simple syrup

Cocktail Advent 2: Cranberry Celebration

Sips

One good cranberry deserves another, yes?

Well, maybe not, but if you over-bought on the whole berries and are looking for something to do with them other than make garland, here’s an idea.

Image via Ketel One

Image via Ketel One

CRANBERRY CELEBRATION

  • 1 ½ oz. Ketel One® Citroen
  • 1 tablespoon of cranberry reduction
  • ½ oz. fresh lemon juice
  • ½ oz. simple syrup
  • Club soda

Combine first four ingredients in a mixing glass. Vigorously shake with ice and pour contents into a rocks glass (fine strain over new ice if you prefer no chunks). Top with a splash of club soda. Garnish with a cranberry and mint sprig.

****To make a cranberry reduction, take a 12 oz. bag of cranberries, rinse and add 4 oz. of orange juice and 4 oz. of simple syrup. Bring it to a boil, and let simmer for 5-7 minutes. Stir occasionally while it is simmering. Place the reduction into the freezer for 30 minutes and allow the reduction to thicken.

I like that this one seems fairly low-alcohol (all depends on how much club soda you add, I suppose–that splash could be extended to a good pour without too much trouble) and a good possibility for sipping throughout an evening.

***This recipe was submitted by a representative of Ketel One®. I have no affiliation with them nor was I compensated for posting this recipe, not even with review samples. As always, we encourage responsible refreshment and the use of the Designated Driver. No drunken monkeys, please!***

AlcoHOLidays | National Iced Tea Day | Hospitality Suite

Sips

jwalker_ss_hospitalitysuite

Ah, Iced Tea. It got it’s start here on American soil when an English tea merchant set up a booth at the St Louis World’s Fair in 1904 but it was far too hot for anyone to want warm tea. Even though I’ve heard it said that hot tea can can cool you off, and supposedly does so faster than drinking a cool beverage, you’d be hard-pressed to convince most of the folks I know of that.

Saturday, June 8, 2013, is National Iced Tea Day.

I’m sure you can come up with plenty of ways to enjoy your iced tea, but I’m going to pull out a particular favorite from my 50 Shots of America series: South Carolina’s Hospitality Suite. Sure, sure, sweet tea vodka blends are all over the prepared drink market, but I still think my combination of peach schnapps and strong tea is far and away better. And while you can certainly shake it and serve it as a diminutive drink as originally devised (all the better to share with), you can also stir the ingredients below together and pour them over ice and enjoy this one all on your own.

Hospitality Suite

3 oz Brewed Tea, strong
2 oz Peach Schnapps
1 oz Tan Sugar Syrup (simple syrup made with half white and half brown sugar)
1/2 barspoon Vanilla (the real thing, no imitation extracts!)

Combine over ice in a large shaker and give it a firm handshake to a count of ten. Strain into 2 chilled cordial glasses. (Or combine over a full glass of ice in an Old Fashioned glass and sip for 1.)

Cheers!

George

AlcoHOLidays | Mother’s Day | Lavender Lovely

Sips

jwalker_sips_mothersdaycocktail_lavenderlovely

I do apologize for missing last week’s AlcoHOLidays installment. It was a combination of an expected sponsored post falling through and me falling ill Thursday afternoon. It was, however, Cinco de Mayo last Sunday and I trust I’ve “trained” you well enough to know margaritas were in order, yes? Good!

This weekend, however, we are celebrating dear old (or not so old) Mom, as this Sunday, May 12, is the US observance of Mother’s Day.

While the Mother’s Day that is celebrated as a formal holiday the second Sunday in May was started by Anna Jarvis in 1909, there was another Mother’s Day that never really got off the ground. Back in 1870, after the American Civil War, Julia Ward Howe tried to start a Mother’s Day for Peace on June 2, though it was more about stopping the wars that were robbing mothers of their husbands and sons and promoting pacifism than it was honoring the institution of motherhood.

They say Jarvis was rather disgusted by the commercialism of Mother’s Day by the time the 1920s came around. Frankly, I can see her point. I will be glad when this weekend is over so that the incessant ads for flowers, cards, jewelry, dinners out, and anything else that could remotely please a mom. Do you know that Mother’s Day is the busiest restaurant day of the year? The automatic assumption is that Mom shouldn’t have to cook on Mother’s Day and heaven forbid someone else take her place in the kitchen.

But I digress…

The funny (read as: coincidental) thing about the post-Civil War Mother’s Day is that my favorite literary mother is Ellen O’Hara, from Gone with the Wind. And indelibly printing on my memory, just as it was Scarlett’s, is that she always smelled of Lemon Verbena.

Now, as I first read GWTW  when I was very young, possibly single digits-young, (and way before the Internet was commonplace in business, much less the home) my mind figured that lemon verbena must be some sort of perfume combining the scent of lemons and whateverthehell verbena was–probably a flower of some sort, I reasoned, and lavender somehow made it’s way into my mental estimation of the scent. Now, of course, I know that lemon verbena is a stand-alone plant in it’s own right, and that it smells like lemon and is used for its lemony oils, can be found in some teas, and does actually have small purple and white flowers.

Which is a very roundabout way of explaining the inspiration that went into today’s cocktail: lemon and lavender and all things lovely. Lemon and lavender are not exactly strangers to cocktails, as I’ve had a wonderful martini with those notes in the past. But I wanted less of a sweet, syrupy martini and more of a refreshing tall drink, one that would be at home on the back porch with a picnic or barbecue spread. Something that tasted like spring, and renewal–but without the bugs and dirt.

Lavender Lovely

3/4 oz Simple Syrup
1 barspoon dried Lavender
1 tsp Rosewater
1 oz Pisco
6 oz Sparkling Lemon Soda

In the bottom of a tall glass, muddle the syrup and lavender–you don’t need to crush the flowers into oblivion, you just want them to release some of their heady oils. Add the rosewater, Pisco, and enough ice to make the glass 3/4 full and give it a few stirs with the aforementioned barspoon, then stir in the lemon soda until chilled. Because the lavender will float on the top of the drink, I suggest serving this one with a straw!

I was debating base spirits on this one between rum and vodka, briefly considered cachaca for something a little different before I was reminded of the wonderful floral notes in KAPPA Pisco and there was suddenly no more deliberating! Pisco was the perfect choice for this cocktail but for those mom’s who are still expecting, I’m willing to bet that just using a bit more of the lemon soda (mine was California Juice Company Sparkling Meyer Lemon from Cost Plus/World Market) to make up for the missing Pisco would result in a lovely, all-ages sipper. If you’re short of sparkling lemon soda, I’d say some Lemon Perrier, the juice of one lemon, and a little extra simple syrup would do the trick.

Granted, I won’t be serving this to my own mother this weekend as she doesn’t drink any alcohol and overly-floral things give her a headache. Our tradition over the last several years has been to tour the local Parade of Homes on the Saturday before Mother’s Day and then go for a late lunch/early supper somewhere. It works for us.

Cheers!

AlcoHOLidays | Easter | Trio of the Southern Cross

Sips

The “shadowy” origins of many Christian holidays are major bones of contention among the devout and while I’m used to the usual arguments surfacing around Christmas I admit I’m a bit surprised at the furor rampant (at least among my Facebook friends) over Easter‘s influences.

Nutshell: the bunny, chicks, and eggs that don’t really seem like obvious symbols of the Christian resurrection celebration? That’s because they’re actually fertility symbols and yet another example of the Church appropriating a holiday from the people they were trying to sway into their fold. Over time the old pagan symbols may have been assigned new meanings (the egg as a symbol for the empty tomb, for instance) and the original meanings watered down into nothingness for most people. It happened, accept it and move on is my stance, but I’ve heard of several folks adopting the less-controversial Passover rites instead.

Whether your rite of spring leans towards sunrise services, Seders, or sugary confections a nice, refreshing beverage is definitely called for. Maybe you’re trying to balance the richness of kugel, clove-studded ham, or one too many chocolate bunnies, or you’ve looked ahead on the calendar to summer swimsuit season and want to keep your cocktails light and fruity. Any way you look at it, one of these three cocktails is sure to fit the bill.

Each of these three cocktails starts with a base of KAPPA Pisco and end with a topping-off of soda water or, in my case, Perrier. For folks who are not a big fan of plain water, adding bubbles is one way to make it more palatable, but Perrier isn’t just sparkling mineral water, it also comes in a variety of lightly flavored styles. I’ve tried their Pamplemousse Rose (pink grapefruit) before and recently received samples of their unflavored, lemon, and lime styles to try in place of club soda or sugary soda mixers in cocktails. Challenge accepted.

I find club soda to taste, essentially, like “stale” water–I’m not a fan. Admittedly Perrier has a similar trait but for whatever reason the overall flavor is more palatable. Also, if it isn’t silly to say–they’re probably the same, but–the bubbles in Perrier feel smaller, more delicate, than your average club soda. Again, I realize that’s more than likely ridiculous, but perception is perception.

On to the cocktails!

A trio of light, bright drinks perfect for spring!

A trio of light, bright drinks perfect for spring!

KAPPA Fresca

1 ½ oz KAPPA Pisco
3 oz fresh squeezed orange juice
Bottled soda water (or Perrier Lemon)

Pour KAPPA Pisco and orange juice into an ice filled mixing glass.  Shake vigorously.  Strain into an ice filled highball glass.  Top with soda (optional) and garnish with an orange peel.

KAPPA Grapefruit Fizz

1 ½ oz KAPPA Pisco
3 oz grapefruit juice
1 oz bottled soda water (or Perrier Lime)

Pour KAPPA Pisco and grapefruit juice into an ice filled highball glass.  Top with soda water (or lemon lime soda) and garnish with a lime wedge.

 KAPPA Kooler

1½ oz KAPPA Pisco
½ oz simple syrup
Club Soda (or Perrier)
Squeeze a wedge of lemon and lime

Combine all ingredients into a Collins glass with ice. Top with club soda and stir. Garnish with lemon and lime wedge.

Of the three, the KAPPA Grapefruit Fizz was my favorite while, surprisingly, Todd preferred the KAPPA Kooler, even though the flavor was mostly the KAPPA itself and he hadn’t liked the pisco neat when we did the tasting. Just goes to show that it only takes a little bit to take a drink from eh to excellent. The KAPPA Fresca, while neither of our favorites, is still a nice twist on the screwdriver or mimosa classics.

Cheers!

——————–

I received samples of both KAPPA Pisco and Perrier. All opinions expressed are my own.

Review | KAPPA Pisco

Sips
KAPPA Sour

KAPPA Sour

If you are a cocktail enthusiast (which you must be if you’re hanging around here, right?) you’ve probably at least heard of that classic drink, the Pisco Sour. You may have even browsed the recipe, thinking it was something you’d like to try, only to pull up sort when you saw it requires a raw egg white.

Before you think me cavalier on the subject, I consider food-born illness pretty high on the list of things to avoid. Memories of my Safety & Sanitation class are still vividly imprinted on my brain, even though it’s been almost 15 years! Salmonella is the bacterial baddie that could be in a raw egg, but the chances of that happening with a properly processed and stored egg is about 1 in 20,000 or 30,000. Hence, I have no issue at all eating the occasional raw egg white.

Granted, it’s usually in something like Caesar dressing, mayonnaise, or the occasional scoop of raw cookie dough (quality control, I assure you), but shaking one into a cocktail isn’t really that alien of a concept to me.

But plenty of classic cocktails make use of an egg white, what else is it about the Pisco Sour that makes it one of those drinks so many of the cocktail curious set skip?

Namely, the Pisco.

What is it and, more importantly, what does it taste like?

Pisco is a grape-based brandy from Peru or Chile, possibly named for the port city of the former. I was fortunate enough to receive a bottle of KAPPA Pisco from the same house that makes the fabulous Grand Marnier, Marnier-Lapostolle.

Before I get into tasting notes, can we just take a moment to admire that gorgeous bottle?! I fully admit that I’ve been known to purchase spirits for the beauty of the bottle alone, and this one is just a feast for the eyes. Apparently it’s designed by Ora-Ito (I might just have a new design crush) and at first I though the silvery sides were mirrored or some trick of a bottle within a bottle–then I realize it was just sections of clear glass letting the clear, crisp liquor shine through. It’s still a sexy as hell bottle.

When I opened said bottle I was reminded of tequila–that warm, enveloping sense of comfort that tequila evoke–but the taste is nothing like tequila. I found KAPPA Pisco both sweet and tart with a decided flavor of rosewater, like the perfumed French candies from the import stores. Todd found the flavors way too strong on its own, but I was pleasantly surprised by just how palatable it was neat.

Of course I had to try the classic sour with the KAPPA twist:

KAPPA Sour

2 oz KAPPA Pisco
1 oz fresh lemon juice
1 oz simple syrup
1 egg white

Combine KAPPA Pisco and rest of the ingredients into a mixing glass filled with ice.  Shake vigorously and strain into a small champagne flute.  Top with tree drops, or half dashes, of Angostura bitters (to create the shape of the Southern Cross).

And how was it?

Amazing. The lemon juice amplifies the refreshing tartness of the KAPPA and the heady floral notes are toned down–though whether from the additional citrus or the egg white I’m not sure. As for the egg white, shaking it creates a head for the cocktail somewhere between a beer’s foam and a meringue and the texture it adds to the cocktail is just wonderful. Overall, the KAPPA Sour might just become my new favorite summer cocktail!

——————–

I received a bottle of KAPPA Pisco for purpose of review. All opinions expressed are my own.