peach nectar

50 Shots of America–Virginia

Sips

Looking over the information available on our 10th state, Virginia, I stumbled upon the list of Food & Wine Festivals that happen throughout the year in the Old Dominion State. There are a LOT of them. But, you know, with a considerable agricultural industry and 130 wineries in the state, I suppose that should be expected.

The home of the Jamestown settlement and birthplace of about 8 presidents, I was always told that the state got it’s name in honor of Elizabeth I, the virgin queen. That’s not necessarily wrong, but I also read that there are a couple of Native American words common to the area that sound similar, so it’s a toss-up who really gets credit, there.

Still, I figure that’s as good a reason as any to offer up a non-alcoholic sipper for the umpteenth state (okay, yes, I know, we’re only up to 10 with this one) to claim milk as a state beverage.

Cheerberry Cooler

2 Blackberries
1 Strawberry, quartered
Peach nectar
Cherry soda

In a low-ball glass, muddle the berries with a healthy splash of the peach nectar until thoroughly crushed. Fill the glass half-full with crushed ice and top with cherry soda. Stir to combine the fruit with the soda and float a bit more peach nectar along the top.

Cheerwine is a very-cherry, very carbonated soda bottled in North Carolina but very popular in Virginia. If you can’t find it or another all-cherry soda, substituting Cherry 7-Up will also work. In large volumes this would make a lovely spring or summer punch and, in the absence of fresh, frozen fruit can be substituted. If served doubled in a tall glass make sure to include a spoon so the fruit doesn’t go to waste.

50 Shots of America–Delaware

Sips

Welcome to the 2010 series theme for Sips & Shots: 50 Shots of America! Each week I’ll look at a different state, dig up some (hopefully) interesting facts about it that then leads me to concoct a little libation in it’s honor (for these recipes I’ll be sticking to 2oz or less, so a double shot)! These are not intended to be official by any means, just a fun exercise in cocktail creation. (And, hey, if by the end of this year I can actually identify each state on the map–Bonus!*) Rather than do another alphabetical listing, this time I’m using the date of statehood as my guide so first up is…

Delaware, the first state to ratify the constitution on December 7, 1787, is a fairly tiny state (second only to Rhode Island in area) originally colonized by the Dutch. Apparently the log cabin is of Finnish ingenuity and the Finns brought over the plans with them in the mid-17th century. There’s a preserved log cabin of this sort at the Museum of Agriculture in the state capital, Dover. (Thanks to 50states.com for that bit of intel.) Even though I always will associate Georgia as the peach state, the peach blossom is the state flower of Delaware so it shares that nickname with it’s Southern buddy.

Despite wanting terribly to work the ‘no sales tax’ angle into this week’s cocktail, I decided to go with the log cabin and peaches instead. There’s already a Log Cabin cocktail in the world (actually, 3 different recipes presented themselves during a search) so, using that (those) as the base, I now present to you:

the Delaware Log Cabin

1 oz Peach nectar
1/2 oz Applejack
1/2 oz Whiskey
splash Maple Syrup

Combine all ingredients in a small cocktail shaker over ice and shake like a wave crashing on the Rehoboth Beach dunes. Strain into a double shot or cordial glass.

The whiskey seems very pioneer, log cabin-ish to me and using a corn-based whiskey makes sense as one of Delaware’s main crops is corn (it’s even on the state seal). There’s an Apple Scrapple Festival every year in Bridgeville, hence the use of Applejack and maple syrup seemed like a fitting sweetener instead of the usual sugar syrup, which helps to blunt the whiskey’s edge and let the light peach taste come through.

*The only class I ever failed in High School was Geography and it’s been said more than once that I lack any sort of natural sense of direction. Maybe I just didn’t have the proper incentive, then 😉