A German cocktail?

Nonono, it's the St. Germaine Cocktail

2 OZ Brut Champagne or Dry Sparkling Wine
1 ½ OZ St-Germain
2 OZ Sparkling Water or Club Soda

METHOD:
Fill a tall Collins glass with ice.
Add Champagne first, then St-Germain, then Club Soda.
Stir completely.
Garnish with a lemon twist, making sure to squeeze essential oils into the glass.

It's limoniscious

What's new you ask?
Why a most perfectly wonderful dessert beverage, or a lovely aperitif. Or both, depending on your state of mind. If you view every exit as an entrance somewhere else, this is your thing.
I wish I could say I'd invented it, but there are other versions out there. I had my first taste at the local eatery owned by Wolfgang Puck, that'd be 20.21, and it is wonderful. You can read the full review HERE.

Fortunately this is one of those amazingly easy beverages that produce amazing results with little effort.

The Limonini

1.5 oz Limoncello
dry sparkling wine, such as a prosecco or a cava, this doesn't need to be expensive.
lemon peel

Pour the Limoncello into a champagne flute.
Top off with the sparkling wine.
Garnish with the lemon peel, take out to the patio and sip while basking in the glow of the Tuscan Sun. Or

See...told you it was easy.

To really mix it up, I'd put 1 pint of lemon sorbet in a blender, add 1 c. of limoncello and blend. Add 1/2 bottle of that sparkling wine and pulse once or twice to blend thoroughly, then serve in champagne saucers or cocktail glasses. Garnish w/ a lemon peel or a sprig of mint. This will make 2-4 servings, depending on the size of the glasses.

Heeeeeeyyyy Caipirinha

Another lovely recipe from the warmer climes. This is the national drink
of Brazil. Believe it or not, Cachaca is available in most liquor stores here in the US. Some of the larger stores even have more than one brand. Try it, you'll like it.
(If you are simply too lazy to seek out the Cachaca, or if you don't live within 30 miles of a decent liquor store... 1st - shame on you; 2nd - use vodka, then it's a Caipiroska; 3rd - rum works too, then it's a Caipirissima.)


The Caipirinha (pronounced [kaj.pi.'ri.ɲɐ])
2 tsp superfine sugar
1 lime - cut into small wedges or slices
2.5 oz. Cachaca

Place lime wedges in a rocks glass.
Sprinkle sugar over wedges and muddle until sugar is dissolved into lime juice.
Add ice to fill glass.
Pour Cachaca over ice.
Stir, garnish with slices of lime.

Sipping in Paradise

I know I know, long time since last post. However, I do have an excuse, I was travelling in one of our more tropical states and discovering fabulous new drink recipes to share!
Here's my new favorite, the Key Lime Cocktail.

3 oz. Vanilla vodka (crazy I know, but Karkov works just fine)
1 oz. key lime juice (preferably fresh squeezed, but you can use bottled)
.5 oz. simple syrup

Add ice to a cocktail glass and set aside to chill.
Fill cocktail shaker with ice.
Add all ingredients to cocktail shaker and shake well, till outside of shaker is frosty.
Empty ice from cocktail glass and strain contents of shaker into cocktail glass.
Garnish w/ a lime wedge.

The Rusty Nail

A new favorite of mine. Those Highlander style Drambuie commercials piqued my interest so I had Mr. Booze bring a bottle home. Am I happy he did. Drambuie is a liqueur from Scotland with...you guessed it, scotch whisky as the base. Some honey, botanicals and spices are added to the scotch and you get Drambuie. As a result Drambuie pairs particularly pleasingly with scotch and that my friends gives you a Rusty Nail. This particular beverage was quite popular amongst the Rat Pack. (For you chillen out there I am not referring to anyone that had anything at all to do with St. Elmo's fire, that's the Brat Pack. The Rat Pack would be Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin and Peter Lawford, amongst others. Each individual infinitely more stylish and talented than the collective Brat Pack) So for your very own start to a swank filled evening, I give you the :

Rusty Nail
2 oz. Drambuie
2 oz. Scotch Whisky of your choosing, I'm a huge fan of 16 yr old Lagavulin, an Islay Whisky with a good dose of the sea air from it's home, but...I'm pretty sure even the blended whiskys will work well in this.

Put on some swank** clothes.
Grab a rocks glass, put a few ice cubes in it.
Add Drambuie and whisky to glass, swirl to combine.
Pop in a CD from Deano or Frankie and let the festivities begin.


** Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) -
swank1 /swæŋk/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[swangk] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation noun, adjective, -er, -est, verb –noun

1.	dashing smartness, as in dress or appearance; style.

2.	a swagger.

–adjective

3.	stylish or elegant.

4.	pretentiously stylish.

–verb (used without object)

5.	to swagger in behavior; show off.

Hannibal's Dream

If you can figure out why I gave this elixir this particular name, I'll send you a free $10 gift card to WalMart, just don't ask my why I have one in the first place.


Hannibal's Dream
2 oz. Amarula
2 oz. Tuaca
2 oz. Three Olives Vanilla Vodka

Add a few ice cubes to a rocks glass.
Pour all ingredients into glass, swirl to combine.
Sip leisurely and contemplate the wonder of it all.

Three Olives Pomegranate Vodka

Two of my favorite new beverages featuring the fabulous new Pomegranate Vodka from Three Olives. The first is a lovely aperitif, the second a nice sipper on a hot day. Not that we get many of those here this time of year, but I like to pour one of these, crank up the heat, put in an episode of CSI: Miami and pretend I'm in a warmer clime.

Mediterranean Cocktail
(OK, so they call it a Martini...they are wrong! There is NEVER grapefruit juice in a true Martini)

2 0z. Three Olives Pomegranate Vodka
2 oz. grapefruit juice
splash of grenadine

Add ice to a cocktail glass and set aside to chill.
Fill cocktail shaker with ice.
Add all ingredients to cocktail shaker and shake well, till outside of shaker is frosty.
Empty ice from cocktail glass and strain contents of shaker into cocktail glass.
Garnish w/ a lime wedge

Pom n' Tonic

3 0z. Three Olives Pomegranate Vodka
Diet Tonic
Lemon Wedge

Half-fill Pint Glass with ice.
Add vodka to glass.
Fill glass with Diet Tonic
Garnish w/ lemon wedge.