Sgt. Pepper
While I love making drinks that are clearly food-inspired, I also love making a simple 4-5 ingredient drink that I can quickly make for a group. Simple doesn’t have to mean boring, and this one is packed with flavor. The ingredients just seem made for each other: a spicy and refreshing syrup with habanero and cucumber; an intensely flavorful gin with notes of cilantro, cucumber, lime, and more; and a poblano chili liqueur that brings more vegetal pepper and spice. Bring in some lime juice and a bit of soda water, and you have a thirst-quenching drink that is great for the patio or with dinner. Check out the details below if you want a discount on some of the ingredients!
Sweet Road Home
[#ad] Welcome back for our next @catanpisco and @settlersofcatan #sponsored drink! For number 6 in the series, we’re doing a long drink, inspired by the “Longest Road” card in the Settlers game. This is a riff on a French ‘75, which works great because the grape-based pisco and sparkling wine are natural partners. This riff is meant to highlight the wonderful floral notes in Catan pisco by bringing in elderflower and lavender. Top everything with a nice dry sparkling wine (I used a rosé brut), and the result is a delicious, refreshing, floral-leaning cocktail perfect for brunch or evening alike!
Supermom Spritz
I made this drink for my wife (definitely a Super Mom) for her last girl’s night/birthday celebration— the first of two signature drinks. It’s a tequila-based highball, sweet with a touch of spice (like someone I know…). Strawberry is the flavor that brings it all together as there are notes in the Aperol, Lillet, and of course, the shrub. Add in some vanilla/agave and bittersweet tonic to top it off… it’s a tasty number.
‘75 Southsidecar
I’m actually curious what this car would look like, if it were real. I’m thinking… generic muscle car? Classic towncar that’s realistically too big to parallel park? Use your imagination. It’s actually the name of my submission to this month’s awesome @homebarawards challenge: cocktail mashups.
Slam Dunk Da Funk
Vacation MacGyver, pt. 1
Today I'm continuing Highball Happy Hour with a summer-y, tropical-leaning, and absolutely crushable drink featuring the one-and-only Jaisalmer Gin. The recipe for this one came about during a recent vacation. It's a funny thing about being the self-elected vacation bartender-- when you're used to a very... expansive bar at home, it's a big change to suddenly have very limited options. But as I always say, constraint is the catalyst of creativity, so here is the first of two drinks I created with what I had on hand.
Cafecito Cocalero
Today’s post is featuring a new spirit for me— Cocalero Negro, a delicious South American-inspired liqueur. It is herbaceous, peppery, spiced, with slight floral and citrus notes with a touch of heat on the back-end without being overtly spicy. It has 29% ABV, so it holds up well in a cocktail, and while there's some sweetness, the bontaical profile reads almost like a light amaro to me. Needless to say, it's a versatile spirit.
Jaisamler Gin & Tonic
Welcome to Highball Happy Hour! It's no surprise that I enjoy making some... complicated cocktails from time to time. But a good gin and tonic is actually one of my favorite cocktails to enjoy while eating-- the slight quinine bitterness helps to quench the thirst and cleanse the palate, and the complex array of flavors and botanicals tend to pair well with many cuisines. Like many cocktails that only have a few ingredients, a G&T is easy to make but much harder to get just right. As part of my #sponsored @JaisalmerGin content, I wanted to make my "ideal" G&T to really celebrate the gin.
Prolific
This drink is dedicated to my lemon balm plant, which is currently growing like crazy. I don’t know what to do with it. It smells kind of like fruit loops in the best possible way and I’m sure I will come up with something (ideas below please!)… In the meantime, here’s a really delicious drink using it as a garnish.
Plant Lovin’
We are in Full Spring Mode here in Texas, so this is a drink to celebrate. Or commiserate, if you are one of the many unfortunate souls whose nasal passages can’t tolerate the insane amount of neon yellow/green pollen that is being constantly dispersed into the air. This drink is an ode (?dirge) to the life cycle of the plants responsible for our collective sneezing.