Gemstone: Summer Cocktail Week 14 (Amie & Bonnie)

Gemstone

More details coming soon!

Ingredients (makes 2 drinks):
3 oz Bombay Sapphire Gin
4 oz Ruby Red Grapefruit Juice
1 oz Peruvian Pisco
Ruby Red Ice Cubes
Crystal Geyser Sparkling Water Ice Cubes

Food Pairing: Emerald Valley salsa, Black Diamond extra sharp cheddar cheese, whole wheat flat bread fashioned into diamond shapes and made into layers.

Song Pairing: 'Topaz' by B52s

Murphy Lake & Minnesota Winter: Summer Cocktail Week 14 (Adam & Michelle)

Savage and the Twin Cities take on different lives in summer versus winter, so our 'tribute to our city' theme took the form of dual cocktails.  The first is a sparkling lake scene, brought to life with the edition of Swedish Fish (appropriate given the large Scandinavian population in MN).  The second is a snowball of shaved ice that's as versatile as it is refreshing on a hot day like today.  It's so versatile that we couldn't help but make two variations and pay homage to the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden and specifically the "Spoonbridge and Cherry."  To top it off we paired this week's drinks with a song from Minnesota natives, the Gear Daddies: 'Cut Me Off.'  It was a fun flashback to college days and great background music to enjoy a couple Sunday cocktails.
Link to Live Version of 'Cut Me Off'

Murphy Lake

Ingredients:
White Rum (used Bacardi)
Triple Sec
Tropical Blue Schnapps
Club Soda
Orange Bitters
Swedish Fish
Orange

Fill a collins glass with ice and wedge a couple Swedish Fish on the outside of the ice.  Add 1/2 shot rum, 1/2 shot triple sec, 1/2 shot blue schnapps and 3 drops of orange bitters.  Top off with club soda and garnish with an orange slice.

Minnesota Winter, Pure Snow

Ingredients:
Ice
UV Cake Vodka

We used UV Vodka because it's made in Minnesota and also because I had heard rumors that its flavored vodkas had more distinct flavors.  The cake vodka was an easy choice because of its clear color and it did indeed taste like frosted sheet cake.  Using an ice shaver (we used a cheap manual version that worked just fine), shave enough ice to fill a small bowl and transfer to a chilled martini glass.  Pour a shot of cake vodka around the edges of the glass to keep a snowball-like mound in the middle.

Minnesota Winter, Cherry

Ingredients:
Ice
Cherry Snow Cone Syrup
Black Cherry Rum

Using an ice shaver, shave enough ice to fill a small bowl and transfer to a chilled martini glass.  Combine equal parts cherry snow cone syrup and black cherry rum and pour over the ice.  To create the "Spoonbridge and Cherry" effect balance a spoon with a cherry over the top of the glass.

Sangdori: Summer Cocktail Week 13 (Amie & Bonnie)

Sangdori

While I was in San Diego last week, Bonnie began brewing-up a concoction we've been looking forward to all summer: Secret Ingredient Sangria.  Bonnie's artistic nature melded with her inner mixologist this week when she not only committed to choosing a beautiful bounty of fresh fruits, but also declined temptation to look at any formal Sangria recipes.  "I knew the usual additions to the wine, besides the fruit, are Grand Marnier and brandy, but I decided to branch out and select what ingredients I could find in Amie's liquor cabinet."

Not surprisingly, she was able to find a myriad of options and eventually chose Triple Sec, a duo of bitters and an unsuspecting but quite worthy secret ingredient.  Originally we had thought to use Emergen-C, the vitamin supplement antioxidant mix (which, btw, is a perfect way to add fruity flavor to vodka in you're low-carbing).  However, once Bonnie started digging into the recesses of the resident bottles, "a beautiful green bottle of Midori surged forth and the recipe burst across my field of vision like the loveliest pattern of fireworks!"

Ingredients:
1.25 bottles Red Wine (we've been really loving a 2008 California Zin/Merlot/Cab blend, Menage a Trois.  It delivers a fresh, ripe, jam-like fruity character with strawberry undertones and a spicy backbone which served as a perfect base for our brew)
1 cup Brandy
1/2 cup Midori Melon Liquor
1/4 cup Triple Sec
1 Orange
1 Pear, peeled
1 pint Fresh Raspberries
1 pint Fresh Blackberries
1 splashy dash of Orange Bitters
1-2 drops of Lemon Bitters

Combine ingredients in a large glass bowl and chill.  We sampled after 3 days and found it to be so delicious that we supplemented the remaining brew to make the batch last all week.  By Saturday it had truly come into its flowering of flavors!  I had no idea Sangria could be so refreshing and was surprised at how smoothly the fruit absorbs the wine (as opposed to infusions that often drain the fruit of all flavor).  I'm not sure there's a bad fruit choice for Sangria, but Bonnie's method sure worked: "I chose berries and oranges but the pear called out to me as if wanting to be part of the group.  And I'm so glad, because not only does it add to the flavor, once it absorbs the wine, it tricks your friends into thinking you added beets!"  There you have it.  Sangdori...Refreshingly Delicious and Fun!

Double A: Summer Cocktail Week 13 (Adam & Michelle)

Double A

Our shot/shooter theme drink is one of our simplest and started with a spur-of-the-moment infusion.  When cleaning out the fridge before vacation I discovered some fresh mango and limes that were begging to be infused with vodka.  You could get creative and use almost any combination of flavors to form the base of this shot.  See what's in the fridge, throw it in vodka for a week and see what happens!  The mango didn't give up as much juice as I expected so the limes created the primary flavor.  For better balance I recommend infusing the mango for a week, then adding the limes for 3 days before straining.

By the way, Double A stands for Absolut Awesome because Absolut is so versatile and infuses so well!

Ingredients:

Citrus-Infused Absolut

Grapes

Simple Syrup

In a shaker add 4-5 red grapes and a splash of simple syrup.  Muddle well.  Add ice and 1-1.5 oz of infused vodka.  Shake well and strain into your favorite shot glass.

The sweetness from the fresh grape juice accentuated by a splash of simple syrup was really tasty and make the Double A easy to throw down.  It'll be fun to try with different flavors (or even plain) vodka and rum.

The Hangover

Week 13 was delayed (posts coming shortly) due to hangover-related complications, so we thought it would be fitting to post our best hangover prevention tips and best hangover cure tips!

Preventative Steps

Adam: Don't mix types of alcohol (beer, wine, liquor).  If you're only having a couple drinks this isn't a big deal, but a night-long assortment leads to no good.  Pick one and stick with it.

Amie: Before bed take an Emergen-C, 3 ibuprofen, and keep a water bottle by the bed.

Bonnie: Build up a high tolerance through frequent drinking.

Michelle: Drink quality stuff--avoid cheap alcohol.  Have a glass a water between each drink.  Before bed take 3 ibuprofen and 1 Tums.

Cures (don't kid yourself--there's no cure, but these may help!)

Adam: Cover up with the quilt Granny gave me decades ago (or your favorite blanket) and keep sleeping until you feel better.

Amie: Consume a can of Pringles and a Diet Coke (although there was some debate as Bonnie and Pat would insist on it being a regular Coke).

Bonnie: Consume a Coke and really really crispy home fries or hash browns, preferably with cheese and onions.  This can also work well as a preventative measure before bed.

Michelle: Sleep with a sleep mask on as it needs to be the darkest ever.  Consume pretzels.

Two final thoughts...

(1) Eat in proportion to how much you're drinking.  More food in your stomach (with a few exceptions) while drinking generally helps.

(2) Bum rush the jazz ho!

Packs A Punch: Summer Cocktail Week 12 (Adam & Michelle)

Packs A Punch

This started as a twist on a Mai Tai, evolved into a version of Rum Punch and then morphed into a souped-up Sangria.  Regardless of its lineage, the bottom line here is that "Packs A Punch" is potentially the healthiest drink you'll enjoy all week.  The dietitian across the table from me might disagree but I would argue there are more fruit servings in one drink than I normally consume in a week.  We maximized our rum theme by including not 1, not 2, not even 3, but 4 different kinds of rum between the cocktail and food pairing.

Cocktail Ingredients:
Black Cherry Rum (used Cruzan)
Bacardi 151
Dark Rum (used Myers's)
Pineapple Juice
Orange
Lime
Pineapple
Nectarine
Green Apple (used Granny Smith)
Starfruit

Several hours before serving, pour pineapple juice into an ice cube tray (we used a rubber tray that makes X shapes) and freeze.  Using frozen juice instead of ice cubes avoids watering down the drink as it melts.  In a goblet add a couple frozen pineapple juice cubes, a slice of lime, pineapple chunks, a slice of nectarine, a slice of orange and a couple slices of green apple (they turned out to be our favorite fruit).  In a separate bowl (or bottom of a hand juicer) combine the juice of half an orange, the juice of half a lime, 1 oz of pineapple juice, 1.5 oz of black cherry rum (1 jigger), 2/3 oz of 151 and dark rum to taste (used about 2/3 oz).  Give it a little stir and pour over the fruit in the goblet.  Garnish with a slice of starfruit.

Food Pairing: Mojito Marinaded Shrimp

In a large baggie combine 1/4 cup Bacardi light rum, a handful of chopped mint leaves, zest of 1 lime, juice of 1 lime, 2 Tbsp kosher salt, 1/3 cup sugar, seal and shake until the salt and sugar dissolve.  Add jumbo shrimp, seal and refrigerate for 20 minutes.  Don't over-marinade the shrimp or the lime juice will start to cook them and you'll end up with ceviche.  Grill the shrimp over medium-high heat for a couple minutes on each side until pink and cooked through.  The salty mint and lime flavor goes great with the sweetness of a Packs A Punch!

Q!: Summer Cocktail Week 12 (Amie & Bonnie)

Q!

If you find yourself in the middle of a cocktail-blogging summer heatwave while visiting your best friend form college and the sole liquor in which she'll imbibe is tequila, this is the drink for you!  Cucumbers in the garden are quite abundant this time of year, and what better way to celebrate their refreshing qualities than to "queue them up" as a muddled ingredient in this week's beverage.  Thank you to Mr. Q. Cumber's infused sparkling beverage (available at World Market) for providing a fortifying crispness and supporting component to the notion that tequila can practically be a salad dressing.  Seriously...we left the muddle cucumbers in the glass and they were quite tasty as a crunching treat during the drinking of the Q.

Ingredients:

1 oz Tequila (used Reposada)

2 oz Mr. Q Cumber Infused Sparkling Water

1 oz Chopped Cucumber

Lime

Into your serving glass, muddle the chopped cucumbers and tequila.  Return to fridge.  Ask the craftiest person at your gathering to fancy-up a cucumber garnish for the drinks.  Add sparkling beverage, ice and garnish to chilled alcohol, stir, return to patio and enjoy!  P.S. I know...it seems passe to combine ingredients in this order, but hey...you're on vacation.  Relax and live a little!  :-)

Notes on Tequila:
Earlier in the week Bonnie and I taste-tested 3 Corazon tequilas (trivia note: this Agave tequila company was semi-recently acquired by Sidney Frank, the creator and developer of Grey Goose Vodka).  We found the Blanco to be "fine and standard."  The Reposado to be "more complex and slightly smoky/earthy" but not tasty enough to warrant worthy of straight sipping.  And then the Anejo; too delicious to mix with other strong flavors and the reason why I now understand how people actually enjoy tequila.  We chose the Reposado as a base for this week's blending as it held a robust flavor and also lent itself well to absorbing Q's summery notes.

Gin Garden: Summer Cocktail Week 11 (Adam & Michelle)

Gin Garden

While bar-hopping in Vegas this last week we noticed a cocktail with both mint and basil and thought, what a great use for the herbs in our garden!  Yes, we do actually use them for non-cocktail food or drinks...but not very often now that I think about it.  So we brought the flavor combination back to Minnesota and created the Gin Garden.

To tie into Lollapalooza happening this weekend in Chicago and bring back rockin' memories of the best Lolla ever (2010) we searched for a good song pairing.  An obvious choice would have been something by Soundgarden, who was one of the headliners that year.  We skipped them then for Arcade Fire and apparently for good reason.  It turns out I can't really find any Soundgarden songs I like enough to invest even $1.29 in.  So instead, to celebrate the fact that while making a Gin Garden is when my love for gin started we decided on "When It Started" by The Strokes as an appropriate pairing.

And to try and keep up with the Summer Cocktail over-achievers (I won't mention any names), we also threw in a versatile food pairing.  At the Prior Lake farmer's market Saturday we stumbled upon some basil tomato cheddar cheese that ties in nicely with the basil in our cocktail.  We started by bringing butter to room temperature and whipping it with two cloves of minced garlic.  Then cut a loaf of french bread on the diagonal and buttered both sides.  I kept the grill on a little lower temperature than usual so the bread wouldn't burn while the cheese melted in the final step.  Put the bread on about a 300 degree clean grill for roughly a minute.  Flip and sprinkle the bread with shredded basil tomato cheddar.  Close the cover and grill for two more minutes until the cheese is melted.

Ingredients:
Gin (used Bombay Sapphire)
Basil
Mint
Lime
Strawberries
Simple Syrup
Club Soda

Add 2 basil leaves, 4 mint leaves, 1 sliced strawberry and juice from half a lime into a shaker (I hand squeezed instead of using our juicer to get the right amount of juice).  Muddle well to get the flavor from the herbs.  Add 1 jigger of gin and 2 splashes of simple syrup.  Add ice and shake well.  Strain over ice into a low-ball glass and top off with club soda.  For garnish I skewered a mint leaf, strawberry slice, lime slice, another strawberry slice and a folded basil leaf.  The fresh fruit and herbs are a great way to enjoy the final weeks of summer!

Whip It: Summer Cocktail Week 11 (Amie & Bonnie)

Whip It

Finding a treasure of 7 Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookies in the freezer the same week we won Devo/Blondie tickets can mean only 1 thing...this week's theme is Whip It and meets at the intersection of Dessert and Rock 'n Roll!  Wanting to stretch the coveted cookies as far as possible, we used our espresso grinder to create both a cookie crust and a sprinkle topping.  We used a chilled whisk to whip together the cherry brandy and heavy whipping cream and chilled beaters to whip the ice cream and chocolate liquor.  The dessert turned out aperitif in size, but completely worth it!  We paired with a glass of Syrah (2006 Renwood) which served to complement the richness of all, and played (yep, you guessed it!) Whip It by Devo.

Ingredients:
Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookies (frozen)
Vanilla Ice Cream
Godiva Dark Chocolate Liquor
Heavy Whipping Cream
Powdered Sugar
Cherry Brandy (used Clear Creek Distilled Kirschwasser)
Cherries

Chop or grind 7 Thin Mints into fine pieces.  Spoon 1-1.5 tsp into bottom of serving glasses and set aside.  Whip 1 cup vanilla ice cream with 1 oz chocolate liquor at high speed and return to freezer for 4-5 hours.  Using a pre-chilled metal bowl and pre-chilled beaters, whip 1/2 pint heavy whipping cream, 1 tsp powdered sugar and 1/2 oz cherry brandy until ideal whipped cream consistency occurs.  Mix 2 Tbsp whipped cream with 1 tsp ground cookies and use mini spatula to coat/line the inside of serving glass.  Fill glass with ice cream mixture, sprinkle cookie pieces on top and round-out with dollop of whipped cream and garnish with a cherry (we are still loving Maker's Mark bourbon flavored cherries).

Bonfire Julep: Summer Cocktail Week 10 (Amie & Bonnie)

Bonfire Julep coming soon...

Canyon Shandy & Full Moon: Summer Cocktail Week 10 (Adam & Michelle)

Canyon Shandy & Full Moon

Week 10 presented some challenges and also opportunities as we were on vacation all week.  Inspiration finally hit me as we sat at the hotel bar one evening looking out at the Grand Canyon.  I had no idea the Grand Canyon Brewing Company existed (see link below) but knew one of their brews had to be the base of my beer cocktail.  I first sampled the Horseshoe Bend Pale Ale, which was delicious but I didn't think the hops and strong flavor would balance well with other ingredients.  I landed on the American Pilsner, which is a good blank canvas for injecting other spirits.  Michelle went in a different direction with an equally delicious result for her beer cocktail.  I think our server thought we were a little crazy when we ordered but was apparently excited to charge us $34 for our two unique cocktails.  It'll be fun to recreate these at home with ingredients on hand for a little more palatable price.
Grand Canyon Brewery Website

Canyon Shandy Ingredients:
Grand Canyon American Pilsner (or other pilsner)
Limoncello
Absolut Citron
Lemon

They served a 20 oz beer at the bar so I sipped a couple ounces out, then added 1 oz of limoncello and 1/2 oz of Absolut Citron and garnished with a lemon wedge.  The proportions were about right, so if using a 12 oz can/bottle of beer I would reduce the amounts of the other alcohols slightly.

Full Moon Ingredients:

Blue Moon

Grand Marnier

Orange

They also served a 10 oz beer at the bar so Michelle sipped a couple ounces out, then added 1.5 oz (a full jigger) of Grand Marnier and garnished with an orange wheel.  She was disappointed the bar only had half wheels, but ideally would use a full wheel to look like a full moon shining over the tasty cocktail.