Beet me in St. Louis

So once you've infused a load of gin with beets it's time to search for more ways to enjoy it, right? Thanks to the handy dandy search engine known as Google I came across this gem and put tarragon on the shopping list. To make the Honey-Tarragon syrup bring equal parts honey and water to a boil, reduce heat and stir until honey has melted, then add as much tarragon as will fit in the liquid and let sit for a few hours - even over night. Keep some of the tarragon leaves for garnish as I can't seem to make a gin cocktail without a herb apparently - check out here, here and here.

1 1/2 ounce Beet-Infused Gin (Beefeater)
1/2 ounce Domaine De Canton ginger liqueur
1/2 ounce Honey-Tarragon Syrup
1/2 ounce lemon juice
Tarragon leaves
Combine all ingredients in shaker with ice, shake and serve. Tarragon leaves for garnish.

Beet Negroni

If imitation weren't the best form of flattery well this blog wouldn't even exist. Way back in December we were introduced to a beet Negroni in Parm in New York and we couldn't wait to try it out ourselves at home. Finally got our act together in February (we move slowly round these parts) and it was worth the wait. We infused thinly sliced raw peeled beets in gin and let it sit for 3 days. We strained the gin and stirred it with equal parts Campari and Sweet Vermouth and lots of ice with a slice of orange. Very satisfying and such beautiful deep rich reds and oranges.  

This has a very earthy flavor so if you like it lighter I'd suggest infusing it for a shorter time - I just couldn't take my eyes off the infuser to strain it sooner.

Calimocho (Kalimotxo)

I was told about this drink by many a Spanish student during my TEFL years and we finally got to taste it (by the pint load!) on a trip to the Basque country many, many years ago. It has been a staple of our summer beverages since - especially good by the pool on hot days or serving during World Cup matches (cheering for or against Spain - both work!).

1 part red table wine
1 part coca cola
Lots of ice

Coca Cola is the recommended cola, Pepsi would be too sweet and the biggest tip here is not to use a good red wine but the plonkiest of plonk you have left sitting on your wine rack.

Birthday Punch

Want a punch that's going to, well, pack a punch? Well, I found one.

I found the recipe in O magazine. I'll be honest I was surprised to see one so boozy which is probably why I tore the page out to bring on vacation and make on my birthday - hence the name change.

1 medium seedless watermelon, halved and diced
1 pint blackberries
1 cup vodka
1 cup St. Germain elderflower liqueur
1/4 cup lime juice
1 750ml bottle of chilled Prosecco

Place the diced watermelon and blackberries on a lined cookie tray and freeze for at least 2 hours. Pour the vodka, liqueur, lime juice into punch bowl* (with ice if you wish), add frozen fruit and finally the prosecco. Keep enough fruit for a second, or even third batch.

*If you're in a vacation rental use what you can.

The Last Word

First time I tasted this was in the PX speakeasy in Alexandria and I knew I needed to have more; which is what I've been doing a little too much of really...

Equal parts gin, green Chartreuse, maraschino liqueur and fresh lime juice shaken in a shaker with ice. Change the gin for vodka, tequila, or mescal and a whole new drink is poured. Easy peasy lime squeezy.

Be My Yes

My little Be My Yes hashtag in liquid form. The drink is actually a marriage of two recipes for the same drink (Clover Club); they each shared only the gin and the lemon juice as ingredients. Totally not planned out that way but now that I think of it very apt as I am thinking very strongly of my homeland tonight and anxiously awaiting the marriage referendum results.

2 oz gin
.75 oz dry vermouth
.75 lemon juice
White of one egg (used one for 2 drinks)
1 tsp raspberry jam (more if you like it sweeter)
Fresh raspberry for garnish

Mix all ingredients together with ice, shake well to make sure the jam has dissolved. Strain into chilled cocktail glasses.

Serve with a decent dose of optimism for a bright future for all.

House of Friends

House of Restlessness more like. It was a wet day or a snow day or something - definitely a day when we were stuck inside and we needed to release some energy with the kid.

1.5 oz Tequila blanco
1/4 oz Yellow Chartreuse
1/4 oz Cointreau
1oz Agave Nectar
1 oz Fresh squeezed lime juice

Add all ingredients to shaker and fill with ice. Shake vigorously, and strain into a cocktail glass. Got the recipe here.

El Añejo

Himself came home with a bottle of Bénédictine and started the search for the perfect drink to make with it. We've had some experimentation but this, THIS is the one. Called Nouveau Carré in PDT Cocktail Book we only had Lillet Rose in the house (chilled as always) instead of the Blanc so we felt that justified a name change.

1.5 oz Añejo Tequila
3/4 oz Lillet Rose
1/4 oz Bénédictine
3 dashes Peychaud's Bitters

Stir with ice (no shaking required) and strain into chilled glass. Garnish with lemon twist.

Now he'll have to bring home some more Añejo - we're all out.

Me and Him

Adapted from "Me and Her" recipe in the January/February edition of Imbibe magazine but with there being no Scotch* in the house and me doing the mixing on this one I changed the name slightly.

1.5 oz Highwest Whiskey Double Rye
1 oz Black Bush Irish Whiskey
.75 oz Fresh Lemon Juice
.5 oz Crème de Cassis
.25 oz Campari
Club soda
Lemon twist

Combine all the ingredients except the club soda and shake with ice. Strain into ice filled glass and pour the club soda over it. Garnish with lemon.

* We spell our whiskey with an 'e' in this house!

Paddington

I've long been fan of a little bear called Paddington so I knew I couldn't miss the movie but I didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did - so much that we got the marmalade out when we got home and created this. Taken from a recipe in the winter Imbibe magazine but where they used homemade lemon/grapefruit marmalade we added a little grapefruit juice to compensate.

1 1/2 oz Hennessay Cognac
3/4 oz Cointreau
1/2 oz Fresh Meyer Lemon Juice
1/2 oz Fresh Grapefruit Juice
1 tsp Orange Marmalade
Meyer Lemon peel for garnish

Shake all the ingredients together 'dry' first (without ice) to 'dissolve' the marmalade. Add ice to chill and strain  into  chilled cocktail glasses. You might want to spoon some of the marmalade bits into the glasses too. 

Proceed to stick your snout in and guzzle it down Paddington style.

Ginger Snap Side Car

I may have mentioned this before but one of my favorite holiday flavors is ginger so I knew I had to try this side car when I saw it for a pre-Nutcracker drink last week.  Himself recreated it for me here. Too bad there are no molasses cookies left to go with it.

2 parts Brandy (though I'm sure bourbon would be good too)
1 part Domaine de Canton Ginger Liqueur
1/2 part lemon juice
Ice
Sugar and cinnamon rim

Rub a lemon slice around the rim of the glass and dip in a mixture of sugar and cinnamon to create the sugared rim. Shake the rest of the ingredients with ice and pour into glass.

Clausapolitan

While himself was busy mixing up a batch of molasses cookies I got busy mixing something equally festive to imbibe with them. I revisited my molecular cocktail kit of which the only successful thing we created was a foam using soy lecithin; and I made a more citrus, more cranberry cosmo with a lime foam. Went down well (as did the cookies).


1 part Absolut Citron
1/2 part Cointreau
1 part Cranberry Juice Cocktail
1-2 dashes Snappy Lime Bitters

Lime foam:
3/4 cup lime juice, 3/4 cup water/ 1 sachet soy lecithin, whisked until frothy.


Stir first four ingredients with ice in separate container and strain into chilled cocktail glasses. Spoon the lime foam on top. Garnish with cranberries.

Santa Claus might prefer this over milk this year!

Smoke and Spice and All Things Nice

Tried to recreate a drink from the POV (W Hotel) himself enjoyed after viewing the national Christmas tree. The name completely escapes me but the smell of all-spice reminded me of baking the Christmas fruit cake so it felt very seasonal and perfect for the afternoon that it was.

I steeped 2 crushed cardamon pods in mescal for about 30 minutes (enough time to get some snacks together) and then strained it into cocktail shaker with ice, the lemon juice and the St. Elizabeth All-Spice liqueur. Shake and serve in chilled glasses - for garnish I had lemon slices and cloves. 

The result - smoky and spicy and warming. Loved it.

1.5 oz Mescal
.5 oz Lemon Juice
.5 St. Elizabeth All Spice
Cardamon pods
1 dash Scrappy's cardamon bitters

Honey I Drunk the Whiskey

Made this on a cold Thursday night and was tempted to call it "Sweet Jesus, is it not Friday yet!" but thought better of it. I had half a Meyer lemon left over from what I was cooking and it inspired a honey and Meyer lemon simple syrup - as in, melt about two teaspoons of honey with a little hot water and add the juice of half a lemon. All it needed was whiskey and there was some Powers Gold Label within easy reach!

2 oz Powers whiskey (My Dad's tipple)
1 oz Honey and Meyer Lemon Simple Syrup
Ice

Stir or shake and enjoy with ice and slice. 

Thanksgiving Cheer

 

For our anniversary this year we treated ourselves to a cocktail dinner at Catoctin Creek Distillery - the first legal distillery (since Prohibition) in the wine producing area of Loudoun County, Virginia. We came away with brandy (and more besides!) - a brandy made with a pear wine from the area. Thanksgiving was a great reason to open the Pearousia to toast and give thanks.

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

1/2 - 3/4 oz Pearousia Pear Brandy

1 tsp Sugar

4-5 oz Prosecco

 

Pour brandy in champagne flute and add sugar to dissolve. Top with prosecco. At the distillery they made this with sparkling apple cider which was also good - if you do that there is no needs to add sugar. 

Butter Beer

Excuse our absence - we've been busy doing research and reshaking some of our favorites but here's one we meant to post way back in September for our son's 9th birthday, which we celebrated in Harry Potter style trying to recreate the flavor of the butter beer we had a Universal Studios. We revisited it recently for Halloween. Yes, it's without alcohol but it's better that way - I tried a couple of adult versions with vanilla vodka but every which way it was too sweet for our tastes so we stuck with beer without the butter.

Anyway, to treat the kids or the kid in your taste buds:

6-8 oz chilled Reeds Flying Cauldron Butterscotch beer
Scoop vanilla ice cream

Serve in tall chilled glass. Magic.

Aperol Sour

Looking for a drink to down while sorting through back to school forms and supplies? Try this though I don't guarantee you'll get through it all but at least you'll have more fun, especially designing that organizational chart that will be ignored before we even reach September.

2 oz Aperol
1 oz Cocchi American
3/4 oz freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 dash grapefruit bitters
Lemon twist to garnish

Combine all the ingredients in a shaker with ice and shake. Pour over new ice and add garnish.

A splash of club soda or sparkling wine could help - the sunflower definitely does.

Division Bell

 

Can't remember where I found this or how long I've even had it sitting around ready to make (was missing an ingredient) but I know that I need to find more cocktails with mezcal. I've had a few recently and been on the look out for more.

 

1 oz Sombra mezcal

3/4 oz Aperol

1/2 oz Luxardo maraschino liqueur

3/4 oz fresh lime juice

Lime twist

Crushed ice.

 

Mix first four ingredients in shaker with ice and pour over crushed ice. Add the lime (or other citrus) twist.

 

All I know is it came from here and it is well worth buying the maraschino liqueur for.

 

Mojito

 

A mojito? Why yes a mojito! There are times when there is nothing more refreshing and at the height of the summer it's likely you need it and your mint plants need trimming. I eyeball a lot of the ingredients for this but I opt for a muddle free one by making a simple syrup with mint, and then have equal measures of that, lime juice and rum. And yes, more mint for the glass with lots of ice and club soda.

Cucumber Gimlet

The following makes 2 drinks - can easily be doubled/tripled for a pitcher! Why would you even want to make just one! It's as cool as a gimlet. By the way - you could use vodka if you don't have gin in the house*.

2 tbsp. Sugar
1 Small Cucumber - the Persian kind or 1/4 English cucumber
Some Basil
Juice of one or two Limes
4 oz Gin
Splash of Water
Crushed Ice

Cut the cucumber in small pieces (skin n' all) and muddle with the sugar and basil in the bottom of a cocktail shaker/mixing glass. Add the lime juice and stir to dissolve the sugar, then add the gin and water and stir to combine all the ingredients. Strain into two glasses filled with crushed ice. Garnish with cucumber, lime or basil - or all three!

*There should always be gin in the house.