For Christmas I cheated a little and bought Meredith a stocking stuffer I knew we’d both enjoy together – a few different bottles of Royal Rose simple syrups. Meredith and I met Emily and Forrest, the couple behind Royal Rose, at one of Hunt & Alpine’s Hush, Hush events last year, and have been ecstatic to see their bottles popping up in many of our favorite shops around the state since then. With flavors like Saffron, Cardamon Clove, and Three Chili, the syrups easily add new flavor to any old cocktail recipe you might lean on, or a savory accent to many of your favorite desserts.

On the side of each bottle, Royal Rose includes a recipe to try with your syrup, and when we read the New Year’s Milkshake on the side of the Saffron syrup, we knew we needed to give it a shot. Ice cream, saffron syrup, and rum… good, good, and good. Since having “New Year’s” in the title seems unfairly limiting to those of us that love a milkshake almost any day, we dropped the holiday but kept the recipe unchanged, and after having had it on a few occasions (most recently, last weekend at the farm), we highly recommend that you find a bottle for yourself and give it a try!

Photos taken by Meredith Perdue for Map & Menu.