Cocktail of the Week
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Dark & Stormy
Several years ago we were lucky enough to visit a friend in Bermuda. In the time share lounge, they had an honor bar with ingredients and recipes for several cocktails. I mixed myself a Dark & Stormy. Whenever I drink one, I think of sunshine and pink sand beaches.
We’re currently on Anna Maria Island for six weeks and I recently had a Dark & Stormy. It tastes just as good on white sand beaches!
Dark & Stormy (photo bomb by Sylvia, the flamingo) 2 ounces Dark Rum (I used Goslings)
5 ounces Goslings Ginger Beer (regular or diet)
Lime wedge
Add ingredients to a glass filled with ice. Stir gently to mix.
Enjoy while thinking of your favorite sandy beach.
Cheers!
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Fire & Cider
For a chilly Fall evening, try this easy warmer upper.
10 oz hot apple cider
2 oz Fireball Cinnamon Whisky
Optional:
Caramel sauce
Cinnamon stick garnish
Pour hot cider in a mug, add Fireball. If it’s not sweet enough, warm up some caramel syrup and drizzle a little in your drink. Stir. If you want to be fancy, garnish with a cinnamon stick.
Stay warm!
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Kaitlyn’s Strawberry Piña Colada
Cocktail-of-the-week takeover by Kaitlyn. Here’s a drink for those of you who are in the mood for more of a smoothie than a hard alcohol drink. The perfect blend between a Strawberry Daiquiri and a Piña Colada (aka Lava Flow.)
4 oz. Caribbean Rum
4 oz. Coconut Cream
1 cup fresh pineapple
1 cup fresh strawberries
1 cup of ice
Add all ingredients to a blender or magic bullet. Blend until smooth, add more ice if it’s too runny. Garnish with a pineapple slice and a strawberry.
Cheers to turning 21 tomorrow!
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Rhubarb Gimlet
It’s rhubarb season! Instead of baking with it, I suggest making a cocktail. This is a French Gimlet with rhubarb and Aperol.
Rhubarb Simple Syrup
Combine 1 – 1 ½ cups of chopped red rhubarb, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup water in a saucepan. Bring to a simmer, stir until all sugar is dissolved, simmer for 15 more minutes until rhubarb has broken down and the sauce has started to thicken. Turn off the burner and let cool. After I turned off the burner, I added in several strips of lemon peel. Once cool, pour the simple syrup through a mesh strainer, discard the rhubarb pulp and lemon peel. Refrigerate the simple syrup for up to 1 week.Cocktail
2 oz gin (I used Dampfwerk Barreled Gin again)
2 oz St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur
1 oz Aperol
2 oz fresh lime juice
2 oz rhubarb syrup
Combine in shaker. Shake well. Pour over ice in a rocks glass or serve up in a coupe.
Garnish with a lime twist.
Cheers!
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Strawberry Rosé Cocktail
Saturday is National Rosé Day, so I’m posting a simple Rosé cocktail.Use your favorite Rosé (still or sparkling) or buy one from this list of The 25 Best Rosé Wines of 2018.
Make your ice cubes and strawberry simple syrup on Thursday or Friday, so all you have to do on Saturday is combine.
Strawberry Ice cubes
Slice 2 – 3 strawberries and place in an empty ice cube tray. Fill with water and freeze.
Strawberry Simple Syrup
Combine 1 cup of sliced strawberries, 1 cup white sugar and 1 cup water in a saucepan. Bring to a low simmer and stir until all the sugar is dissolved, simmer for 10 more minutes to extract the strawberries juices. Turn off the stove and let cool. Pour the simple syrup through a fine mesh strainer, (the left over strawberries don’t look great, but they taste delicious. Add them to a smoothie, or on top of oatmeal or ice cream.) Refrigerate the strawberry simple syrup for up to 1 week.
Cocktail
Fill a goblet with strawberry ice cubes.
Fill 3/4 of the glass with Rosé and 1 ounce (or a splash, if you don’t want to measure) of strawberry simple syrup. Stir.
Garnish with a fresh strawberry.
Cheers!
If you have any strawberry simple syrup left over, add a splash to a glass of fresh lemonade.
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Gin and Orange Blossom Tonic
I discovered a new spin on the traditional gin and tonic to help quench my thirst this summer. Both the Dampfwerk Barreled Gin and the Spruce Soda Co.
Orange Blossom Tonic are made in the state of Minnesota. I really like supporting locally made products and when they taste this good, it’s easy. If you live in Minnesota, click on the links above to find out where to buy. If you live in another state, find out if you have local distilleries worth a taste or come to Minnesota and visit our many craft distilleries and local breweries.2 oz. Dampfwerk Barreled Gin
5 oz. Spruce Soda Co. Orange Blossom Tonic
Lime wedge
Combine ingredients in a glass filled with ice and stir.
Cheers!
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Grapefruit Margarita
Such a dilemma this week on what cocktail to post… a Margarita for Cinco de Mayo or a Mint Julep for the Kentucky Derby.
Just kidding. It wasn’t that big of a dilemma… I love margaritas and I don’t like whiskey.
1 1/2 parts Casamigos Blanco
1 fresh jalapeño
1/2 part Cointreau
1/2 part fresh grapefruit juice
1/4 part fresh lime juice
3 shakes of Grapefruit bitters per cocktail
Simple syrup to taste. If pink grapefruit is in season, you probably won’t need any simple syrup.
Quarter and seed the jalapeño. Place into the bottle of tequila for several hours (or overnight.) If you forget to do this, or you don’t want to spice up your entire bottle of tequila, just muddle a slice or two of seeded jalapeño with your tequila before adding any ice.
Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake well. Strain into a salted-rim glass filled with ice.
Garnish with lime and a slice of jalapeño.
Salud!
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Vodka Sour
I’ve been trying to cut out refined sugar so I did some experimenting with this cocktail. I tried three different sweeteners. The first one was organic coconut sugar, the second was organic cane sugar and the third was raw honey. I made simple syrups with the sugars using a 1:1 ratio with water. (Heat and stir until the
sugar crystals completely dissolve.) The coconut sugar made a gross brown simple syrup that turned me off, but the awful taste sealed the deal. That one was out. The cane sugar simple syrup and honey were actually very similar in taste, so whichever you have on hand or prefer to use will work. Note that I did use less honey than simple syrup.2 oz vodka
3/4 oz fresh squeezed lemon juice
3/4 oz organic cane sugar simple syrup OR 1/2 oz raw honey
Lemon twist
If you use honey, stir or shake your liquids well before adding ice or the honey will firm up and be more difficult to incorprate.
Add ingredients to a cocktail shaker filled with ice, shake well. Strain into a rocks glass over a large ice cube. Garnish with a lemon twist.
Cheers!
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Raspberry Bellini
This is a great brunch cocktail.
12 oz raspberries, frozen
1 peach, sliced and frozen
2 cups peach puree, chilled
1.5L bottle of Prosecco, chilled
Slice peach and freeze. Wash raspberries and freeze. (If peaches and raspberries aren’t in season, buy frozen.) Combine all ingredients in a pitcher or punch bowl. If you don’t have peaches, make ice cubes from additional peach puree and add to the pitcher or punch bowl to keep the Bellinis chilled.
Cheers! (and Happy 23rd Birthday, Nathan!)
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Moscato Mule
Here’s a fun twist on the classic Moscow Mule.
2 oz. moscato
1.5 oz. ginger beer
1 oz. vodka
1/2 T. fresh lime juice
Fill a glass with ice (preferably a copper mule mug with crushed ice.) Add all ingredients above and stir. Garnish with a lime wedge.
Cheers!