The Wrought Iron Grill’s pamplemousse is a mouthful

It was worth traveling from greater Lansing to Owosso for a drink with a French name, made with a Holland gin and topped with an Italian garnish.

The Wrought Iron Grill — located on my usual path to Owosso Community Players’ Lebowsky Center — offers a chilled concoction called the pamplemousse.

Its name is French for grapefruit. It comes in a martini glass with an ample serving of juice and no ice.

The sweetness of the fresh-tasting grapefruit juice was tempered with the right amount of tartness from real lemon juice. The citrus blend was augmented by a healthy splash of St. Germain. The unique — and pricy — French elderflower liqueur that comes in a fancy glass bottle, adds another contrasting flavor.

The intermingling of sweet, sour and flowery essences pleasantly stimulates multiple boroughs of taste buds.

The pamplemousse’s mixture does not end there. What gives the cocktail its kick, while adding more aromatic hints, is a dose of New Holland Brewing Knickerbocker’s gin. The West Michigan spirit has a distinct blend of its own. A dozen botanicals make it unusually piquant. Coriander, angelica root, orange and lemon zest, cinnamon, ginger and orris root, cardamom, fennel, clove, nutmeg and a generous amount of required juniper berries, give the $8 pamplemousse an extra zing.

Completing the complex-tasting drink is a colossal basil leaf that barely fits inside the wide rim of the glass. The garden-fresh Italian herb contributes an extra, fragrant boost to the drink that’s best sipped to appreciate all its flavors.      

The Wrought Iron Grill

11 a.m. - 9p.m. Tuesday - Thursday

11 a.m. - 10p.m. Friday -Saturday

12-8 p.m. Sunday

317 S Elm St #201, Owosso, MI

Wroughtirongrill.com, (989) 472-9025