One of my favorite personalized details at an event is the signature cocktail. Whether it’s a wedding, bridal shower, or a birthday party, the person/people of honor choose their favorite drinks to serve to their guests. I’m not talking about a Jack and Diet
Cherry Coke {yum.}…rather more like a Honeycrisp Apple Sangria, a Sparkling Fruit Pop, or a Blue Thai Mojito. Here’s some amazing drinks for you to try out. Remember, it’s never too late to find a favorite ;)
Honey Lemon Balm
- 1/2 cup honey (orange blossom or other citrus blossom honey is nice for this recipe)
- 2 cups warm water
- 1/2 cup lime or lemon juice (or combination of the two)
- 1 cup cold water
- 1 cup lemon balm, lightly packed (substitute mint leaves for a minty version)
- lime or lemon slices
- 2 cups cold sparkling water
- optional: 1 ounce/per serving of light liquor (rum, gin, or St. Germain to name a few)
Instructions
- In a large pitcher, mix honey and warm water until honey combined.
- Add lime/lemon juice, and 1 cup cold water. Mix well.
- Crush lemon balm and add to mixture. Using a muddle or wooden spoon handle, smash lemon balm in bottom of pitcher. Add lime/lemon slices and refrigerate mixture until chilled (about an hour).
- Once chilled, add 2 cups of cold sparkling water. Stir.
- Pour through a strainer into individual glasses over crushed ice.
- Garnish beverages with lemon balm leaves and citrus slices
- For alcoholic version, stir in 1 oz. of light liquor to each glass.
Sparkling Fruit Pop
Drop a colorful freeze pop into a sparkling beverage (Champagne? Sprite and vodka?). It will taste good seperately, or even melted together!
Blue Thai Mojito
1/4 ounce blue Curaçao
1 1/2 ounces Bacardi Limon rum or Bacardi white rum
1 1/2 ounces Coco-Mint Syrup (recipe follows)
1 ounce fresh lime juice 2 ounces chilled soda water
Fresh mint (garnish)
Fill a tall glass with ice. Measure in the Curaçao, rum, syrup, lime juice, and soda water. Stir. Garnish with fresh mint.
Coco-mint syrup Makes three cups, enough for about 16 drinks
1 cup shredded sweetened coconut 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes 1 bunch fresh mint, torn 12 large sprigs fresh cilantro 2 cups sugar 2 cups water
Combine the ingredients in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Boil for two to three minutes. Remove from heat and let steep for one hour. Strain, pressing out as much liquid as possible, then discard the solids. Let cool to room temperature. If not using immediately, cover and refrigerate, for up to one month, until needed. Re-mix before using.
Grapefruit
Raspberry Lemon Drop
2 oz. Grey Goose Vodka
2 tsp. lemon juice
6 raspberries
2 tsp. sugar
Splash of Sprite {diet sprite if you’re me…}
Muddle raspberries, sugar, and lemon juice in a shaker. Add the vodka, sprite, and ice. Shake and serve in a sugar-rimmed martini glass. Garnish with raspberries and drink!!
Blanco Sangria
For 2 large pitchers:
2 white peaches
2 white nectarines
4 oranges
1 pint strawberries
2 bottles torrontes (or any non-oaked white wine)
1/2 cup rose infused simple syrup
Slice the peaches and nectarines into eigths or tenths, depending on size. You can do whole slices of the citrus, but I prefer cutting supremes, so you can eat them after the fact. For the uninitiated, supremes are when you slice off the skin, and slice between the white membranes segmenting the fruit. Halve the strawberries. To make the syrup, combine 1/3 cup sugar and 1/3 cup water. Add the petals of one small very perfumey rose (I had some in the house) or a 1/4 teaspoon rosewater. Bring to a boil, and let it sit for 10 minutes to steep. Add the syrup and wine to the fruit, and let the mixture sit in the fridge for a few hours to combine. Pour and enjoy.
Pink Tequila
For 1 large pitcher:
6 cups chopped watermelon
1 pint strawberries
6 limes, juiced
1 tablespoon agave nectar
10 oz white tequila (or more…)
In a blender combine all of the ingredients except for the tequila. In a pitcher, add a few cups of ice, and top off with 8 oz of tequila. Stir, taste, and add the rest if you like.
Raspberry Beer Cocktail
1 cup of fresh raspberries or frozen
4 bottles of corona (12oz) beer, chilled
1 container frozen raspberry lemonade concentrate, thawed or pink lemonade
1/2 cup good quality vodka
Garnish: lemon slices, or raspberries.
In a large container stir together the first 4 ingredients. Serve over ice. Garnish with raspberries. To make ahead, stir together lemonade concentrate and vodka in a large container. Stir in raspberries and beer just before serving. Garnish, if desired.
Grapefruit Fizz
1/4 cup pink grapefruit
1.5 oz vodka
1 tsp pomegranate liqueur
1 tsp simple sugar
juice of 1/4 lime
1 wedge of grapefruit for garnish
Splash of sprite
Swirl a slice of grapefruit over the rim of each glass, dip in salt, fill with ice & set aside combine ingredients in a cocktail pitcher, stir & pour garnish with grapefruit wedge.
XOXO
