 Welcome to my first re-shake post, where I make one of the many awesome looking cocktail specs that I’ve been saving on instagram, but never seem to get around to actually trying. Today, I’m talking about @limoncellokitchen and her Watermelon + Fernet cocktail. As soon as I saw this spec, and honestly I’m jumping on the band wagon because I’ve seen it reposted at least twice, I knew I needed to make it myself. I have a whole bottle of Fernet siting in my bar, but… I really struggle with making it work in cocktails. So, when I saw this drink I was very intrigued and I just happened to have half a watermelon sitting on my counter. I have to admit that I have a hard time following - instructions, trends, trains of thought, large groups, societal norms… you get the picture. So I definitely did my own thing here, just a bit. Partially because I didn’t have any apricot liqueur, and could really justify buying some, and partially because I really wanted to know what this would be like with Amaretto. As with any spec that is largely based on a fruit juice, the sweetness of your melon is going to be a factor but aside from that I thought this was a very interesting and easy cocktail. This was very refreshing, only slightly sweet and had a bitter herbaceous-ness that I really enjoyed. Its not your usual watermelon cocktail, and I’m all for it  Re-shaken Watermelon + Fernet (@limoncellokitchen)
1.5 oz. fresh watermelon juice 1.5 oz. white rum ( 0.5 oz. Fernet Branca 0.25 oz. Amaretto (the original recipe calls for apricot liqueur) Combine all ingredient in a shaker with ice and shake until chilled. Strain into a coupe and garnish with watermelon (and @limoncellokitchen suggests mint). Cheers!
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 It’s officially hot girl summer! And I’ve been doing some intense research to find the perfect cocktail. So, when I recently had a cocktail that combined whiskey and amaretto I was inspired. Together they play off each other creating light and bright flavors that are the perfect match in a summery cooler or highball. While I think that a smokier whiskey would also be very good combined with amaretto, I couldn’t resist using some of the Baller whiskey from St. George Spirits. Its the perfect combination to balance each other out and the nutty flavor of the amaretto works so well with the distinctive floral notes of the Baller. Since I have this great bottle of Rhubarb shrub burning a hole in my fridge I took a chance and it was amazing. This ended up being a really refreshing and balance cocktail, and besides, what could possibly be more hot girl summer than a whiskey highball?  Hot Girl Summer Highball
1.5 oz St. Georges Spirits Baller whiskey 1/5 oz. Girl Meets Dirt Rhubarb Shrub 3/4 oz. Amaretto 3/4 oz. lime juice Top with soda water Add all of the ingredients, except the soda water, to a shaker with ice and shake until chilled. Strain into a highball glass filled with ice. Cheers!  I got a really great bottle of Yola Mezcal for my birthday, and while I love a good mezcal margarita I really wanted some thing different. A great way to to create a new cocktail is to make a riff from an existing recipe. By switching out the base liquor in a favorite cocktail you can create a whole new and delicious combo. One of my favorite cocktails is the aviation, and I couldn't help wondering what it would. be like if I switched out the gin for some smoky mezcal. It was a bit of a gamble, but it turns out creme de violet and mezcal are an excellent combination. I added a bit of cherry syrup just to add a little more cherry flavor and bump up the color. And how could I resist calling this smoky Aviation riff Fire in the Sky.  Fire In the Sky
2 oz. Yola Mezcal 1/5 oz. Luxardo Maraschino liqueur 1/4 oz. Creme de Violette 3/4 oz. lemon juice Scant bar spoon Luxardo Maraschino cherry syrup Garnish with luxardo maraschino cherry Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker with ice and shake until chilled. Strain in a coupe glass and garnish with a cherry. Cheers!  Yay! Summer is here… The kids are out of school, which means instead of yelling at them to pay attention to Zoom all day I’m yelling at them that they can’t watch more TV. While I love my kids they do make me feel like a need a cocktail fairly often. Since I’m told being drunk all of the time is irresponsible and bad for my liver…bitters and soda is one of my favorite ways to feel like I’m having a cocktail when I should really be drinking more water.
This could not be easier, just seltzer and bitters. I highly recommend getting a seltzer maker, we have an Aarke and I love it. Once you have unlimited seltzer at your disposal start investing in some bitters, try out new and weird flavors. Use them so season your seltzer to taste, and voila you have the grown up version of putting fruit in your water. This can really be as simple as a few dashes of angostura, more or less depending on your taste. Or you can get really creative, and mix and match to create interesting combinations. Some of my favorite are a couple of dashes Scrappy bitters lime with a dash of lavender, or Fee Brothers orange with a dash of cardamon. Staying hydrated has never been so fun. Cheers!  For me cocktail recipes can come about in several different ways, but this one happened because my husband walked into my studio looked at a bottle and said “you should make a cocktail called Henry David Chareau”. I had to do some research, I am not an expert in Thoreau after all. I learned that, though he was a tee-totaler, he made a mean rhubarb shrub. And so this cocktail was born. In addition to the Chareau liquor and the rhubarb shrub I decided to go with St. George’s Botanivore Gin. If Thoreau was going to approve of any alcohol it would probably be this one with its 19 botanicals and its bright, herbaceous flavor. The result is a simple three ingredient cocktail that is spirt forward and has an pleasant interplay between the sweetness of the Chareau and the tartness of the shrub. As it turns out aloe and rhubarb get along very nicely.  Henry David Chareau
2 oz. St. George Botanivore gin 1 oz. Girl meets Dirt Rubarb shrub .5 oz. Chareau Aloe liqueur Combine in a shaker with ice and shake until chilled. Strain into coupe and garnish with a bit of trashy novel. Cheers!  Another spring cleaning cocktail for you this week. I really hate throwing things away if I can help it, and I admit that I probably stretch a few bottles a little past their best by date, you know which ones I’m talking about. By the way this doesn’t mean that they’ve gone off, its just a suggestion that they may no longer be at peak flavor. Despite this fact, I would highly suggest keeping your vermouth fresh, and not just because I have been personally victimized by unrefrigerated vermouth. Bad vermouth will ruin a good cocktail. This goes for sweet vermouth, though it does last longer, as well as Lillet Blanc in my opinion. Which means that you need to buy your vermouth consistently in small quantities ,or in the case of Lillet drink it consistently and in larger portions. While I am perfectly happy to drink Lillet over ice or as a spritz, some times you just want something a little more serious. Based on the classic 50/50 martini combo (gin and vermouth in equal amounts) this is the perfect cocktail for when you want a martini but not the ABV of a martini, and you just are never going to like vermouth that much. Lillet, and one of my favorites, Highclere Castle gin are the perfe  Highclere Half and Half
1.5 oz. Highclere Castle gin 1.5 oz. lillet blanc Combine in a shaker with ice and shake until very cold. Strain in to a coupe and garnish with a bourbon cherry. Cheers!  I had an opportunity to experiment with some of the fantastic products, and create a cocktail for Tea Drops for National Beverage Day. Tea Drops are great, and its always a pleasure when a company that I already love approaches me to collaborate. Its especially awesome when the company is as amazing as this one is, loved by Oprah (no brag), they are fair trade, organic, woman led and owned, and American made. Oh yeah and the tea is delicious. I really wanted to create a cocktail that utilized the tea in the way that its meant to be brewed, so just like when your making a cup of tea with a tea drop, you can just throw your tea drop right into the cocktail shaker. The blueberry Açai white tea has such a great flavor, and I wanted to compliment it with some floral notes. This is also the first time that I’ve experimented with making an air, and while it does take a bit to figure out the correct technique it’s so fun when it works.  Blueberry Bubbles
2.5 oz. St. George Botanivore Gin .5 oz. Creme de Violette .5 oz. St. Germain .5 oz. lemon juice 1 blueberry açaí white tea Tea Drop Top with soda water Combine all ingredients, except the soda water, in a cocktail shaker with ice and shake until very chilled and the tea drop has been dissolved. Double strain into a cocktail glass, and top with Blueberry Açai white tea air. Blueberry Açaí white tea Air 1 blueberry Açaí white tea Tea Drop 150 ml hot water 2 tbsp sugar 2-3 grams Lecithin powder Pour hot water over the tea drop and sugar, stir to combine. Let steep for several minutes, and then strain into a large bowl. Sprinkle lecithin powder over top and mix with an electric mixer to create foam. **This does require a bit of experimentation to master a technique that will work for you.**  I’m choosing to look at things through lunettes Roses (rose glasses), and hoping that traveling will soon be in my future. In anticipation I’ve been practicing my French, which is not good despite growing up in a bi-lingual country and being forced to take it in school. I’m proficient enough to be allowed to order in French by Parisian wait staff, but I wouldn’t describe it as conversational. C’est la vie en lunettes roses pour moi! This cocktail is a very spring inspired riff on a Negroni. Its uses a classic equal parts ratio to combine Amass peach vodka with a French grapefruit liqueur and some Lillet Blanc over ice for a super refreshing and fruity beverage. Pour one of these and imagine your basking in the sun on the French coast.  Lunettes Roses
1 oz. impeachment peach vodka 1 oz. Vedrenne Pamplemousse Rose 1 oz. Lillet Blanc Combine ingredients in a shaker with ice and shake until chilled, or just pour it in a glass with ice and stir it with you finger Negroni style. Cheers!  How better to welcome spring and say goodbye to citrus season then with a fresh citrus cocktail? Aptly named, I can’t take credit for this one. my husband created this cocktail for me and it was so tasty that I had to share it with you. This is the perfect way to get rid of those last couple of runty clementines/tangerines/cuties or whatever late season, super sweet, slightly withered citrus you have lingering in your fruit bowl. This is essentially a riff on a daiquiri, with the addition of the fresh citrus and some Pisco for a floral note. This is a very spirit forward cocktail, and though I didn’t feel the need, if your citrus is not on the very sweet side you might want to add a touch of simple syrup for balance.  Darling Clementine
1 1/2 oz. Kuleana HuiHui white rum 3/4 oz. Capurro pisco 1/2 oz. lime juice 1/4 oz dry curaçao 1 clementine Add all of the ingredients to a shaker, mudldle the clementine segments. Add ice and shake until very cold. Strain into a cocktail glass and garnish with some peel. Cheers!  Another addition to the Spring Cleaning series, this time I blew the dust of my bottle of Chareau Aloe Liqueur. This is a super fresh eau de vie made in California with a slight minty finish. Its the perfect modifier to a lot of classic cocktails, much like st. Germaine, there is really no excuse for it to be languishing at the back of my bar. While you can easily add Chareau to your gin and tonic or margarita, why take the easy way? That being said, this cocktail might be an example of trying too hard. Its not that this was a bad cocktail, its just that it could be better, and I’m not sure how to get it there. But it looked so pretty that I had to post it. Let’s just call this one a work in progress.  Bitter Peach
2 oz. Amass Impeachment peach vodka 1 oz. Chareau Aloe liqueur 2-3 dashes Angostura bitters Combine the vodka and Chareau in a shaker with ice and shake until very chilled. Strain into a martini glass and season with 2-3 dashes of bitters. Cheers! |