Ice + Clink + Drink

Maybe you have a last BBQ to attend this Labor Day Weekend and need an easy pitcher drink. The Capetown Collins is that drink. It is easy to create and unique in taste – the perfect combo.

Capetown Collins* (make ahead of serving)

 In a pitcher, combine the gin, Rosemary-Rooibos Syrup and lemon juice and refrigerate until chilled, at least 1 hour. Stir well and strain into ice-filled collins glasses. Garnish with the rosemary sprigs. Makes six servings.

 Rosemary-Rooibos Syrup

 In a small saucepan, bring the water to a boil with the rosemary sprig; simmer over moderate heat for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat. Add the tea bags and let steep for 5 minutes. Discard the tea bags and rosemary and stir in the sugar until dissolved. Let cool, then pour into an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 2 weeks.

 You really only need an hour and a half advance notice to throw this together. The syrup is quick to steep while you juice a couple of lemons, and then combine it all in a pitcher. The rosemary and rooibos tea together give it a nice spice profile that mellows the gin. This combination of ingredients isn’t especially seasonal, so keep the Capetown Collins in mind for parties throughout the year.

 Cheers, ICE

 *the Capetown Collins was created at No. 9 Park in Boston and featured in Food & Wine’s Cocktails 2008.

 As always, check out my Glossary of Spirits page for alcohol and mixer definitions and details.

 

A good friend of mine is having a baby soon (very!) and we mobilized to throw her a shower. Of course, she couldn’t drink alcohol and it hardly seemed fair to serve what the guest of honor could not drink at all. So I found a neat solution with two tasty drinks.

Several of my cocktail books also feature mocktails, although I admit they are the least used sections. One provided the recipe for a nice lavender drink and it was a simple matter to swap out the club soda with Prosecco for guests wanting a unique mimosa instead. The lavender syrup was ridiculously easy to make, as is the homemade grenadine I’ve mentioned before.

Lavender syrup:

 Heat sugar and water on the stovetop until sugar is dissolved to make simple syrup. Remove from heat and add lavender buds (I used a loose tea holder to contain the buds). Let steep for 25 minutes, then strain into an airtight container and let cool completely. Refrigerate for up to 2 weeks.

Lady Lavender’s Mocktail or Mimosa (single), my variation:

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Add the grapefruit juice, Lavender Syrup and grenadine and shake well. Strain into an ice-filled glass, stir in the club soda/sparkling wine and garnish with the basil and lavender sprigs.

Pitcher Quantity (makes 24 drinks):

 Mix the first four ingredients prior to the event and chill well. Add the club soda or sparkling wine to individual glasses at serving.

In order to attend to other details and not babysit the drinks, we put out the pitcher of mocktail mix, ice, bottles of chilled club soda and Prosecco, and instructions for guests to top their drinks with either club soda or Prosecco according to their preference, so this drink gives hosts and guests great flexibility. It is also a variable mix as you can play around with the ratios of grapefruit juice, lemon juice or lemonade, and syrups to find the sweetness or tartness that suits you.

A great drink for an Easter brunch or other occasion. In our case, the drinks were pink and perfect to sip while anticipating baby girl Coco’s arrival!

Cheers, ICE

The original Lady Lavender Mocktail was created by bartender Gregory Best of Atlanta and featured as a Food & Wine cocktail.

As always, check out my Glossary of Spirits page for alcohol and mixer definitions and details.

 

Remember that jalapeno brown sugar syrup from a previous post?  I created a third cocktail with this syrup, this time in honor of our wedding anniversary today, October 30th (Devil’s Night!).  

Fire With Ice Margarita

I like my margaritas on the rocks, so I filled a glass with ice, added the ingredients and stirred well. Nice to cool the jalapeno fire with ice.

Heat Miser!

Incidentally, “Fire and Ice” is the name of our maybe-someday-in-the-future boat. Fire because hubby is a redhead and, of course, I’m ICE.  We used that idea for Halloween costumes a few years back, going as the HeatMiser and SnowMiser from The Year Without a Santa Claus. I’m too embarrassed to post a picture of us, but be assured there were cocktails involved that night, too.

Happy Anniversary, Fire!

Cheers, ICE

P.S.: I saw this on a forum:” If loving Halloween is wrong, I don’t wanna be right.” Yes!

Snow Miser!

 

Every once in awhile I get hung up on trying a specific cocktail recipe, despite a large number of equally tantalizing ones queued up. The Epicé Sidecar was such a recipe: Combining “heat” with “sidecar” sounded great to me. Although it is overall an easy drink to make, it took awhile to achieve the perfect storm of ingredients on-hand with the chance to make it. 

Epice Sidecar half-rimmed with Sugar in the Raw.

The Epicé Sidecar (epicé meaning spicy in French, says the recipe description) combines a simple syrup of jalapenos and brown sugar with pineapple juice, cognac and lemon juice. Since pineapple juice isn’t my favorite in drinks, I chose to use less and compensated by adding a little extra syrup. Nonetheless, the drink just didn’t WOW me. And, yes, I do expect a WOW factor from my cocktails.

Epicé Sidecar

Rim half of a chilled cocktail glass with brown sugar (Sugar in the Raw is recommended). Shake all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice and strain into the glass. Garnish with two jalapeno slices and/or a small pineapple wedge (optional).

Jalapeno Brown Sugar Syrup:

Add the sugar, water and jalapenos sliced lengthwise to a pot. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring frequently. Reduce heat and simmer for 3 minutes. Remove from heat and let steep for 20 minutes before straining through a fine-mesh strainer. Cover and store in the refrigerator for up to 4 weeks.

Regardless of the anticipation of trying this cocktail, sipping the finished product made me long for the Metaxa Sidecars I was making last spring. I decided to replace the simple syrup in that recipe with the jalapeno brown sugar syrup, thereby discovering a new twist on an old favorite.  Much better.

Metaxa Sidecar “spiced” up

Rim a chilled cocktail glass with fine sugar. Shake all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Strain into chilled glass and enjoy.

Why Metaxa, you ask? After trying a sidecar made with the Greek brandy at two different Seattle bars (Pair and 10 Mercer), I decided to skip the hunt for a good mixing Cognac and embrace the Metaxa instead. Yum.

Cheers, ICE