter at the Party Patron level.
I may receive a small commission — which helps support this content — from products purchased via certian links in this post. Thank you.
Lemon Vanilla Old Fashioned (Sort Of)
Remember when I used to create new cocktails every Friday, and write entertaining blog posts about each one? Yeah, well, we’re in a fucking pandemic and I have two small children and I’m just trying to survive over here, so those days are over. But thanks to my generous new Patreon supporters, I’m creating a little original content again. Still, I’m going to keep this short and sweet because I’m behind in literally everything and I haven’t had my meltdown yet today (okay, I did have one, but it was really small; I’m due for an ugly shower cry before bed).
Here’s the deal with this drink: I’m calling it a Lemon Vanilla Old Fashioned, and it’s sort of an Old Fashioned. I mean if you don’t look too closely. It’s made mostly in the style of an Old Fashioned, with sugar, bitters, and booze, but also with other delicious stuff (lemon and vanilla). Then I had to go and shake it instead of stirring it — which I really only did for the picture because my ice cubes looked like shit and I wanted to serve it up. But then it turned out I liked it better after a good shaking, so here we are.
A few things to keep in mind:
1. Use GOOD vanilla extract — not that cheap shit your mom used to put in cupcakes.
2. I know I’m always all, “Squeeze your own lemon juice, you asshole,” but I am ALL ABOUT shortcuts these days and I should probably keep my lemons so we don’t get scurvy when we inevitably go into lockdown again because some racist fucking idiots can’t be bothered to put a piece of fabric over their stupid fucking faces. Plus, the Santa Cruz brand is really good, and always consistent. Just be sure to give it a good shake before you use it.
Okay, well, I think that about sums up my mental state right now. Time for a drink!
Lemon Vanilla Old Fashioned Cocktail
INGREDIENTS
1 teaspoon white, granulated sugar
1 teaspoon GOOD vanilla extract
2 to 3 dashes Angostura Bitters
1 tablespoon freshly-squeezed lemon juice (or the Santa Cruz brand)
2 ounces bourbon
Lemon twist, for garnish
DIRECTIONS
Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker (or wide-mouth mason jar) with a little ice. Shake well and strain into a coupe glass or serve it in an Old Fashioned glass with fresh ice. Garnish with a lemon twist. Or don’t. Whatever. Enjoy!
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Virtual Happy Hour: Sparkles + Sequins on April 16
Remember outfits?! And drinking rosé while wearing outfits!? I do! And I want to wear really fancy outfits and drink really good sparkling rosé — with you! So, I’ve teamed up with my friends at good clean wine to host an intimate Sparkles + Sequins Rosé Happy Hour on Thursday, April 16 at 5:30 PM Central Time.
Wanna join? Here’s how: The first 20 people to buy a bottle of good clean wine‘s Good Clean Spumante Rosé using the promo code SPARKLES416 will get an invite to this virtual dress-up drinking party PLUS free shipping on your entire wine order. Even better? It’s only $20 a bottle (and they’re all so good). Order ASAP so you can get a spot and have plenty of time to chill your sparkling rosé before we all pop our corks and show off our outfits together on the 16th.
Don’t forget to use the promo code SPARKLES416 when you check out — you need it to get your free shipping AND your invite.

Upstairs Renovation Reveal Part 1: Refinishing The Floors for Teddy’s Big-Boy Room
This post is made possible by a partnership with Sutherlands.
“It’s just a little paint,” I said. “And some poly on the floor.”
“It will only take few weeks,” I said.
Those were just some of the things I told my husband IN JANUARY to convince him that we absolutely needed to do the cosmetic renovations to the second floor of our 103-year-old Arts & Crafts bungalow that would allow us to fully move into the home we’d owned for nearly six years. We were long overdue; there were three bedrooms and a half bath just sitting (and storing some junk, of course) while we, our toddler, our two rowdy rescue mutts, and my roving home “office” were crammed into two tiny bedrooms on the main floor.
And you know what? If I wouldn’t have discovered — by momentum-killing accident reminiscent of that scene in Black Swan where Natalie Portman starts to pick at a hangnail then ends up pulling all the skin off her arm — that most of the walls up there were basically made of decades of paint atop wallpaper (layered over plaster, because of course) then I really would have finished in a couple of weeks. With just a little paint. And some poly on the floor.
But today we’re not talking about paint; I’m not emotionally ready, and to be honest, I haven’t finished painting yet. No, today, we’re here to talk about refinishing the floors — the part I thought would be the scariest and most time consuming, but was actually the quickest and easiest (given the wallpaper situation).
I have to admit this ease was due in large part to Shawn, who did the sanding for me, as well as my new favorite product, Varathane’s idiot-proof water-based floor finish.
Where We Started
The floors weren’t in terrible shape to begin with, but of all the things that needed work up there, they needed the most. I didn’t feel safe walking on them in bare feet, so I sure as shit wasn’t going to let my toddler play on them.

When we bought the house, the second floor was carpeted. But even behind a closed door (there’s a door in the dining room that conceals the stairway to our second floor), the smell of that old, cheap wall-to-wall carpeting was giving me headaches, so I had it ripped out. Plus, I knew there was hardwood underneath and I wanted to see what it looked like. It turned out to be scratched, dented, and covered in staples and paint splatters, but even with some weird patching and holes and bumps, I knew it wasn’t beyond repair. It just wasn’t a repair we were ready to make at the time, so our upstairs sat mostly unused for years.

As Teddy got bigger, we found we were quickly outgrowing the first floor of our house, so I reached out to my neighborhood hardware store, Sutherlands, to ask if they’d be interested in partnering on a little cosmetic renovation. To my surprise, they said “yes,” and I was ready to get to work. And also to put some other people to work because I’m a busy woman.
The Plan
Before we even started, I knew I wanted to just seal (versus stain and seal) whatever wood we’d uncover with the sander. I came to this decision mostly because I’m lazy and impatient and was working with a budget, but also because it was 100-year-old hardwood and I figured there was no way it could be ugly. I knew that even just sanding and sealing the floors would completely transform the space, and I was right.
Here’s a closeup of the southeast corner of Teddy’s room before we started sanding.
Here it is after one coat of poly.
And here’s the same corner after we finished the work in his room.
The Product
If left to my own devices, I can’t even tell you what floor finish I would have purchased. Whatever was cheaper? (Floor finish is not cheap.) Something oil-based because it’s supposed to be more durable? Whatever came in the biggest bucket? Whatever had the coolest label?
Luckily, we’ll never have to know because I had the experts at Sutherlands to guide me. “This is what you want,” more than one person assured me while helping me load multiple cans of Verathane’s fast-drying, water-based floor finish into my cart.
Maybe it was obvious I had no clue what I was doing. Or maybe they could tell that I’m the kind of person who has never fully followed the directions on a can of anything in my entire life. Or maybe it was all the rollers I already had in my cart. (The instructions on the back of the can clearly state: “To prevent bubbles in the finish, DO NOT SHAKE, do not over-brush or apply with a roller.”)
Whatever it was, I’m glad I listened to them because I’ll never use another floor finish. This stuff is magic.
The Process
After a day of ripping out the quarter round on the entire second floor (which uncovered a dead snake — a discovery I narrated with all the appropriate expletives in my IG stories), and pulling up staples and tacks, it was time to sand. I’d tell you more about that, except I gave Shawn the honor of that job. But it looked pretty easy, if super dusty. And if I had to do it myself, I’m sure I could have (though I’m glad I didn’t have t0).
Since Shawn is a busy man, I told him I could handle applying the polyurethane myself, even though I was secretly scared to. After all the horror stories I’d heard, and warnings I’d been given (most notably, “Do not apply the poly with a roller!”), I knew there was a good chance of me screwing it up.
So did I finally slow down and follow the directions exactly? No, of course not. Who do you think I am? Still, sealing the floor turned out to be a shockingly easy, and even somewhat satisfying, process. And YES I used a roller. I attached it to a broom handle and rolled every two hours (as per the directions on the can, thank you very much) until it seemed like I didn’t need to roll anymore. And then I rolled some more in a few spots, just for good measure.
I’m pretty sure I over-brushed, er over-rolled, a few times, too. And you know what? I just sanded out those spots and they’re so damn smooth my son sometimes slips on the floors. See? I told you. This stuff is idiot-proof.
AND IT’S FINE. EVERYTHING IS FINE.
In fact, it’s better than fine. I think it looks fabulous.

When I — EVENTUALLY — finish painting the hallway, the other two bedrooms, and the half bath, I’ll be back with another post all about paint, paint colors, and product sourcing. So stay tuned!
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Sutherlands provided me with a supplies budget in exchange for a blog post, photos, and social media posts related to this renovation. All words and opinions are my own.