Gin and Tonic

With International Gin and Tonic Day coming up on October 19th, it’s time to raise a glass to this quintessentially simple, yet endlessly complex, cocktail.

But is a gin and tonic even a cocktail at all?

For all you mixology purists out there, yes, a G&T is a proper cocktail. True, it has only two ingredients while a traditional cocktail, by definition, has at least three: an alcoholic spirit, sugar, and bitters. But tonic water has both sugar and bitter quinine in it, so yes, we think a G& qualifies as a true cocktail

What’s in a gin and tonic?

Gin.

And tonic water.

Couldn’t be simpler.

Except…it’s not really that basic. “For a drink with just two ingredients, a gin and tonic is an incredibly elevated cocktail,” points out Bacchus’ mix master Anne McGarry. The drink has earned a high status because of its depth of flavors, and the range of variation you can do with a G&T make it infinitely entertaining.

The Basics

1.      Fill your glass with ice. Whether you’re using a highball or rocks glass or a wider copa or wine bowl type of glass, make sure you have plenty of ice in there to keep your G&T cold.

2.      Add 1.5 oz of gin.

3.      Top it off with 3 oz of tonic water.

Voila! You’ve got a basic gin and topic.

BUT…here’s where the fun begins. From this point, there’s an infinite number of ways to play around with elements of a gin and tonic. And once you start experimenting, you’ll understand why this cocktail is the go-to beverage for so many drinkers.

Welcome to the G&T game!

Here are the rules:

There are no rules!

What there are, though, are endless possibilities. For example, you can…

• Change out your gin.

When we set up a gin bar at one of our events, we love to feature some of the best Utah local gins such as Beehive, Ogden’s Own, Alpine, Holystone, Hammerspring, New World Oomaw, and Waterpocket Temple of the Moon. As for world-wide brands, when you’ve experimented with the old standards like Hendricks, Bombay Sapphire, Beefeater, and Tanqueray, you might want to branch out to try some extraordinary gins like Monkey 47, Botanist, Roku, or Drumshanbo.

• Play with your tonic.

It’s easy to overlook, but the tonic water can make a significant contribution in a great tonic and gin. Since tonic water makes up more than half of your cocktail, it’s worth choosing a good one. Of course, tastes vary, but we would point you toward some quality brands like Fever-Tree, Franklin & Sons, Betty Buzz, Fentimans, or Q.

• Make it sweeter.

From basic simple syrup to lavender syrup, elderberry syrup, strawberry syrup, rhubarb syrup, or spicy chili syrup, you have dozens of fun ways to sweeten up your G&T.

• Make it more bitter.

Or, if you want to take it the other direction, there’s a whole world (or at least several store shelves) of bitters to choose from. With flavors ranging from citrus to celery or berries to bourbon vanilla, just a drop or two will give your G&T some bite.  

• Bring on the garnishes.

When you add a garnish to your G&T, you aren’t just making it pretty. A well-chosen garnish can add an aromatic component to the drink, which is a whole new level of experience. A slice or wedge of lime may be the most popular garnish for a gin and tonic, but you should also have fun with oranges and grapefruits, juniper berries, peppercorns, rosemary, vanilla pods, star anise, rhubarb sticks, lavender, basil, or a raspberry or two. To heighten the aromatics of a drink, sometimes we spray a little mist of rosewater, vanilla, or some other fragrant spritz. Using a kitchen torch to singe a strawberry before dropping it into a G&T adds a fun theatrical element as well as an intoxicating sweet and smoky smell.

No matter how you choose to play the gin and tonic game, have fun with it!

And have a happy International Gin and Tonic Day.

Americano

A few months ago, we talked about apéritifs, the family of preprandial drinks intended to “open” your appetite and prepare you to enjoy your food. We promised to follow up with an article about one particular aperitif, the Americano.

So let’s do it!

Origins of the Americano

First of all, let’s be clear that the Americano we’re talking about here is a cocktail. Do not confuse it with the coffee drink of the same name.

The Americano (the cocktail) is a very simple recipe that belongs to the family of apéritifs known as quinquinas. It dates back to the 1860s when it was invented in Milan, Italy. Originally, it was called the Milano-Torino because of its two main ingredients. (Campari was made in Milan and sweet vermouth came from Torino.) The name gradually changed because the drink became so popular with Americans visiting Europe, especially during the period of Prohibition when good cocktails were hard to come by in the U.S.

But it wasn’t only Americans who loved the cocktail. It became popular all over Europe and much of the world. In fact, when the fictional spy James Bond was introduced in the first book in the Bond series, Casino Royale, what is the first cocktail we see the iconic drinker order? It’s not Mr. Bond’s famous Vesper martini. It’s an Americano.

What makes the Americano special?

The reason we chose to highlight the Americano is that it’s a terrific introduction to the world of aperitifs, and to the family of quinquinas in particular. If you haven’t already developed a palate for bitter cocktails like Negronis, Napoleans, and Boulevardiers, they can be a bit overwhelming. The Americano is a much smoother, milder drink than other cocktails with Campari in them. It’s a delicious way to dip your foot in the ocean of apéritifs.

Americano Cocktail

(serves one)

Ingredients

1 ½ ounces Campari

1 ½ ounces sweet vermouth

Soda water, chilled

Orange peel twist

Instructions

1. Fill a glass with ice. Add Campari and vermouth. Stir well.

2. Top with the soda water and give it another gently stir. (Don’t stir too much or you’ll lose the fizz.)

3. Express an orange peel twist over the drink and add as a garnish.

Pro Tips:

• James Bond preferred a lemon twist instead of orange in his Americano, but if you are training your palate to enjoy bitter cocktails, the orange is very helpful. Its sweet, citrusy aroma and flavor balances the bitter Campari beautifully.

• This is one cocktail where it pays to use quality ingredients. The Campari, of course, is standard, but don’t skimp on the vermouth. Make sure it’s fresh and a good quality brand since it makes up almost half of the drink. Even the quality of the soda water can make a big difference in this drink. You can substitute a mineral water or seltzer, but club soda is generally used.

• Once you’ve mastered the Americano, it only takes slight tweaks to the recipe to venture into a whole family of other aperitifs, including the Boulevardier, Rosita, Negroni, Campari Spritz, Aperol Spritz. Enzoni, and Old Pal.

• Don’t go overboard on the soda water. Start with just enough to give your drink a nice fizz, then give it a taste. If it’s too strong, you can always add a little more soda, but you can’t take it away.

Cin cin!

Chocolate Negroni

There’s a reason why the late Chef Anthony Bourdain referred to negronis as “the perfect drink.”  

It’s a “a grown-up drink,” Chef Bourdain explained, and while that first sip might be a bit bitter and off-putting, “it grows on you.”

In honor of Anthony Bourdain Day which is coming up on June 25th, we want to give you our take on classic cocktail, the chocolate negroni.

What’s a negroni?

According to tradition, the negroni cocktail was invented in 1919 in Florence, Italy when Count Camilo Negroni asked a friend to stir things up for him. At Count Negroni’s request, his bartender friend replaced the soda water in a standard Americano cocktail with gin, and thus was born a new classic!

While there are countless variations on the basic formula of a negroni, the standard recipe is simple: equal parts gin, sweet vermouth, and a bitter liqueur called Campari. That’s it. Served over ice with a slice of lemon (or, better yet, orange), it is a favorite apéritif all over the world.

What’s so special about the negroni?

The appeal of the negroni can be summed up in two words: “big” and “complex.”

The bitterness of the Campari—the sweetness of the vermouth—the juniper and other botanicals of the gin—these are not subtle flavors. They are big and strong, and none of these ingredients would be especially pleasant on their own. Yet somehow, blended together, they form a mixture that’s intriguing and complex. They arouse your tastebuds and awaken your attention, which makes the negroni a fantastic apéritif.

The quest for a better negroni.

The negroni is a personal favorite drink for both of our owners, Ryan and Kaleb Crafts. Over the years, Ryan developed a tradition of serving negronis at his house every Christmas, and he was always experimenting with ways to improve the cocktail. He tried different types of gin and vermouth, even replacing the sweet (red) vermouth with substitutes like Lillet blanc and cocchi Americano. But no matter what variation of negroni he tried, he usually found himself sipping it with the glass in one hand and a bite of chocolate in the other. The flavors of chocolate and negroni go together so well that Ryan finally asked himself, “Why not just incorporate chocolate into the negroni itself?”

Why not indeed!   

But his early attempts weren’t all that successful. Various recipes use chocolate bitters, crème de cacao, or other chocolate liqueurs, but Ryan found that these were too sweet, overpoweringly chocolate, and/or muted the complex flavors that make a negroni a negroni. Then he hit on the idea of infusing the gin with cacao nibs.

What are cacao nibs?

Cacao nibs are small pieces of crushed beans from the cacao tree. You can buy a bag of cacao nibs at Harmons or other high-end grocery stores (next to the coffee beans), but we like to get ours directly from local chocolatiers Ritual or Amano.

How to infuse your gin

First, you want a start with a gin that’s juniper forward and not overly floral. Several local Utah gins work great, including Alpine, Madame Pattirini, and Beehive Barrel Reserve. However, our favorite gin for making a Chocolate Negroni is Holystone Bosun’s Navy Strength.  

1.       Combine one cup of cacao nibs and one bottle (750 ml) of gin. You can use any glass container that’s big enough, but we like to use a leather goatskin bota bag. (You have one of those lying around somewhere, right?)

2.       Seal your container tightly and allow the ingredients to steep for a month or more. If you’re using a glass container, it’s virtually impossible to age your gin too long, but if you’re using a goatskin bota bag, you’ll need to taste the infusion periodically to make sure you don’t overo it.

3.       When you’re done aging your gin, fish out the cacao nibs, place them in cheesecloth, and squeeze them tightly to recover as much as you can of the liquid they absorbed. As they steeped, the cacao nibs inevitably soaked up some of the alcohol in your gin. Squeezing the nibs will restore part of that lost alcohol. (One of the reasons we prefer to start with Holystone Bosun’s Navy Strength gin is because of its unusually high alcohol content—it’s 114 proof.)

4.       If you can’t wait to taste your chocolate-infused gin, you can enjoy it straight or over ice. But if you’re ready to make a fantastic chocolate negroni, read on.

Chocolate Negroni

Ingredients

·         1 oz chocolate-infused gin (see above). Don’t worry that your infused gin looks brown; the Campari and vermouth will give your negroni its characteristic reddish hue.

·         1 oz Campari (Substitute Aperol if you prefer something sweeter and fruiter)

·         1 oz sweet vermouth (It’s worth using a quality vermouth for your Negroni since there’s nowhere for a bad vermouth to hide among these flavors.)

·         Orange peel or wedge for garnish 

Instructions

1.       Pour gin, Campari, and vermouth over ice in a mixing glass and stir well.

2.       Strain into a rocks glass with fresh ice.

3.       Optional: grate a few flakes of quality chocolate onto the surface of the drink. (This is not for taste so much as to increase visual appeal and the aromatics of the drink. If you get a nice nose of chocolate when you lift the glass to your lips, the first sip will be all the more delicious.

4.       Garnish with the orange and enjoy.

Alla nostra, and Happy Anthony Bourdain Day!

Mother's Day Mocktail: Elderflower Grapefruit Collins

With Mother’s Day (May 12) and World Cocktail Day (May 13) both approaching, it seems like a great time to focus on something delicious for the wonderful women in our lives.

Specifically, mocktails.

We’ve written before about the growing trend toward alcohol-free beverages. We’ve even shared mocktail recipes such as our virgin mojitos (pictured above) or booze-less versions of our witches’ brew, pea blossom gin and tonic, and garden party cocktail.

But today, we want to share the perfect Mother’s Day Mocktail, something sweet, refreshing, floral, and pleasantly pink.

But first, in deference to World Cocktail Day, let’s try to figure out the age-old question of how cocktails got their name.

How did cocktails get their name?

By the early 1800s, the term “cocktail” was starting to enter American English. A letter to the editor of a New York paper in 1806 asked for the meaning of the term. In reply, the editor explained that a “Cock-tail…is a stimulating liquor, composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water, and bitters.” The editor went on to point out that a cocktail is also an excellent tool for any candidate for public office because “a person having swallowed a glass of it, is ready to swallow any thing else.”

But where did the word come from? That’s a bigger mystery than what ingredients the Carthusian monks put into a batch of chartreuse!

There are a lot of theories, but here are the most plausible.

The New Orleans Theory:

One version of the story claims that the term came from New Orleans where a Creole pharmacist named Peychaud (the creator of Peychaud’s bitters). He was famous for making a mixed brandy drink and serving it in a French egg cup called a coquetier. Over time, the name of the drink supposedly evolved into “cocktail.” 

The French Theory:

A simpler explanation is that the term derived from the French word coquetel, which meant “mixed drink” in Bordeaux.

The Dregs Theory:

Another plausible explanation is that bartenders used to take the last dregs from barrels of spirits, called the “tailings,” and pour them all into one barrel. The contents of that barrel were then sold at a discount to anyone who ordered a pour from that spigot, which was called a “cock.” Thus the “cocktailings” came to mean a drink of mixed spirits.

The Horse Theory:

An older use of the word “cocktail” had to do with horses. If a horse had a docked tail, which made it stand up like a rooster’s, that was a sign that the horse was not a thoroughbred. A cocktail thus referred to an ill-bred horse or, by extension, to an ill-bred person who put on airs of sophistication but was not a true gentleman. The word “cocktail” thus came to have a connotation of adulterated or lower quality as well as the sense of “mixed,” (as in “a fruit cocktail” or “a cocktail of cancer drugs”). It’s easy to see how certain mixed alcoholic drinks could come to be labeled as cocktails, since they combine the elements of being mixed, impure, unsophisticated, and of lower quality.  Indeed, during American Prohibition, cocktails became popular precisely because they disguised the poor quality of the illegal alcohol that was available.

No one knows which origin story is right. There may be some truth in any of these theories about the origin of cocktails, but it’s certain that the stigma about cocktails being unsophisticated or inferior has disappeared. Today, cocktails (and their non-alcoholic mocktail versions) are welcome anywhere.

Which brings us back to our Mother’s Day Mocktail, the Elderflower Grapefruit Collins.

Elderflower Grapefruit Collins

Our recipe is modified from a Peak Beverage recipe you can find here.

The original version is a variation on a classic Tom Collins, which is a traditional cocktail that combines gin, lemon juice, simple syrup, and club soda. The recipe from Peak Beverage substitutes lime juice for the lemon, replaces the simple syrup with elderflower syrup, and drops the gin in favor of grapefruit juice. For the most part, these substitutions work to give a very floral, refreshing alcohol-free drink.

The problem, unfortunately, is that grapefruit juice can’t really replace the complexity and interesting taste levels of gin. The result is a drink that, while pleasant, lacks much depth. It’s not something you’d go on sipping and savoring like a true Tom Collins.

Our version makes a few changes to restore some of that depth and complexity.

Elderflower Grapefruit Collins

Ingredients

1.5 oz pink grapefruit juice

0.5 oz lime juice (preferable fresh-squeezed)

1.5 oz elderflower syrup

0.5 oz ginger beer

2 oz sparkling water

Garnish (A twist of orange or grapefruit will work, or you can jazz it up with colorful edible flowers. A sprig of rosemary or thyme or a spritz of rose water or orange blossom water will heighten the herbal and floral scents.)

Instructions

1.      Add grapefruit juice, lime juice, and elderflower syrup to a shaker and shake well.

2.      Strain into a Collins glass filled with ice.

3.      Top with ginger beer and sparkling water.

4.      Garnish with orange or grapefruit peel or use any of the alternative garnishes described above.

5.      Serve with a straw so your guests can blend the drink after they’ve enjoyed seeing the pleasant color gradient.

Happy Mother’s Day and World Cocktail Day!

Apéritifs

More than just a drink, an apéritif is a social event, an attitude, a time of day, and an integral part of French, Italian, British, and other cultures.

Read on, and we’ll tell you everything you need to know about the apéritif, a time-honored tradition that is starting to catch fire here in America.

What is an apéritif?

An apéritif (pronounced a-peh-ruh-TEEF) is a drink enjoyed before a meal in order to rouse the appetite. In fact, the name comes from the Latin word aperire, which means “to open”—the idea being that an apéritif opens the stomach and readies it to fully enjoy the food that follows.

A wide range of drinks can be enjoyed as apéritifs (apéros for short), but most of them have a few characteristics in common:

1.     Apéritifs tend to be light and refreshing. Champagne or sparkling wine, vermouth, fino, or Aperol spritz are popular and refreshing apéritifs.

2.     Apéritifs usually have a relatively low alcohol content. Recent trends have even included apéritifs with no alcohol at all.

3.     Apéritifs are usually dry rather than sweet. While sherry is a popular apéritif, it’s usually a dry sherry rather than something sweet like an oloroso. Sweet beverages are reserved for after the meal.

Often served with finger foods like crackers, olives, or cheese, apéritifs aren’t meant to make you feel full or tipsy. Remember, the idea is just to whet the appetite and get you ready to eat.

How are apéritifs and digestifs different?

The most obvious difference is that apéritifs are enjoyed before a meal while digestifs are taken after diners are done eating. Where apéritifs are thoughts to “open” the appetite, digestifs are intended to aid in digestion.

Digestifs characteristically have a higher alcohol content than apéritifs and are considerably stronger and/or sweeter. Cognac or brandy are popular digestifs, as are whiskey, scotch, and various dessert wines.

Why are apéritifs significant?

If you’ve spent time in Europe and seen how apéritifs are enjoyed there, you know that they’re much more than a drink; they’re part of a dining tradition that goes back farther than the ancient Greeks. Today, in Italy, the period between 6 pm and 9 pm is known as the “apéritivo hour” when bars, restaurants, and cafes serve light foods and drinks before patrons begin their main meal. (If you’re bothered by the fact that this so-called “hour” actually goes on for three hours or more, you’re missing the point!)

In cultures that have embraced apéritifs, the whole idea of dining is different from our American customs. In Paris, Madrid, London, or Rome, for example, meals aren’t meant to be rushed through. Dining is seen as an opportunity to enjoy the company of friends and family as well as great food and drink, and Europeans are in no hurry to end the meal quickly. In France, l’heure de l’apéro  (the apéro hour) signals the end of the work day, time to sit down and relax with good company, a few appetizers, and a cold apéritif to get the evening rolling.

It's easy to see why the apéritif is a treasured part of so many cultures.

Where does the aperitif come from?

Vermouth

Historically, the apéritif goes back thousands of years, but the history of the modern apéritif really began in 1786. That’s when an Italian distiller named Antonio Benedetto Carpano infused white wine with over 30 herbs and spices to create a drink he called vermouth (after the High German word wermut, meaning “wormwood”). Unlike similar concoctions that other distillers made, Carpano didn’t market his drink as a medicine. Instead, he used a high-quality wine and marketed it as a drink for the upper class. He began selling it from his shop directly opposite the Royal Palace in Turin. He even sent a crate of his creation to King Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia who loved it so much that it was adopted as the official royal apéritif.

After that, the popularity of Carpano’s vermouth exploded. All over Italy and France, distillers began to experiment with their own versions using different local herbs and spices. Eventually, vermouth divided into two main types: French vermouth (which is white and dry) and Italian vermouth (which is red and sweet). Today, vermouth is a key ingredient in many cocktails including martinis, Manhattans, negronis, and Rob Roys, and Carpano is considered the father of the modern apéritif.

Quinquinas

Sixty years later, the development of modern apéritifs took another major turn.

At that time, France was fighting a war in North Africa, and thousands of French Foreign Legion soldiers were dying of malaria. It was well known that drinking quinine could help prevent malaria, but quinine tastes nasty. The French government offered a prize to anyone who could come up with the best wine-based drink that contained quinine, so they could get their soldiers to drink it.

That prize went to Joseph Dubonnet, a French chemist who invented an apéritif that not only masked the taste of quinine but actually tasted good! The apéritif would go on to become a favorite drink for many, including Queen Elizabeth II who enjoyed a Dubonnet with gin every day. Out of Dubonnet’s drink developed a whole family of apéritifs called “quinquinas.” Keep your eyes on this page, and soon we’ll feature a special quinquina apéritif, the Americano.

What are the most popular apéritifs?

The world of apéritifs has grown far beyond what we can cover in one article, but here’s an overview of some of the most popular apéritifs today.

Campari

This Italian apéritif has come to be so popular that you can recognize its signature bright red color on any bartender’s shelf. Although its ingredients have been a closely guarded secret since its invention in 1860, its distinctive bitter taste is well-known. It is a key component of many popular cocktails, including the negroni, Napolean, boulevardier, and Americano (which, as we said, we’ll be featuring soon).  If you aren’t accustomed to bitter drinks, it can be pretty strong taken straight, but mixing it with chilled soda can make it pleasantly palatable

Sherry

Sherry is a fortified wine made in southern Spain. There are several different varieties, but the drier kinds like fino or manzanilla make the best apéritifs. Their various levels of flavor, from savory to herbaceous, are wonderful for waking up the tongue.

Port

Port is another fortified wine (traditionally from Portugal) and is often a sweet red dessert wine. However, white and tawny ports make excellent apéritifs..  

Lillet

Lillet is considered a quinquina since it originally contained quinine, but ever since it was reformulated in 1986, it’s not clear whether Lillet still has quinine in it. Still, it’s very popular and was a favorite of fictional character James Bond. This wine tastes fruity but not especially sweet, so it’s great for arousing your gustatory curiosity.

Aperol

Made by the same company that produces Campari, this Italian bittersweet liqueur is orange instead of red and is less bitter-tasting than its brother. It tastes more citrusy and has a lower alcohol content, so it arguably makes an even better apéritif. Aperol has been called “Campari with training wheels.” Mix it with Prosecco and club soda and you have yourself an Aperol spritz. Or check out Bacchus owner Kaleb Craft’s favorite Aperol cocktail, the Aperol enzoni.

Absinthe

Absinthe tastes like black licorice, so some people love it and some hate it.  Either way, it has a wild history that certainly makes it one of the most interesting apéritifs.

Sparkling Wine 

From kir royales to mimosas to spritzes to bellinis, the range of apéritifs you can make with sparkling wine or champagne is immense.  

Beer

If you’re a beer fan, there’s nothing wrong with choosing a light beer for your apéritif party. The acidity of the bubbles and the bitterness of hops can wake up the palate. Most dark beers are going to be overwhelming at the beginning of a meal, though, so steer away from anything malty, barrel-aged, or with a high alcohol content.

If you really want to turn heads with your apéritif choice, consider a beermosa or some other beer cocktail.

Whatever apéritif tickles your palate, we hope it will help bring you the joy of the the “apéritivo hour”—no matter how many hours it takes.

Saluti.

Celebrating Sober with Virgin Mojitos

If you’ve resolved to cut back on alcohol and celebrate sober in 2024, you’re in good company.

The last few years have seen a growing national trend away from alcohol and towards “mocktails” and other booze-free drinks. We’re here for it!

Traditionally, alcohol has always been a way for some people to relax, socialize, and feel connected, but for others it can have the opposite effect. If you’re the only one at a party who’s not imbibing, it’s easy to feel excluded from the group.

Luckily, that’ starting to change.

The Mocktail Movement

Studies are showing a noticeable shift (especially among the younger generation) toward non-alcoholic alternatives. Some bars are even starting to include mocktails on their regular menus. We’ve noticed that at weddings, business conventions, and other events, our clients are asking us to create more non-alcoholic alternatives to offer their guests.

Maybe our society is becoming more health conscious. Or maybe the trend reflects a growing social awareness of the dangers of overconsumption. Perhaps people just want more choices. Whatever the reasons are for the mocktail movement, we love it!

The next time you find yourself craving a no-alcohol cocktail to sip, here’s a great option. With just a few ingredients, this virgin mojito is simple, delicious, and quick to make. And no one needs to know whether or not you’ve added the rum!

VIRGIN MOJITOS

Ingredients

• 2 shredded mint leaves

• I oz fresh lime juice

• I oz simple syrup

• Ice

• 4 oz club soda

• 1 strawberry or 4 blueberries (more for garnish)

Instructions

 1.      In a rocks glass or other sturdy glass, muddle the mint leaves, berries, lime juice, and syrup.

2.      Add ice almost to the top of glass.

3.      Top off with club soda (You can also use ginger ale or sparkling water)

4.      Give it all a gentle stir.

5.      Garnish with an additional berry and enjoy!

Mimosas

We would say that December is the perfect time for making mimosas, but let’s be honest. What month isn’t the right time to enjoy this bubbly glass of happiness?

Mimosas are simple, refreshing, festive, and delicious. No wonder they’re the quintessential cocktail for flying first class, toasting the lucky couple, or enjoying a breakfast out with the girls.

But what really has us excited about mimosas are the fun ways that people are starting to play with the traditional “half-champagne-half-orange-juice” formula. We get requests for mimosas made with everything from pomegranates to pineapples. With such a versatile drink, it’s hard to go wrong.  

Mimosas 101

So how do you make a great mimosa? Simple:

1.       Pick a good alcohol. Mimosas are traditionally made with champagne, but there are a lot of equally delicious (and less expensive) options. A good cava, prosecco, or American sparkling wine will work wonderfully. Click here to learn everything you need to know about choosing a champagne or sparkling wine.

2.       Choose your juice. Almost any citrus will work well in a mimosa, including grapefruit. clementines, and all kinds of oranges. Mango is a crowd favorite, as are strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, and passionfruit. (Yes, passionfruit is technically a kind of berry.) We’re also partial to guava, peaches, or pears.

3.       Chill your ingredients beforehand. Having your wine and juices chilled allows you to skip the ice, which would dilute your drink.

4.       Use roughly equal parts of juice and champagne or wine. Experiment to see if you like your mimosas a little more or less on the boozy side.

5.       Garnish with a fruit slice, a few floating berries, or an aromatic sprig of mint or basil. Alternatively, add a splash of elderflower liqueur.

6.       Enjoy!

Mulled Wine

Mulled wine—also called spiced wine, glühwein, glögg, bisschopswijn, vin brulé, vin chaud, and many other names—is popular all over the world, and for good reason! A tasty mug of mulled wine on a chilly night is the perfect way to warm yourself inside and out. Plus, keeping a batch of it simmering gently on the stove fills your house with the amazing, welcoming smells of the winter holidays.

Be careful not to turn your spiced wine into candy treacle! The trick to a great mulled wine is to balance the fruitiness and sweetness against the wonderful spice notes. That’s why our recipe starts with toasting your spices to bring out their full flavor.

While we like to use a single large saucepan, you can simmer your mulled wine in your slow cooker instead.

There’s no need to bring out your best wine for this recipe. Since the flavors of the wine will largely be masked by the spices, this recipe is a great way to use the medium/low-grade wine you have no other use for. Any medium- or full-bodied Pinot, Merlot, or Zinfandel will do. Zweigelt is an inexpensive option. In a pinch, you could even use a white wine and it would taste great, although your guests might give you funny looks.

Mulled Wine

(makes 8 cocktails)

Ingredients

• 3 cinnamon sticks, broken into pieces

• 10 cloves, whole

• 1 tsp allspice berries, cracked

• ½ tsp black peppercorns, cracked

• 2 (750 ml) bottles red wine

• ½ cup sugar

• 2 oz brandy

• 1 orange

• Brandy or rum (optional)

Directions

1. In a large saucepan over medium heat, toast the cinnamon pieces, cloves, allspice berries, and peppercorns for 1-3 minutes, shaking gently.

2. Zest the orange in long strips. (Keep the orange slices to be used as garnish.) Add the orange zest, wine, and sugar to the saucepan, and bring it all to a simmer. Do not let the mixture boil!

3. Reduce heat to low and cover partially. Allow mixture to simmer gently for about 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

4. Strain the mixture and discard solids. Add extra sugar to taste.

5. Serve warm, garnished with an orange slice or a cinnamon stick. When you ladle the wine into mugs, guests may choose to add a tablespoon or two of brandy or rum to ramp up the holiday “cheer.”  

Pro Tips:

• Don’t let the mixture reach a boil or else the alcohol will start to evaporate away. If you want, you can use that technique to reduce the alcohol content of your mulled wine…but where’s the fun in that?

• When you zest your orange, use a peeler and be careful to avoid the white pith as much as possible. Pith will give your drink a nasty, bitter taste.

• In place of the sugar, feel free to substitute honey, maple syrup, or another sweetener.

• Other variations on this recipe include star anise, or they use simmer the wine with orange slices.

Happy holidays!