Cloudy Apparent

I liked the Spring Apparent so much I wanted to see what it would be like if I added a little more pastis (1/4 oz) and added some more ice and club soda to it would it make it get cloudy like just plain pastis and water. And guess what? It did! 

Spring Apparent

Wanted something sophisticated but refreshing to sip on the porch on a fine spring evening. This fit the bill soooo well. I tweaked the Apparent recipe in The Ultimate Cocktail Book and replaced the Dubonnet with Lillet blanc. There's a new bottle chilling in our fridge for the upcoming season, taking my own advice about always having a bottle on hand.

Equal measure of a dry gin and Lillet blanc, and a dash of pastis - or maybe a little more - I like pastis! Shake with ice and pour into chilled glass with lemon twist.

More spring please.

Nine +

 

It was our anniversary recently and we needed a little something something to make with the cava I'd bought to celebrate. This is what we came up with based on John Cusimano's drink Mid Morning Nap.

Ricard Pastis
1 1/2 oz brandy
Some freshly squeezed lemon juice
Dollop agave syrup
3 dashes Angostura bitters
Cava

Coat the inside of a cocktail class with the pastis. Shake the brandy, juice, syrup and bitters with ice in shaker. Strain into the glass and top off with cava (or prosecco or champagne).

Here's to more drinks to share together on this day!

 

Princess Peach

1 1/2 oz Brandy
1/2 tsp Pastis
1 tsp Grenadine
Slice of peach
Top with sparkling wine/champagne
Shake first three ingredients together with ice in a shaker. Pour into flute, top with sparkling wine and add slice of peach.

We picked peaches yesterday and it was reason enough to open a bottle of prosecco but what to put with it that used peaches and wasn't the ubiquitous Bellini nor too taxing to make? Thanks to mixology ap we found one called American Rose that required nothing more than a slice of peach in it. That I could handle! After making a cobbler and peach ice cream it was all I was able to muster but we thought there was nothing necessarily 'American' about the drink with French liqueur, Spanish brandy and Italian bubbles so we changed the name. 

And yes, it was good enough for this princess. 

Porch Swing*

 

We're still on vacation though we've moved up the coast to Chincoteague Island. We spend our mornings watching the Tour de France, the days on our bikes or at the beach and evenings on the front porch. We didn't bring a huge bar selection so hard to come up with something different - but this was new for himself though popular for me way back in the 80s with Pernod.

2 parts Ricard Pastis
1 part Blackcurrant Ribena (fruit cordial - the non-alcoholic kind)

Stir in a chilled glass and add ice.

Like the glasses? We're always on the lookout for champagne coupes and found these in a little antique store in town. Just the right amount of fancy.

* Name inspired by the little guy's antics on the porch. Watch it here.

Cherry Blossom Mix off

 

It's spring! It's cherry blossom time in DC! Well, it should be but the weather has been too chilly for the tender blossoms so they're staying where they are for now and who would blame them. Still, blossoms or not - it didn't stop us on our quest to bring in the spring with a little drinkie and it ended in a little mix off.

Which one do you think wins this mix off?

Himself riffed on a drink called Paddington which he found on Mixologist app and it was next to perfect - grapefruit juice is a favorite of ours and the color was spot on.

1 1/2 oz Bacardi light rum
1/2 oz Lillet Blanc
1 splash of Ricard pastis
1/2 oz freshly squeezed grapefruit juice
1/2 oz freshly squeezed lemon juice

Shake with ice and garnish with grapefruit twist.

I went down a more literal route and mixed a cherry-smash-saketini type of drink and it was equally good and let's face it more original than his!

3 frozen whole cherries
tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
tsp sugar
1 oz Bombay London Dry Gin
3 oz Fu-ki sake

Muddle the cherries with the lemon juice and sugar, then add the gin and the chilled sake. We keep our gin in the freezer and the sake was chilled so no ice was needed for the mixing. Strain the mixture into a cocktail glass and garnish with a cherry.

Here's to some cherry blossoms! Eventually.

Blackthorn Bush

It's March, let's get the whiskey out!

1 part Irish whiskey (Black Bush)

1 part dry vermouth (Molly Prat)

A splash of pastis (Ricard)

A dash or two Angostura bitters

Mix in shaker over ice and pour over a cherry in a cocktail glass. 

If Ireland was an island off Southern France this would be the perfect drink there.

Pastis

Sometimes all that's needed is a simple pastis with water, the latest bicycle magazine and the evening to yourself.