Category: cocktails

Cocktail of the Week: Washington’s Mule

2014-03-04 20.11.11

I’ve said here before that the Moscow Mule is one of, if not, my favorite cocktail. It was a Moscow Mule I had at Seattle Underground that served as half of the inspiration for this entire series of posts. So, when I see variants on the recipe, I’m developing my own right now, I’m excited to try them. This variant swaps out vodka for Applejack, as a cider fan I was excited to give it a shot.

The ingredients
The ingredients

Washington’s Mule

  • 1 1/2 oz. of Applejack
  • 1/2 oz. of fresh lime juice
  • Dash of Angostura bitters
  • Ginger beer

Combine applejack, lime juice, and bitters in a shaker full of ice. Shake. Strain into an ice filled glass (or go traditional with a copper mug!), top with ginger beer and garnish with a lime wedge.

2014-03-04 20.11.24

Oh, wow, that is nice! The Applejack is so smooth and crisp. The ginger beer is so sharp and spicy.  The bitters bring it all together. This is good. I don’t know if it’s Moscow Mule good, I’ll have to have a few more of both of them to decide that, but it is good. Washington’s Mule is also fairly light and I think it would make a good apertif or digestif. Or drink it on a hot day or warm evening out on the patio, that’s what I plan on doing…

Cocktail of the Week: Spicy Grapefruit Margaritas

2014-02-23 19.02.25

Saturday was National Margarita Day (February 22) and so I decided to make a margarita despite featuring one recently. I couldn’t do just another plain ol’ margarita either. D had me covered though with this spicy take on the cocktail she had seen online. This take on the familiar cocktail used grapefruit instead of lemons or lime and substituted a simple syrup for triplesec. Not just any simple syrup though, this one has cayenne pepper in it.

I was skeptical when D described the recipe to me, but she prevailed on me to make it and now, after drinking it, I’m glad she did!

The ingredients
The ingredients

Spicy Grapefruit Margaritas

  • 2 oz. tequila
  • 1 oz. cayenne simple syrup (see below)
  • 4 oz. fresh grapefruit juice

Rim glasses (this cocktail is not usually served in a margarita glass, we used mason jars) with either salt or sugar (I use a sugar cayenne pepper mix.) Place ice in glasses, add tequila, simple syrup, and grapefruit juice. Adjust juice and syrup for your desired level of sweetness. Stir well.

Cayenne Simple Syrup

  • 1/2 cup of sugar
  • 1/2 cup of water
  • 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper

Combine the sugar, water and cayenne in a small saucepot and bring to a simmer. Stir so that all sugar melts then remove from heat and cool in the fridge. You’ll want to do this an hour or so before you make the drinks as you’ll want the syrup to be chilled before making the cocktail.

2014-02-23 19.02.48

I love the colors of this drink a deep ruby red at the bottom from the grapefruit juice and pulp shading lighter as you approach the mouth of the jar. Through out are little flecks of cayenne pepper. This is a delicious drink. Perfect for hot afternoons or warm evenings (the kind we’re having right now in California, sadly…) The sourness of the grapefruit is perfectly offset by the spicy sweetness of the syrup. A lovely drink. I’m thinking I’m going to have to keep some of this pre-made in the freezer as well…

Cocktail of the Week: Winter Bourbon Smash

2014-02-02 19.56.54

It rained today. And if you’ve been following the news here in California, you’d know that rain is a pretty big deal right now. Besides alleviating, if only by a very little, the drought the state is experiencing the weather also made actually feel like Winter. To honor the rain, and the mood it established,I decided to make this winter smash that D had mentioned to me earlier this month.

I’d never made a smash before and this isn’t your standard anyway, playing on the rule that a seasonal fruit should be in the drink by using a jam or preserve. But, it did sound delicious and sitting on the couch, sipping this cocktail while comfortably wrapped in a blanket while listening to the rain fall outside was too wonderful an image not to make reality!

The ingredients
The ingredients

Winter Bourbon Smash

  • 1 oz. raspberry jam (any jam or preserve will do)
  • 1 oz. bourbon whisky
  • 1/2 oz. TripleSec
  • 1 to 1 1/2 oz. orange juice
  • splash of club soda

Add 1/2 cup ice, preserves, bourbon, triple sec and orange juice to a shaker and shake vigorously for 15 seconds.  Pour into serving glass with a few ice cubes and top with a splash of club soda. Garnish with orange slice.

PS – Depending on the size of the holes in your cocktail shaker you might have to use a jam that doesn’t have a lot of fruit chunks and seeds in it or be comfortable scooping infused jam out of the shaker after draining out as much of the cocktail as you can.

2014-02-02 19.56.37

Another wonderful drink! The bourbon and raspberry jam complement each other perfectly. The two work on each other smoothing out their rough edges, the bourbon’s bite and the jam’s sweetness, until you are left with something eminently drinkable.

Cocktail of the Week: Grandpa Burkart’s Margaritas

2014-01-26 18.42.55 D’s grandpa makes good margaritas. Funny story, the first time I met him he offered me a drink and I wanted to make a good impression so I said “sure” and he made himself and me a Bloody Mary. I thought, “Cool, I can drink tomato juice with some vodka in it. Easy.” That was before I drank any of it though and found out that really, it was mostly vodka and hot sauce with a splash of tomato juice in it. Grandpa Burkart had three of them and wasn’t even phased. I ceded at two and then handed the keys to D because she’d be having to drive… His margaritas are just as strong, made of equal parts lemon juice, tequila, and triple sec. They do taste great though…

The ingredients
The ingredients

Margaritas

  • 1 part fresh squeezed lemon juice (I used Meyers)
  • 1 part tequila
  • 1 part triple sec

Combine equal parts lemon juice, tequila, and triple sec in a container. Shake. Store in freezer for at least three hours. Serve in margarita or martini glasses with salt or sugar-lined rims.

The mix
The mix
After sitting in the freezer for 24 hours
After sitting in the freezer for 24 hours

2014-01-26 18.43.12Grandpa Burkart knows how to make a margarita! Despite not having any lime juice (the ones in the pictures are just for display), simple syrup, or any of the other things you sometimes see in recipes these are still the best margaritas I’ve ever had. If you want something a little dryer you can use regular lemons instead of Meyers. Just be careful as these pack quite the wallop, though you wouldn’t know it from the taste!

 

%d bloggers like this: