Mom wants a lot of Rosé, some frozen drinks by the pool, and a whole lot less whining from you.
Drunken Apple and Rosé Sangria
Sweet Corn and Strawberry Smash
Sparkling Grapefruit and Lillet Rosé Sangria
Giddy-up! ¡Olé! It’s a Cinco de Derby Cocktail Party brought to you by Master of Mixes!
Place your bets! Does your trifecta include Blood Orange Margaritas? Minty Mint Juleps? Three Sheets to the Wind? (I’m definitely putting all my money down on those three)
When Cinco de Mayo and the Kentucky Derby fall on the same day, everyone’s lucky. So, it’s time to throw a party of dueling cocktails! Mix up a giant punch bowl of Master of Mixes Blood Orange Margaritas, or make some ice cold batches of super minty Mint Juleps with a little help from Master of Mixes Mint Syrup (with extra mint garnishes please!). Stir it up with a pony or two, and tip back a festive cup to drink them all out of. And if you’re headed to the races later, slip a little into your lucky flask.
1. Party Banner 2. Cactus Cups 3. Tassel Napkins 4. Pony Cocktail Pick 5. Master of Mixes Blood Orange Margarita Mix 6. Master of Mixes Mint Syrup 7. Silver Punch Bowl 8. Opera Glasses 9. Horseshoe Flask
If you’d like to learn more about Master of Mixes and their naturally flavored, delicious mixers (and take a peek at their over 45! different flavors), please visit them at MixologyPro.com!
This post was made in partnership with The House of Angostura. Recipe and ideas are my own.
My calendar of nonsense drink holidays tells me that tomorrow April 7th is National Beer Day! So what are we going to do here? Make a beer cocktail of course!
Beer can be a pretty versatile ingredient in cocktails (you can even substitute it for an egg white in a sour!) but sometimes you want to play up the beer part more and not break out the hard liquor. Today we’ve teamed up with Angostura to show how their bitters can make a bold new spin on one of those classic drinks a lot of people think of when they hear “beer cocktail”: the Michelada.
A Michelada can vary greatly depending on who’s making it, but mainly it consists of beer, lime juice, hot sauce, spices… lots of delicious bits. I decided to take that spicy base and mash it up with the idea of Sangrita (no, I spelled that right, it’s not sangria), the side shot that accompanies tequila and translates to “little blood”. Sangrita is usually, but not always, a tomato based drink. Here, instead of a tomato base, we’re using a good dose of Angostura. Sound crazy? Crazy delicious!
Beer cocktails are warm weather cocktails in my opinion, and this weekend it’s getting a little toasty around SoCal so I thought now is a good time to crack open a beer and mix up one of these. It’s another great way to use Angostura bitters in a drink other than adding an accent to a cocktail.
Have you guys made a drink that uses a lot of bitters? Let me know! And if you try this, tag us and let us see! Cheers!
2 ounces freshly squeezed lime juice
2 ounces freshly squeezed orange juice
4 ounces freshly squeezed grapefruit juice
1-1/2 ounces Angostura Bitters
1-2 dashes hot sauce (more or less to taste)
Pinch salt
4 ounces beer
4 ounces Sangrita
Garnish: lime juice and spicy salt mix (equal parts salt, chili powder and black pepper)
In an airtight non-reactive container, pour in lime juice, orange juice, grapefruit juice, Angostura, hot sauce and the pinch of salt. Stir together and set aside until ready to use or refrigerate up to a week.
Rim a double rocks glass with lime juice and spicy salt mix. Add ice. Add sangrita mix to the glass and pour in beer. Stir gently to combine.
If you’d like to learn more about Angostura and their products, please visit them at www.angostura.com
Happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone! Let me help you pick out what you should be drinking and eating today. I am a 1/4 Irish after all…
Irish Whiskey Truffles with Baileys Crystals
And a few Green Drinks…
Frozen Cucumber and Green Chartreuse Daiquiri Cocktail
Procrastination has gotten the better of me this week as we speed, much too fast for my liking, into the 3rd month of the year. March is looking to be the most jam packed month yet this year as I’ve said “yes” to maybe one too many events, my mother is in town, and we celebrate multiple birthdays, St. Patrick’s Day (I am a 1/4 Irish), and Easter. So of course, instead of working on projects, I’ve been covering my ears and eyes going NAH NAH NAH NAH NAH and making batches of brownies and spending copious amounts of time photographing my purse contents.
I did take the time to make you guys a little something special for St. Patrick’s Day though this year. I hope it makes up for those purse photos.
It’s like a cocktail, but you eat it: Irish Coffee Jello Shots.
So here’s the thing. I enjoy an Irish Coffee from time to time; like, a few sips and then I’m usually done. It’s a lot of hot coffee and I’m usually drinking it late in the evening when a giant hot coffee is not really what I want right then. I’m also usually drinking them at a party or an event and bless their hearts for trying, but the coffee is usually not very good either. To control this situation for myself, and hopefully for you all, let’s get a delicious coffee and miniaturize it with the right amount of booze and not force people to drink giant hot coffees at 8pm.
I went ahead and created a straight up Irish Coffee version, garnished with the tiniest of lemon peel, and then bastardized it and went crazy adding in chocolate and Fernet Branca because I love chocolate mint anything including my coffee and for this one occasion, with my whiskey. Ooooh, I’m so crazy…
The original version of these has a strong, rich coffee flavor with a hint of whiskey at the finish. The cream is mixed in so you’re not trying to eat a delicate jello shot while whipped cream melts all over your fingers – gross. For the mocha-mint version, you get a lot of Fernet (a little goes a long way!) with a strong mocha finish and a more subtle whiskey punch at the end.
Irish Coffee Jello Shots (Makes 24, 2/5 ounce shots)2-1/2 ounces freshly brewed coffee, room temp
1 ounce brown sugar syrup (1:1 ratio)
1 packet of gelatine
2 ounces near boiling water
1/2 ounce heavy cream
2 ounces Irish Whiskey, Bushmills used here
lemon zest for garnish
2-1/2 ounces freshly brewed coffee, room temp
1/2 ounce brown sugar syrup (1:1 ratio)
1 packet of gelatine
1/4 teaspoon cocoa powder
2 ounces near boiling water
1/2 ounce heavy cream
1/4 ounce Fernet Branca
2 ounces Irish Whiskey, Bushmills used here
chocolate shavings for garnish
Are you guys into these? I have a few more ideas up my sleeve I’ll be rolling out over the next few months.
You’ve heard it said, “Everyone’s Irish on St. Patrick’s Day.” Well, I’m either one quarter or one eighth Irish, depending on which relative I consult, and I can tell you that, sadly, I don’t qualify as truly Irish on St. Patrick’s or any other day of the year. I’m not proud to say so, but it’s true. It’s not for lack of trying.
I went to an Irish Catholic school where several of the nuns were direct from Ireland, replete with charming accents– though the nuns themselves were rather sour. One of the nuns walked into my third grade classroom, declared that it was filthy, gave two boys a toothbrush, spat on the floor, and told the boys to start scrubbing. I sometimes think I might have known more Irish nuns than Irish families. The Irish families I did know lived in houses filled with crucifixes. I’m sure they must have had other decorative knick-knacks, but I only remember crucifixes. For me, everything Irish was a bit severe and austere– from the dour nuns to the simple cabbage and beef we ate on St. Patrick’s Day.
Then one Halloween, the Irish Catholic school burned down under suspicious circumstances, and I was relocated to the Italian Catholic school. The Italian school was completely different. Holidays were more cheerful. The clergy enjoyed themselves (and their wine) a good deal more than the nuns ever had. The food at church events tasted better. Cannoli, ravioli, stromboli. And suddenly, St. Patrick was eclipsed by St. Joseph. St. Joseph’s Day is two days after St. Patrick’s Day, and the Italians loved it. Everyone ate zeppole (a little like cannoli, but better, so, so good), and wore red and white, and went to the Knights of Columbus parade. There were flowers and candles, an explosion of color.
Mind you, I’m not trying to pick favorites. I’m just telling you what I experienced.
For this St. Patrick’s Day, I plan to forgo the green beer– in fact, I’ll probably pass up the beer altogether. Instead, I’m mixing up a cocktail with a bit of a mixed heritage: half Irish whiskey, and half Italian amaro.
1 ounce Irish Whiskey, Bushmills 10 used here
1 ounce amaro, Averna used here
3/4 ounce freshly squeezed lemon juice from 1/2 lemon
1/4 ounce demerara syrup
luxardo cherry garnish
Combine whiskey, amaro, lemon juice and syrup together in a shaker filled 2/3 with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with the cherry.
There’s a nice contrast between the light, floral whiskey and the spicy, rich amaro. It starts with a punch of sour flavor that immediately moves into sweetness, and the bite of the whiskey and the lasting bitterness of the amaro stay with you until the next sip. It’s a cocktail with a lot of character. Like those Irish nuns. And those Italian priests.
***This recipe was originally created for Serious Eats and appeared on the site this past week.
I’m not going to go on a tirade here about the ridiculous amount of non-holiday “holidays” that have sprung up over the past few years. Instead, here’s a reason to drink today: rum.
Rum and I took a little while to get to like each other, but now we’re totally besties. Here’s a few picks of some of my favorite rum drinks on the site. Enjoy!
Sweet Corn and Strawberry Smash
The El-El After-Dinner Cocktail
When did we, the world, decide to make almost every day of the year a food/drink holiday? Sometime in 2010?
Hey, I’m not going to pass up a day dedicated to tacos or, in this case, Margaritas. I’m just going to go with it.
Need some inspirational cocktail recipes? Here are my two takes on the Margarita. Cheers!
Want even more Margarita inspiration? Check out my Stir & Strain Pinterest board for some recipes I pinned.
