Sunday, November 18, 2012

You Can Try These Winter Cocktails Now

Planning a winter event? Whether you're having a holiday party, hosting a bridal shower or getting married, these winter cocktails may come in handy! Whatever the occasion, it's always a nice surprise to offer your guests a noteworthy treat. In this case, a signature cocktail!

The Seasonal Skinny Cocktail: Cranberry + Vanilla (shown in the photo up top) would be a wonderful signature drink to offer quests during cocktail hour if your wedding is around the holidays!


The Hot White Chocolate with Rum would also be a nice fit for a wedding in the holiday season! This could be served at the end of the night along with dessert options!

The Winter Solstice Cocktail is clean and crisp, perfect for winter! Many winter drinks are warm or on the heavy side. If you're looking for a lighter option, this is a good choice!

Sometimes the garnish you use for your drinks can tie them in with the season. How cute is this Gingerbread Man cocktail!? These are perfect if you're looking for a playful spin on your signature drink.

And if you're looking for a yummy drink for the morning while you and your ladies are prepping for the day, these Creamsicle Mimosas look mighty fine! While many of these are perfect for a red color scheme, there are plenty recipes our there in other colors too! For example, why not try something blue? The Coco Snowball would be a great addition to a winter wedding!

Sunday, November 11, 2012

This Champagne Cocktail Recipe Is So Fabulous

There is a fabulous Champagne Cocktail Recipe. This particular cocktail recipe has been around for a long time. Of course, Dominic Milner has created his own authentic recipe for you to enjoy. However, the art of the drink has been around for quite some time. Some people prefer to not add alcohol to this drink and that is completely okay too. You can add a dash of fruit to this recipe for a special occasion treat. A lot of times, you will see this recipe at dinner parties, weddings and fancy dinners. It's often the drink of choice because it's classy but very tasty.

The sugar cube, bitters and alcohol add a nice mixture that you cannot find in other drinks. The way the sugar melts into the drink, offers a tingling sensation on your tongue. Your heart is probably beating for one of these cocktails right now. If you are in the market to spruce up your champagne, then this is the ideal cocktail for you. It's called a cocktail for a reason, and that's because it's the perfect mixture to satisfy your taste buds. Not many cocktails can live up to their names, but this one can.

As you can see, there are a lot of benefits to making this drink. As usual, you can add your own twist to the drink. Feel free to add blended up fruit or even sparkling grape juice to the mix. In fact, sparkling grape juice is a great alternative to adding alcohol. Whatever you choose to add to this Champagne Cocktail Recipe, you will not be disappointed. It is perfect the way it is and all you need to do is grab the ingredients from the store.


Ingredients:
  • 1 Sugar Cube
  • Dash Angostura Bitters
  • Dash Of Brandy
  • Champagne
Method:
  1. Add the sugar cube in the bottom of a champagne flute
  2. Add a dash of Angostura bitters to cover the sugar and then add a dash of brandy.
  3. Fill to the top with champagne and enjoy!

Friday, November 2, 2012

There Are Some Famous Fall Cocktail Recipes

As summer creeps to end, Tommy Bahama has invited you to share in three of their favorite fall cocktail recipes. Tommy Bahama knows a few things about the island lifestyle, which of course includes: cocktails, flavor, and parties. Below are the recipes, but if you don't fill like mixing it yourself, visit the Tommy Bahama Restaurant at the Kierland Commons to get them made up professionally.

Tommy Bahama’'s Pineapple Pisco Sour – Journey to South America with a tropical twist on the cousin of the Ciapirina, punched up with fresh pineapple.
  • 2 parts Pisco
  • 3/4 part Orange Curacao
  • 1 part Pineapple Juice
  • 1 part Sour Mix
  • 1/2 part simple syrup
  • 4 pineapple cubes
Mix all ingredients together with ice and serve in a tall glass.


Tommy Bahama’'s Kentucky Mai Tai – Take a trip to the heartland with a down home flair to this classic Hawaiian libation.
  • 1 part bourbon
  • 1 part Southern Comfort
  • 1 part Orange Juice
  • 1 part Orgeat
  • 1/2 part fresh lime juice
  • 1 dash Angostura bitters
Mix all ingredients together with ice, serve in a double rocks glass, garnish with an orange peel.


Tommy Bahama’'s New Amsterdam – Everything old is new again with this twist on the classic Manhattan, infused with French flavors of Lower Normandy.
  • 2 parts Calvados
  • 1 part Bourbon
  • 1/2 part creme de cassis
  • 1 part apple juice
Shake ingredients with ice and strain into a martini glass and garnish with a floating dried apple slice.

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Fruity Cocktail Recipes

There are so many different kinds of cocktails available today in bars, clubs, restaurants and I'd love to know which creative individual comes up with the names for all these wonderful fruity cocktail recipes. It seems too, that those watering spots you've seen in films over the years can boast a bartender who, generations ago, became a household name by creating his own unique cocktail and giving it its name.
The world-famous Singapore Sling was created by an Asian bartender named Mr. Ngiam Tong Boon during the Colonial years between 1910 and 1915. He was the bartender at the historic Raffles Long Bar in Singapore and he prepared his delectable concoction of equal parts of gin, cherry brandy and Benedictine, added a splash each of bitters, Cointreau, grenadine and lime juice and served it in a tall frosty glass, garnished with fresh pineapple. Thus was born the most famous of fruity cocktail recipes. Rudyard Kipling regularly enjoyed his Singapore Sling at Raffles, along with Ernest Hemingway and many other iconic figures, including royalty.
When we think of cocktails, we envision a tall, elegant frosted glass, beautifully garnished with colorful fruits – and the ubiquitous paper umbrella. And it seems that today, any cocktail worth its name consists of various combinations of liqueurs – and fruits. So how difficult can it be to create your own fruity cocktail recipes? Let's see how it's done!
First, we need to become familiar with the various ingredients which, when blended together in varying measure, will result in a cocktail – and then we add the fruit. This is the star of the show; this is what makes your cocktail stand out from the crowd with its unique taste, perfume, consistency and appearance. You might consider adding fruit to the basic element of your cocktail – alcohol. Choose the best quality vodka or white rum you can find in the store and add strawberries, oranges, apples, limes – you choose – to the bottle. Place the closed bottle in a cool dark place and forget about it for a month or more. During that time, the fruit will marinate deliciously in the alcohol and impart its flavor, resulting in a uniquely tasting spirit to use as a fruity cocktail recipe base for your own cocktails.
And what is more tempting than a freshly mixed cocktail in a frosted glass? To complete your presentation, it just needs a little garnish – and here again, you use fresh fruits. They will enhance the perfume, tempt the palate and is a joy to behold. Choose fruits which will marry well with the flavor of your fruity cocktails, slice it into small chunks, skewer them and place the skewer across the top of your well-chilled glass. Or, if you're using a citrus fruit such as an orange or lemon, slice it and cut a slit in each round and place it on the rim of the glass after you have poured your cocktail.
How beautiful is that – an arrangement of your own fruity cocktail recipes, perfectly mixed and garnished and presented to your guests on an attractive tray. Place some scented candles around your bar and your sumptuous drink creations will glow in their light.

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

You Can Also Make Your Own Cocktail Easily

There's a ridiculous secret underlying the current revolution in cocktail culture: it's actually almost impossible to make a bad drink (especially if bourbon is involved). All that's really required is balance: a strong, tactile, clean note of alcohol, finished with interesting side currents of bitterness, sugar, or salt. A successful drink should land loudly but end quietly on the palate.

While it's good sport to go out specifically for cocktails, it can be even more fun to experiment with their creation and host cocktail parties at home. There are three basic approaches to take when looking to improve one's drink repertoire. You can keep your liquor shelf stocked with expensive liqueurs and other enhancers. You can also dig up obscure recipes that are no longer in general use, such as those that date back to before Prohibition. Or you can use basic cocktail recipes as a starting point, then freestyle off of them with simple syrups made in your own kitchen.


The basic approach for making syrups is to dissolve sugar into water and then flavor the solution with herbs or other aromatics. Since the herbs can come from your garden, enhanced syrups are a great way to make drinks with exceedingly local ingredients. Keeping your fridge stocked with a few different flavors invites endless experimentation and spontaneity.

The basic formula for each of these simple syrups is a one to two ratio of sugar to water, and then the addition of an ounce of fresh or dried aromatics. Included below are recipes using shiso leaves, lemongrass, mint, dried rosebuds, and dried hibiscus to create five different cocktails: a Dark and Stormy, a Rose Sidecar, a Hibiscus Vodka Tonic, a Lemongrass Cider Manhattan, and a Sake Martini with Shiso.

All of these ingredients can be found in a garden, your co-op, or your grocery store. Check the bulk section for dried ingredients, they are also available online.

Creating cocktails can be a communal event: keep your bar stocked with at least one of each of the basic liquors and a few syrups, and invite a bunch of friends over. The only limit to the number of potential drinks is your and your friends' livers' imaginations.