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Shrubs
Are you looking for a non-alcoholic drink that’s more exciting than cranberry juice and club soda? Consider making your own shrubs to create fun cocktail alternatives.
A shrub is a fruit-based syrup mixed with vinegar to create a tangy, complex flavor for cocktails or mocktails. The basic recipe is equal parts fruit, sugar and vinegar. To create your own shrub combine chopped and / or lightly crushed ripe fruit like strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, peaches, pears, citrus (include only juice and zest from citrus, no white pith) with an equal amount of sugar of your choice: cane sugar, brown sugar, coconut sugar or monk fruit in a Mason jar. (Note: the more ripe and juicy your fruit is, the more syrup it will create.) Stir and place in the fridge for 48 hours. Stir or shake regularly. After a few days, drain off the syrup and strain through a fine mesh strainer to remove any pieces of fruit. (Discard fruit or use in a smoothie or over ice cream.)
Strawberry Syrup Combine the fruit syrup with an equal part of vinegar of your choice. Apple cider vinegar is the most common choice; but champagne vinegar, rice vinegar, white wine vinegar or red wine vinegar will change the flavor profile of your shrub. A berry shrub is really good with a splash of white balsamic vinegar added to apple cider vinegar. Cover and leave the shrub in the fridge for 3 – 10 days to allow the flavors to blend. Your shrub will continue to mellow the longer it sits; so if you don’t love the flavors, let it set for a few more days and try it again. (Your shrub will keep in the refrigerator for up to six months.)
After your shrub has mellowed, add 1 ounce to a glass of ice and top with 4 ounces of club soda or flavored bubbly water. Stir gently to combine. Obviously, you can add liquor to your shrub beverage, just select an alcohol that compliments the flavors in your shrub.
Strawberry Shrub Mocktail Consider adding other flavors to your shrub like fresh herbs or peppercorns. Some tasty flavor combinations would be:
Strawberry, cranberry or peach and rosemary with champagne vinegar
Fig and thyme with apple cider vinegar
Blueberry and lavender with red wine vinegar
Pear and ginger with apple cider vinegar
Rhubarb and basil with white wine vinegar
Blackberry and thyme with apple cider vinegar and a splash of white balsamic vinegar
I’m planning to start a few shrubs in January. What flavor combinations should I try?
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Strawberry Vinegar Lemonade
Here’s a delicious cocktail alternative. I basically took the easy way out to create a quick shrub. If you don’t know what a shrub is – come back for tomorrow’s post.
1 ounce Strawberry Vinegar (I used Brightland)
1 – 1 1/2 tsp honey (I used Meyer Lemon honey, but plain honey will work.)
Juice of 1 lemon
Strawberry Vinegar Lemonade ingredients Combine the above ingredients in the bottom of a glass and mix well with a spoon until the honey is completely dissolved.
Add ice and top with Club Soda, Topo Chico or other bubbly water. For a cocktail version, add an ounce of vodka.
Cheers!
Strawberry Vinegar Lemonade -
Sara’s Purple Passion
A good friend asked me to help create a cocktail for her son and daughter-in-law’s wedding celebration. The groom enjoys whiskey so they served a whiskey ginger ale cocktail which was called “Whiskey Chaser.” Not to be left out, their dog Sarge had a cocktail called “Sarge’s Swamp Water” which was a Bootleg. The bride likes tequila and the color purple so I tried a few different ideas and this is the final recipe I created, which is essentially a bright purple margarita.
If you like the fun purple color, you need to order Butterfly Pea Flower Powder. I ordered mine from Amazon. Mix 1 teaspoon of powder into 4 ounces of blanco tequila. Mix well and then pour through a fine mesh strainer to remove any little pieces of powder that didn’t dissolve. The tequila will be blue, but it will turn purple when you mix it with citrus.
In a glass with ice, combine:
2 parts Sweet & Sour (I don’t typically use a pre-made mix, but asking a venue to make a scratch cocktail in large quantities isn’t practical. You can also use my scratch margarita recipe and by adding the butterfly pea flower powder you will achieve the same bright purple margarita.)
1 part Cointreau or Triple Sec
1 part fresh lime juice
Mix to combine.
Pour 1.5 parts of the butterfly pea flower tequila into the glass and watch the blue tequila turn the drink purple. (If you don’t care about the “show” of watching the drink turn purple you can just add the butterfly pea flower powder to a cocktail shaker with all of the margarita ingredients and ice, then shake well until the powder is dissolved.)
Stir and enjoy.
Cheers to Chase & Sara!
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Italian Strawberry Spritz
We had a delicious, refreshing strawberry spritz at Marina Grande in Sorrento, Italy and I did my best to recreate it. It’s perfect for a summer cocktail party!
Sorrento Italy Two key components of this cocktail are the strawberry infused white vermouth and Italicus.
White Vermouth – this is not the dry vermouth you use in your martini. Look for white vermouth (vermouth blanca or bianco) which has crisp floral and citrus notes. If you have trouble finding white vermouth, Cocchi Americano Bianco is a great substitute in this cocktail.
Italicus – This is an Italian liquor made from herbs. It’s expensive, but there’s really nothing else with a similar profile. (I use Italicus in another delicious cocktail, the Italicus Spritz, if you’re looking for ways to use up the bottle.)
A day or two before you want to make this cocktail, infuse the white vermouth (or Cocchi Americano Bianco) with fresh strawberries. Wash the strawberries, remove the green stems and slice up the strawberries into quarters. Place the strawberries in a large Mason jar and pour the white vermouth over the strawberries. Seal and let sit on the counter for at least 24 hours. Shake every 4 – 6 hours to redistribute the strawberries and help the infusion process. Once the strawberries have lost most of their color and are looking a little mushy, pour the mixture through a fine mesh strainer, capturing the infused vermouth. (The longer you infuse the strawberries in the vermouth or Cocchi, the pinker your spritz will be.) Pour the strawberry infused vermouth back into the Vermouth bottle or a Mason jar and chill. Discard the strawberries.
Recipe:
1 1/2 parts strawberry infused white vermouth or Cocchi Americano Bianco
1 part Italicus
3 parts processo
1 part club soda
Combine in a wine glass over ice, stir gently, garnish with strawberry slices.
Italian Strawberry Spritz Salud!
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In Conclusion
If you like the cocktail The Last Word, but want something a little lighter, try In Conclusion. Basically, a Last Word with Bubbles.
1/2 oz Gin (I like The Botanist for this drink)
1/2 oz Green Chartreuse
1/2 oz Luxardo liqueur
1/2 oz fresh squeezed lime juice, strained to remove pulp
Combine the above ingredients in a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake well to chill and strain into a chilled champagne glass.
Top with chilled Prosecco.
Drop a Luxardo cherry in the glass right before serving to limit the loss of bubbles. (Note: do NOT refrigerate Luxardo cherries.)
In Conclusion If making this cocktail for a group, combine the first four ingredients in equal portions in a container with a lid (like a Mason jar) and refrigerate for several hours to chill. Skip the shake with ice, just add two ounces of the chilled gin mixture to each champagne flute and top with Prosecco and a Luxardo cherry.
Cheers!
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New Year’s Eve Champagne Cocktails
Below are a few tips to help you prepare the best champagne cocktail.
- Chill your glass in the freezer for 5 – 10 minutes while you gather your ingredients and open your champagne. (Heat is the enemy of carbonation.)
- Since none of these drinks are served over ice, chill all ingredients in the fridge for several hours before making your cocktails.
- Freshly squeeze all citrus and strain to remove any bits of pulp. Chill.
The basic ingredients of a champagne cocktail usually includes:
- a bitter or sweet liqueur
- a flavor accent, if you used a bitter for the first step this step will mostly likely be sweet
- Champagne or Prosecco
Champagne Cocktail Liqueurs and Accents Once you understand the basic components, have fun and create your own cocktail. Below are a few options to get you started.
Classic Champagne Cocktail The Classic Champagne Cocktail
1 sugar cube
Angostura aromatic bitters
5 oz Champagne
Place the sugar cube in the bottom of a chilled champagne flute. Dash bitters onto the sugar cube until soaked. Top with champagne. This is a classic party drink because it’s quick to make and the sugar makes the champagne fizz.
Kir Royale Kir Royale
1/2 ounce black currant liqueur (Creme de Cassis)
5 oz Champagne
Luxardo cherry (do not chill or the syrup will crystalize)
Pour the chilled liqueur into the chilled champagne glass. Top with champagne. Garnish with a Luxardo cherry.
Cocchi Champagne Cocktail Cocchi Champagne Cocktail
1 oz Cocchi Americano
1/2 oz Orange simple syrup (see below)
5 oz Champagne or Prosecco
Combine in a chilled champagne flute. Garnish with an orange slice or a fresh orange peel.
Orange Simple Syrup
Simmer in a saucepan for 5 – 10 minutes. Stir occasionally.
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup of sugar
- The peel from 1 orange and 1 lemon (try to include as little white part (pith) as possible since that will give your syrup a bitter taste)
- Juice from the orange you just zested
Strain out the peels, discard. Refrigerate the citrus simple syrup for up to one week.
Hibiscus Champagne Cocktail Hibiscus Champagne Cocktail
1 oz St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur
1/2 oz Hibiscus rosemary concentrate (see below)
5 oz Champagne or Prosecco
Combine in chilled champagne flute. Garnish with a sprig of fresh rosemary.
Hibiscus Rosemary Concentrate. If you can find hibiscus flowers that’s great, (available on Amazon) but if not, just pick up a container of natural hibiscus tea at the grocery store. The Republic of Tea is a good brand.
- Boil 1 1/2 cups of water
- Add 1/4 cup of hibiscus flowers or several tea bags and a couple sprigs of fresh rosemary
Let steep for at least 10 minutes until the concentrate is a dark red.
Strain out the flowers and discard. Refrigerate the concentrated tea for up to one week. (If you have any leftover concentrate, try it in the Hibiscus margarita.)
Cherry Champagne Cocktail Cherry Champagne Cocktail
Luxardo cherries (do not chill or the syrup will crystalize)
1 oz Cherry liqueur (I used Heering 200)
Fresh lemon juice
5 oz Champagne or Prosecco
Drop a Luxardo cherry in the bottom of a chilled champagne coupe or flute. Use a spoon to drizzle a tablespoon of Luxardo syrup in the glass. Top with 1 oz cherry liqueur and a few drops of fresh squeezed lemon juice, then top with Champagne or Prosecco. Garnish with a lemon wheel or lemon peel.
Sorbet Champagne Float Sorbet Champagne Float
Sorbet
Raspberries or blackberries
Champagne
Place a ball of sorbet in a chilled coupe, top with champagne and berries. Serve with a spoon. You could even serve this for dessert, just use a chilled dessert dish and increase the size of the sorbet scoop.
Aperol Spritz I can’t forget the classic, Aperol Spritz.
For the person who just wants a glass of champagne, consider adding a few pomegranate seeds and watch them dance on the bubbles.
Cheers and Happy New Year!
Comment below with your favorite bubbly cocktail. I’m always looking for new ideas.
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Sangria by the Pitcher for the Holidays
One of my favorite fall / winter drinks is Sangria. We usually make a large pitcher of Sangria to drink while cooking on Thanksgiving and Christmas. If your sangria disappears quickly there’s no need to replace the fruit – just add more sangria.
Sangria Ingredients (excluding orange juice) 1 bottle New Age Red Wine – This wine has a slight effervescence which I think adds to the sangria. If you can’t find New Age, any inexpensive sweeter red wine will work.
1/2 cup Cointreau
1/2 cup Licor 43 – use this Spanish liquor instead of brandy
1/2 cup Orange Juice
1 cup of Fanta orange soda – the secret ingredient we learned about in Spain
Slices of orange, pear, apple and blackberries all work well with red wine sangria – pick your favorites or use them all.
Honestly, I never measure my Sangria ingredients but I used the measurements above this week and it was good.
If possible, assemble early in the day, I love to soak my fruit in the wine, Cointreau and Licor 43 for a couple hours before adding the orange juice and Fanta. This can be stored in the fridge for several hours before serving, but wait to add the Fanta until you are ready to serve the Sangria.
The pitcher above looked great in photos but I had to switch to a larger pitcher to fit all of the ingredients.
Serve in a large wine or water goblet filled with ice. Make sure to scoop out an assortment of fruit for each glass.
Cheers and Happy Holidays!
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Summer Slush
Did everyone try to sneak some of their Mom’s vodka slush from the ice cream bucket in the freezer while they were growing up? This is another oldy, but a goody.
Let’s be honest, you could essentially make any cocktail in large quantities and freeze it, so just let this inspire you to create your own summer slush cocktail.
Original Recipe:
9 cups water
2 cups sugar
Boil until the sugar is completely dissolved and let cool.
Add 2 cans of frozen juice concentrate and mix until incorporated. This is where the fun comes in. The traditional flavor my Mom used to make was lemonade and orange juice. I like to branch out and mix up the flavors each time.
2 cups of alcohol – The alcohol is typically vodka or gin, but I’ve used limoncello before. Consider using a flavored vodka that compliments your juice choices.
Freeze. Allow about 24 hours to freeze before serving.
Slush and outdoor movie night on July 4th Flavor ideas:
Margarita: 1 limeade, 1 lemonade with tequila and a splash of Cointreau or orange juice
Mojito: 2 limeade, a large bunch of mint leaves, add the frozen juice, mint and a couple ladles of your sugar water to a blender and blend until the mint is pureed – pour back into your container of sugar water, add rum (or for a Bootlegger use 1 limeade, 1 lemonade, mint and vodka)
Cosmopolitan: 1 cranberry, 1 limeade with citron vodka and a splash of cointreau
Berry Lemonade: 1 berry blend, 1 lemonade, citron vodka or limoncello, fresh raspberries
Gin Blend: Increase your water to 12 cups, 1 limeade, 1 lemonade, 1 orange juice, 3 cups of gin
To Serve:
Scoop the slush into a glass and top with a little soda. We usually keep the soda a mild flavor like: Sprite, 7 Up, Fresca or Squirt. A flavored bubbly water works well, too.
Tips:
I don’t use 2 cups of sugar… there is already a lot of sugar in the frozen concentrate and I find it gets too sweet. Try using 1 cup of sugar or even a sugar substitute.
This will attract bees. If you’re drinking outside, consider a cup with a lid or use Ball mason jars with lids and reusable straws like I did.
photo credits to Kaitlyn Ewine I like to make my slush early in the morning so I can mix it during the day while it’s freezing. This will keep it from turning into a solid chunk that you have to scrape every time you want a drink.
If it’s been several hours and your slush isn’t starting to freeze around the edges, your ratio of alcohol to water is too high. Try adding a little juice or a can of soda to the mix.
When we used to rent a lake cabin for a week every August, making a bucket of slush was the first thing I did after we unloaded the car.
I like to throw in a handful of fresh berries. Raspberries are really good because they break up when you mix the slush.
The last time I made this slush, I was short on time so instead of making the sugar water I used a 2 liter bottle of 7 Up. It worked really well.
Cheers! Stay cool.
What juice flavor combinations would you try?
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Bootleg Cocktail
This is a delicious lemon-lime and fresh mint summer cocktail that can be modified to your taste. You can use vodka or gin and you can make your bootleg concentrate as sweet or sour as you like.
Club Soda, The Botanist Gin and Bootleg Concentrate Bootleg Concentrate
1 can frozen limeade or frozen lemonade
1/2 cup fresh lime juice
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1 cup fresh mint leaves, washed
Add all ingredients to a blender (I love my Vitamix Explorian) and blend until the mint is well incorporated. I like my cocktails a little tart, but if you prefer a sweeter cocktail you can either add some simple syrup (heat 1 part sugar to 1 part water until dissolved, chill and store in the fridge for up to 1 month) to the blender or skip the fresh juice and use a can of frozen lemonade concentrate with the limeade and mint. The mint will separate when the concentrate sits, so just give it a stir each time you make a new cocktail. This concentrate will last in your fridge about 3 days before the mint starts to lose its bright green color.
Bootleg Cocktail Bootleg Cocktail
2 oz Botanist gin or Grey Goose vodka
2 oz Bootleg Concentrate
Add to cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake well.
Pour mixture into a glass filled with ice.
Top with 6 oz Q club soda, more or less to taste.
Garnish with a lime wheel or fresh mint.
For a non-alcoholic version just combine the Bootleg concentrate with club soda and / or lemonade.
Cheers!
Click on the three lines to the left of the word “lifestyle” at the top of this page and enter your email address to receive notifications by email when I post something new on this blog. Also, follow me on Instagram at cocktailsandgratitude for photos of cocktails, flowers, my pets and, someday soon, more travel.
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Italicus Spritz
This is one of my favorite cocktails at RPM Italian in Chicago. The special ingredient is the Italian liqueur Italicus. Italicus Rosolio di Bergamotto is a blend of bergamot peel, Cedro lemons, chamomile, lavender, gentian, yellow roses and Melissa balm. An aromatic and lightly spicy liqueur which balances honeyed sweetness with rooty bitterness. It can be difficult to find (and it’s a little expensive) but if you want to duplicate this drink, it’s an essential ingredient.
Add to a cocktail shaker filled with ice:
1 oz fresh lime juice
2 oz Monkey 47 Gin
1 1/2 oz Italicus Rosolio di Bergamotto
A small pinch of sea salt
Italicus Spritz: Prosecco, Monkey 47 gin, Italicus Shake well and strain into a large goblet with ice cubes and top with:
4 oz of LaMarca Prosecco or your favorite brand
2 oz of club soda
Stir gently.
RPM garnishes their Spritz with a lime peel but I saw several Italicus recipes that suggested garnishing with green olives. So, if you like green olives, give that a try.
Italicus Spritz Cheers!
Click on the three lines to the left of the word “lifestyle” at the top of this page and enter your email address to receive notifications by email when I post something new on this blog. Also, follow me on Instagram at cocktailsandgratitude for photos of cocktails, flowers, my pets and, someday soon, more travel.