Gin + Pineapple: Level Chill

Ever since a road trip to Canada seven years ago (because we could legally drink and go clubbing in Canada - thank you, Canada), I've known that gin pairs effortlessly and perfectly with grapefruit juice. It's an easy two-ingredient drink to pick up at a bar that doesn't have it's own cocktail menu and it's a lot more exciting/lower in sugar than your typical vodka + cranberry. In 2015, I discovered another unlikely contender for gin's perfect partner: pineapple juice. The tropical sweetness and light acidity of pineapple juice creates an excellent balance to gin's herbal flavor profile. An additional bonus is that pineapple juice can easily be found without any added sugar in small cans that don't need to be refrigerated (I get mine at TJs). This means less waste, which is always a plus in my book.

The beauty of gin + pineapple is that it can be presented in so many different ways, depending on how fancy you're feeling. This post will cover a more chill option that's easy to make without much planning or when you're over at a friend's house. A later post will offer a more exciting option for when you want to impress. 

I was inspired to create this drink while visiting my friend during a recruiting trip at my alma mater, UW-Madison. I had recently given him a bottle of gin and both of us wanted to unwind with a movie and a drink (or two) after a long day. Since I wasn't at my own home, I didn't have access to my usual cocktail arsenal and needed some easy to find and relatively inexpensive ingredients. Enter, pineapple juice and unsweetened black tea. The beauty of this combination is that you can have it on hand in your pantry and whip it up at a moment's notice.

Later, I wanted to recreate the drink at home but didn't have any bottled black tea on hand. A ruined opportunity? Certainly not. Luckily, you can easily cold brew black tea at home if you have just 20-30 minutes of patience (you can also infuse your spirits with tea, but that's for a later post). To do this, simply fill a glass with room temperature filtered water and several tea bags. Drunk the tea bags up and down several times to start the brewing process, then let the tea sit for 20-30 minutes or until it has taken on a rich, dark brown color typical of brewed black tea. After you remove the tea bags, you can store any unused tea in the fridge. Since it doesn't have any added sugar, it should keep for several weeks!

Gin + Pineapple: Level Chill

  • 2 oz gin
  • 4 oz pineapple juice (it's sold in roughly 8.5 oz cans, making it perfect for two cocktails)
  • 3 oz unsweetened black tea (from a bottle or cold brewed)

Pour ingredients into a pint glass over ice and stir. Easy peasy.


G + T

I'm not generally a big gin and tonic fan due to the bitterness of tonic water. Gin, however, is my favorite. Why? It single-handedly adds so much complexity to a cocktail, especially if you choose a gin with a wider variety of botanicals than just juniper. After getting some very exciting additions to my cocktail arsenal for the holidays (my friends know me very well), I thought to give the classic G + T another chance, but with a twist. An elderflower and cucumber twist.

My neighbors have always been supportive of my cocktail adventures and were very sweet to gift me FeverTree elderflower tonic water and an exciting array of bitters. Another friend gave me a cucumber and lime syrup from quince & apple. If you have never heard of quince & apple, now is your chance to fix that and eat and drink everything made by them. I may be partial to them because they're based out of Madison, WI but their cocktail syrups and jams are inventive, natural and absolutely delicious! Another plus is that the syrups are very concentrated so a little goes a long way.

Conveniently, elderflower, cucumber and citrus are always a wonderful combination of flavors - light, floral and refreshing - and pair well with multiple types of liquor. To sweeten the deal, I used Rehorst Gin by Great Lakes Distillery. Three cheers for mixing with local ingredients! My friend had long talked about Rehorst being the only gin she enjoys and I understand why - it's different from the rest. Rehorst is made with sweet basil and Wisconsin ginseng, making it a touch more floral and earthy than other gins. In other words, it doesn't just taste like drinking Christmas.

The G + T

  • 2 oz gin
  • 1 tbsp quince & apple cucumber and lime syrup
  • 1 quarter lime
  • FeverTree elderflower tonic water

Cut a sliver off the lime wedge and set aside for garnish. Squeeze the rest into a tall glass filled roughly halfway with ice. Add gin, cucumber and lime syrup and elderflower tonic water per your personal preference. Stir, then garnish with the remaining lime sliver and a colorful straw. Enjoy to cool down after an adventure-filled day.

Mountain View

This past Friday, I got some amazing news - I discovered that I had passed my latest actuarial exam, meaning that I am now only 1 exam away from total freedom and a fancy pantsy professional designation. Total freedom meaning more time to focus on things like cocktail adventures. Needless to say, I was a slightly hyperventilating, prancing mess of a person. When I finally made it home that evening, I was greeted with a congratulatory bottle of goodness from my wonderful husband. He had noticed me excitedly mentioning apricot liqueur on multiple occasions and thought it would be a great way to mark the occasion. It certainly was.

Why was I so excited about apricot liqueur? I had tried it in cocktails when going out and had always been impressed at how accurate and bright the apricot flavor was. Some flavored liqueurs stray very far from the original fruit and end up tasting more medicinal than fresh. Apricot liqueur is not part of that unfortunate category. Will picked up this particular bottle at our local Binny's - which we love due to the vast selection and knowledgeable staff. Rothman & Winter Orchard Apricot Liqueur is a delicious Austrian-made mixture of eau-de-vie apricot brandy and ripe apricot juice. Not going to lie, we couldn't resist just drinking some of it on ice - and I highly recommend that you buy it if you enjoy fresh apricots in booze form.

I chose to mix the apricot liqueur with a sweeter liquor - and bourbon fit perfectly. Basil Hayden's Kentucky Bourbon worked especially well because it added a hint of spice. I also experimented by adding basil to enhance the freshness of an otherwise strong cocktail and balanced it out with some lemon juice and water. Bitters are optional but I found that including a few drops of aromatic bitters highlighted the spice element I was looking for in this cocktail. The result was pleasantly sweet and spicy with a lovely hint of herbal bitterness.

The Mountain View

  • 2 oz bourbon 
  • 1 oz apricot liqueur
  • 1 oz filtered water
  • 1/2 oz lemon juice
  • Sprig of fresh basil
  • Couple drops of aromatic bitters

Set aside one small basil leaf for garnish and place the rest of the basil in the cocktail shaker. Add bourbon and muddle the basil and bourbon mixture. Add remaining ingredients and several ice cubes, then shake vigorously until the shaker is frosted. Strain into a stemmed glass, making sure you have shaken the cocktail enough to form a light froth. Top with the small basil leaf and enjoy at a cozy chalet overlooking a glorious mountain view.

 

Blood Orange Pimm's Cup

One of the greatest things about mixology is getting to try spirits from around the world and to learn about how they spread from their origin to new destinations. For example, let's take Pimm's - a low proof British gin-based liqueur with spice and fruit flavors originally created almost 200 years ago.  The traditional way of enjoying Pimm's No. 1 is to mix it with a variety of fresh fruit and top with ginger ale or lemonade. It's dangerously drinkable, refreshing and perfect for warm summer nights (this particular version is also perfect for frigid winter nights). These qualities made it a worthy candidate of being adopted as a staple cocktail of New Orleans in the 1940s, though it's now also enjoyed all around the world. Thank you, globalization.

Where am I going with this? One, booze history is always fascinating. Two, I was throwing a New Orleans themed potluck for Will's birthday and was looking for the perfect cocktail -> enter the Pimm's Cup. I knew I wanted to use winter fruit to adapt it to the season and chose to add basil rather than mint for a more interesting flavor combination. I decided not to follow the typical method of putting fruit in a glass and topping with Pimm's and ginger ale because I wanted fuller fruit flavors and less sugar (three cheers for guilt-free cocktails, relatively speaking). Instead, I muddled strawberries and basil (meaning, I squished them into pulp with a muddler to release more goodness), added fresh squeezed blood orange juice and garnished the drink with a slice of fresh blood orange to play with the sense of smell. The result was ridiculously delicious and I encourage you to try it while blood oranges are in season!

Blood Orange Pimm's Cup

  • 3 oz Pimm's No. 1
  • 2 strawberries
  • 1 small blood orange
  • Handful of fresh basil
  • Club soda, to top

Muddle strawberries and basil in a tall glass (set aside one basil leaf for garnish). Add 3-4 ice cubes to the glass then top with the Pimm's. Cut a slice out of the middle of the blood orange and set aside for garnish. Juice the remainder of the blood orange into the glass. Stir the cocktail gently until it starts to cool, then top with a bit of club soda for fizz. Cut a small indent into the blood orange slice to hang it on the rim of the glass and lower the remaining basil leaf into the front-facing side of the glass using your stirrer (or chop stick). Turn on some blues, munch on jambalaya and sip away to your heart's content!

Apple Barrel

Once upon a time, Will and I visited a magical place of hope and wonder (and fantastic cocktails, food and music): New Orleans. While it was only a weekend trip, we had more than enough time to fall in love with the city's vibrant culture. One of the places that stood out the most in both our memories was The Apple Barrel - a tiny bar on Frenchmen Street. From the aging yet enthusiastic couple (I assume the owners) tending the bar to the wonderfully transportive blues tunes, this place was everything we had hoped for when we set out on the trip. The deliciously simple whiskey cocktails served by our hospitable bartenders just added to the evening's good vibes.

This cocktail gives us a way to kick back and reminisce about that perfect evening and I hope it inspires you to make a trip to New Orleans yourself! In this version of The Apple Barrel cocktail, I used Panther, an aged whiskey from Minnesota with a bit more bite than bourbon (a shout-out to our MN-dwelling friends Scott and Bre for such a great wedding gift). The apple cider and honey simple syrup rounds out the bite with some crisp sweetness while the lemon juice keeps the drink balanced (ie. keeps it from getting too sweet). Adding a touch of bitters can help highlight the spice profile of the whiskey, if you prefer to do so.

The Apple Barrel

  • 2 oz rye or aged whiskey
  • 4 oz apple cider
  • 1 oz honey simple syrup*
  • 1/2 oz lemon juice

Shake all ingredients with ice until chilled and strain into a mason jar. Serve on ice if you prefer a more refreshing drink or sans ice if you like your cocktails more boozy. Top with a dash of Angostura bitters to bring out a hint of spice.

* To make honey simple syrup, heat 1 part filtered water to 1 part honey in a pot on low heat, stirring frequently until honey is dissolved. Be sure to not let the mixture boil. When honey is dissolved, remove from heat and allow to cool. Unused simple syrup can be stored in the fridge for 1-2 weeks. I highly recommend making the simple syrup ahead of time if you plan to make this cocktail so you don't have to go through the agonizing impatience of waiting for the simple syrup to cool on the spot.

 

Valcohol Holiday Punch

If there's one lesson I learned about mixing for parties, it's to choose 1-2 cocktails and create them in bulk to accommodate your guest count. My cocktail journey started with making drinks for my friends on big events like New Year's Eve, graduation and, you know, the occasional Thursday night in college. I loved focusing on the process and making sure everyone got a beverage that fit their palette, but I found that I had very little time to partake in the festivities myself. Granted, sometimes mixing one drink at a time is a nice escape from a large party - you focus on something you love while people come to you and chitchat when they're ready for another drink. You also get to look after everyone's levels of drunkenness and make sure they're getting water if they need it. It all depends on the event and what role you're looking to play.

Last weekend, Will and I traveled back to Minnesota for the annual O'Connor family Christmas, hosted by his parents. Socializing with his family is always a blast so I knew it would be best to whip up a large batch of Valcohol goodness and then sit back to enjoy the quality company. I had never before used a bowl for serving cocktails in bulk, but Will's mom discovered a beautiful punch bowl and glasses that had belonged to her grandmother, and so commenced operation Valcohol Holiday Punch.

My considerations in creating the Punch recipe were to:

  • Stay away from colors that would stain clothes, carpets and furniture (always a safe bet for a large get-together),
  • Stick with a liquor that is likely to appeal to the most people,
  • Use ingredients that are easy to find in bulk, and
  • Mix with flavors that made me nostalgic for the holiday season.

Given these considerations, I landed on the following general ingredients: vodka, apple, ginger, lemon and thyme.

Nom.

I highly recommend using Trader Joe's when you're looking for juices to mix with as they tend to have interesting flavor combinations and less sugary options than your typical grocery store. Another perk is that TJ's juice is usually way cheaper for the quality. For this cocktail, I chose their Honeycrisp Apple Cider because it actually tastes like apples and mixes wonderfully! TJ's also has great deals on ginger beer - they have Reed's brand available for cheaper than most grocery stores and their private label is just as good. When it comes to vodka, you don't need anything fancy for something this flavorful - just a decent bottle that will mix well. I used Kirkland Signature brand from Costco which would roughly be on par with Absolut. 

Now let's talk ratios. When making a cocktail in bulk, I start with the ratios for a single cocktail, figure out roughly how many cocktails I expect to be consumed (1-2 per drinking adult is a good start) and then do some multiplication (I may or may not use Excel). The key is not to blindly trust your math. Always sample your creation before serving as you never know if it'll taste slightly different when made in bulk versus on the individual scale. Lucky for you, I've already done all the math for this punch and can tell you exactly what and how much to buy. All you need to do is mix it up and be the hero of your next holiday party!

Valcohol Holiday Punch

(Makes roughly 25 cocktail servings)

  • 2 64 oz bottles Trader Joe's Honeycrisp apple cider
  • 4 12 oz bottles ginger beer
  • 6 cups vodka
  • 12 oz lemon juice
  • Fresh thyme (for garnish)

Mix all liquid ingredients (preferably chilled) in a large punch bowl (it may be a good idea to start with half the quantity to see if more will fit in your bowl or if you need to split it up between multiple containers). Prep punch glasses with a couple sprigs of fresh thyme. If you have an ice bucket, set that out for guests to use as they prefer, otherwise, also prep punch glasses with ice. Sit back and enjoy your party!

Emerald Elixir

Companionship is important when you are a hobby mixologist. Companions allow you to test your creations and enable your craft with new and exciting ingredients. In one such situation, my husband, Will, surprised me with a liqueur after I finished a grueling written actuarial exam (and several months of no social life). I had been dreaming of this liqueur for months and was overjoyed to receive as part of my cocktail arsenal. Did I mention Will has excellent powers of observation (for which he is often rewarded in Valcohol)?

That liqueur was green Chartreuse - a magical herbal concoction originally created by French monks in the 1700s from over 130 different plants and flowers. You may have seen it on the menus at fancy cocktail bars and wondered what to expect from an ingredient you can't pronounce ("shar-troose"). Having tried it on its own, I've found it packs a punch of herbal, sweet and slightly bitter flavors. This means a little bit goes a long way and the price tag is more than justified for the concentrated complexity you'll get out of it. I chose to pair it with one of my favorite gins (Terroir by St. George), green apple shrub, ginger liqueur and lemon juice. The result was slightly sweet, deliciously herbal and greater than the sum of its parts.

The Emerald Elixir

  • 2 oz gin (I recommend a more complex gin - something with more than just juniper flavor)
  • 1 tbsp each of:
    • Green Chartreuse
    • Ginger liqueur
    • Lemon juice
    • Green apple shrub
  • 2 oz filtered water (alternatively, you can top this cocktail with sparkling wine after shaking the above ingredients with ice and straining into a glass)

Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker with a couple of ice cubes per cocktail and shake vigorously until frosted. Strain into a small stemmed glass and enjoy while discussing the awesomeness of French monks (optional).

 

Clementine Old Fashioned

You know what's delicious? The timeless combination of the oh-so-complementary flavors of orange, cherry and bourbon or brandy (who says you have to choose). You know what's not delicious? Drinking syrup. All too often, I find bars serving Old Fashioneds that taste sweet and processed beyond belief. So how do we give this classic cocktail the respect it deserves? We use a decent bourbon or brandy, fresh ingredients and low sugar options. This post is about one of my favorite spins on the timeless Old Fashioned cocktail but I encourage you to try your own!

Why did I get so inspired to make a cocktail on a Sunday afternoon while catching up on work in pajamas? Because I found Amarena cherries at Eataly and was overly excited about finally hunting them down. I came across this amazing alternative to Maraschino cherries at a cocktail class with Eat, Drink, Educate and have been trying to find them for sale in the US ever since. Amarena cherries are made from smaller, sour black cherries, are not saturated with corn syrup (yipee!) and actually have an authentic sour cherry flavor. Thank you, Italy. I have since then found out that the same cherries are available on Amazon if you want to give them a try for yourself.

The fresh squeezed clementine juice makes this cocktail wonderfully refreshing while the Izze soda and Amarena cherry syrup are sweet enough that you don't need to use any added sugar. The result is dangerously drinkable:

The Clementine Old Fashioned

  • 2 oz bourbon (or brandy)
  • Juice of 1 clementine
  • 1 Amarena cherry with 1 tbsp syrup
  • 3 dashes of Angustura bitters
  • 1/2 clementine Izze

Add bourbon, clementine juice, bitters and several ice cubes to shaker. Shake until frosted and strain into rocks glass with a couple of ice cubes. Add Amarena cherry/syrup and stir. Top with clementine Izze and enjoy while partaking in your favorite mustachey activities.

 

Wingding Juniper, Inspired by Holiday Cheer

Flavor profile: tart, herbal, refreshing

Holiday cheer before Thanksgiving confuses me. However, after a wonderful dinner celebration with friends and family, cold weather setting in and December just around the corner, I embrace it 110% - the aroma of fresh cut frasier firs, holiday lights twinkling in the windows, Celtic Christmas tunes and, of course, holiday-themed booze.

Today's cocktail is brought to you by me switching to full-on holiday mode and Will's father mis-hearing another cocktail I had mentioned (whiskey ginger) as "Wingding Juniper." An excellent name if I ever heard one.

There is no liquor that makes me more nostalgic for the holidays than, you guessed it, gin. It is commonly accepted knowledge that gin tastes like Christmas, especially when paired with cranberry flavor. I chose to add egg white to mellow out the tartness and it worked perfectly. We were also lucky to get to try all sorts of fancy new gins thanks to our engagement bottle shower - Nolet's is delicious! So here's a little gin-filled taste of Christmas for you all to enjoy:

The Wingding Juniper

  • 2 oz gin
  • 4 oz cranberry juice (I recommend spending a bit more to get the more flavorful 100% cranberry juice)
  • 1/2 oz lemon juice
  • 1 pasteurized egg white
  • 2 tbsp ginger liqueur (Domaine de Canton is the best choice)
  • Several drops of orange bitters

Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker. Shake vigorously without ice to start forming foam. After 30 or so seconds, add ice and shake until the shaker frosts over (it's nice to use a kitchen towel to hold the shaker so your hands don't freeze). Strain into a stemmed glass and serve up while decorating your tree and listening to holiday tunes!

 

Getting Cozy with Alcoholic Hot Chocolate

Living in Chicago, I have an appreciation for seasons or, in other words, I'm really good at rationalizing the 6 months of cold weather I face each year. Winter may hurt your face, make you a couch potato and limit your fashion options to looking like a gender-abstract marshmallow, but it's also the best time for getting cozy at home with friends and family. The recipe for the perfect cozy evening (or really any time of day) is easy: invite everyone to your home so you don't have to venture outside, light a fire and make alcoholic hot chocolate!

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You could, of course, grab some generic hot chocolate packets with slightly stale marshmallows at the grocery store, but that would result in very underwhelming and overly sweet hot chocolate. The secret to the cup of alcoholic hot chocolate is starting with unsweetened cocoa powder. Since you'll be adding a very sweet liqueur and possibly topping with whipped cream, starting with unsweetened cocoa allows you to get the wonderful chocolatey depth without the syrupy sugar high and simply gives you more control over the final product.

I also recommend experimenting with your milk options. Personally, I love using almond milk because it has the creamy consistency I'm looking for without the heaviness. The slight nutty flavor gets thoroughly masked by the chocolate and liqueur you layer with it. I may still add homemade whipped cream on top for an extra treat but starting with almond milk keeps the whole drink from getting too heavy. Though I haven't tried this myself, coconut or cashew milk would likely make great options as well.

Next, let's talk about consistency. Froth is your friend because it makes your alcoholic hot chocolate all the more magical and the process for making froth has the desired consequence of making sure all your cocoa powder is dissolved (because no one likes questionable lumps in their drink). The quickest way I've found to make this happen is to use a blender - either immersion or regular. Assuming you start with hot milk, it breaks up the added cocoa powder and adds air into the liquid to give a hint of froth. Trust me, the heavenly consistency is worth the blender clean-up.

Finally, let's talk liqueurs. This component gives you the most freedom to experiment with the flavor profile of your drink because liqueurs have such a concentrated taste and can take you in a ton of different directions. Some of the ones I've enjoyed using include Bailey's (or any decent knock-off), Kahlua, local Minnesota maple walnut cream and Crater Lake (an all sorts of amazing hazelnut espresso vodka, available locally at Binny's!) You could also add a fruity twist by using a raspberry liqueur or a flavorful triple sec.

With the details discussed, let's get down to business! My process, per cup of alcoholic hot chocolate, is as follows:

  1. Fill your serving mug 3/4 of the way full of your desired milk type and microwave until hot (I generally do a minute per mug). I've found this to be the easiest way to measure out how much milk I need since the mug size I use always varies. Note that you don't want your milk to be boiling as that would defeat the purpose of alcoholic hot chocolate.
  2. Empty the hot milk from your mug(s) into a blender. Add 1 tbsp of unsweetened cocoa powder per mug of milk. Blend until you see a froth start to form then add 1 oz of liqueur per mug and blend a bit more just to mix it in. 
  3. Divide the hot chocolate mixture evenly between mugs.
  4. If you'd like to add whipped cream, I suggest using an electric mixer, heavy whipping cream and powdered sugar to make your own. Again, this gives you more control over the sugar content. I generally use 1 tbsp of powdered sugar per 1/4 cup of heavy whipping cream but you should find your desired ratio depending on your sweet tooth (this makes enough for several cups of hot chocolate). The process is very easy - add whipping cream and powdered sugar to bowl, then mix until it thickens to the point of retaining its shape (I've found the whisk mixer attachment to work well for this). Use a spoon or a frosting tool to top your hot chocolate with whipped cream.
  5. Finally, add some sort of sprinkle topping to make your guests (or yourself) feel extra special. I love Trader Joe's cocoa/coffee bean/sugar grinder and cinnamon sugar grinder for this purpose (they're also super cheap and last forever)!
  6. Savor your creation in front of the fire!