Fruit Bowl

September 15, 2017 by Valcohol

Blended drinks aren't often bucketed into the craft cocktail category. Perhaps that's because the term "blended" makes many of us think of candy-sweet classics like hurricane slushies, strawberry daiquiris, and piña coladas. I've been happy to see cocktail bars in Chicago and throughout the country challenging that stereotype by creating blended drinks with more depth and quality of ingredients. It seemed like a great idea to join the movement myself.

I love a good blended cocktail for several reasons. They're

Easy to make in bulk
Surprisingly hydrating (you tend to consume a lot more of the ice then you would in a cocktail served on the rocks), and
Allow you to get away with using thicker textures, thus retaining more ingredient flavor.

I chose to stay with rum for the spirit since it tends to be the go-to for so many tropical, blended beverages. Instead of using white rum, I featured Oak and Cane, an aged rum infused with orange peel, for more weight and character. I wanted the rum to add interest to the drink rather than simply getting lost amid the fruit flavors and this one certainly delivered. The cool (and rare) thing about Oak and Cane is that it's made in Florida of entirely American ingredients (Florida grown sugarcane and orange peels and American white oak barrels for aging). Its flavor profile is both woodsy and lightly bitter from the citrus yet delightfully smooth at 80 proof.

For the fruit components, I used chunks of ripe pineapple, homemade peach puree, and freshly squeezed lime juice. It's true that incorporating the fruit in these forms takes more work, but it makes a world of difference in the finished product. Though pineapple juice can be an alternative if you can't find fresh pineapple, the flavor will be more muted and syrupy rather than vibrantly sweet/tart. I've also tried several different peach liqueurs but nothing ever came close to the fragrant sweetness of freshly made peach puree. That being said, ripe pineapples and peaches aren't always available so, if you really find that you love this drink, consider pureeing and freezing the fruit for future use.

Blending these ingredients with ice resulted in an absolutely beautiful (and ridiculously delicious) foam. The cocktail will separate after you pour it into the glasses and all of the froth will rise to the top. I garnished the drinks with dehydrated lime slices as they have a lovely scent and are a little bit lighter than fresh slices for sitting on top of foam. You can check out an earlier post for instructions on making dehydrated citrus at home. The resulting drink has a delightfully creamy texture and fresh fruit brightness intermingled with the woodsy depth of the rum.

The Fruit Bowl

2 oz Oak and Cane Rum
1/4 cup pineapple chunks
1.5 oz peach puree
Juice of 1/4 lime
Dehydrated lime, for garnish

Add all ingredients other than dehydrated lime to a blender along with 4-5 ice cubes and blend on a medium/high speed until the texture is consistent and frothy. Pour into stemless glasses and top with the dehydrated lime. Enjoy whenever you need some extra sunshine in your life.

Thanks to Belen Aquino for the stunning cocktail photography and to Gather Vintage Tablescapes for the lovely MCM tray and glasses.

Rooftop Swizzle

April 18, 2016 by Valcohol

Up until a few months ago, I hadn't ventured into the realm of tiki cocktails. This was unfortunate because I tend to really enjoy all of the contributing components: fresh fruit, herbs, aromatic bitters and rum. My interests were first peaked by a delicious cocktail at the local CH Distillery - the Sexy Tiki Goddess. The mix of tropical fruit, ginger, almond and mint flavors was refreshingly sweet and beautifully presented. I had never previously considered pairing those ingredients but was inspired to give it a try with my own spin. As a sidenote, I'm so thankful to the vibrant cocktail scene of Chicago for endless new ideas regarding both flavor and presentation.

The final push I needed was from Mixology Monday - a monthly online cocktail party where bloggers submit recipes for a given theme. The April theme was (conveniently) swizzles.

So apart from being a really fun word to say out loud, what is a swizzle?

This category of cocktail hails from the Caribbean, is often served over crushed ice, and gets its name from the stirring device that is used to blend the cocktail ingredients with the ice (the swizzle stick). They tend to be extremely refreshing, slightly sweet and wonderfully bright. Given that this weekend brought beautiful weather and abundant sunshine to Chicago, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to craft and enjoy a swizzle on the rooftop (hence my creative name).

I started with one of the more well known swizzle recipes - the Queens Park Swizzle - consisting of muddled mint, lime, sugar, rum and bitters. I happened to have some small batch barrel aged rum from Old Sugar Distillery in Madison, WI so I chose to work with that rather than the traditionally used white rum. To complement the heavy oaked flavors of the rum, I made a simple syrup using brown sugar (with a 1:4 sugar:water ratio). I was also lucky to find some perfectly fresh pineapple at the grocery store so I added that to the mix by blending it with the rum.

The result was basically summer in a glass.

I expect to do a lot more experimentation with variations of this recipe in the future (you should too)! It's a bit of work if you don't have a crushed ice machine on hand and need to pound the ice with a hammer in a ziplock bag (classy) but trust me, it is so so worth it. If you appreciate cocktail aesthetics, you'll also love the beautiful ombre color that results from topping the swizzle with Angostura bitters.

The Rooftop Swizzle

2 oz barrel aged rum
1/2 lime
1 oz brown sugar simple syrup*
8-10 dashes of Angostura bitters
Handful of diced, ripe pineapple (set aside 1 piece for garnish)
Handful of mint (set aside one sprig for garnish)
Crushed ice

Add juice of 1/2 lime, brown sugar simple syrup and mint to a tall, narrow glass (such as a collins glass). Muddle mint leaves into the liquid until the mixture is aromatic. Blend pineapple chunks with rum and add to the glass. Top 1/2 of the way to the top of the glass with crushed ice. Now for the swizzling! Use a barspoon or, if you happen to have it, a swizzle stick to carefully stir the mixture until blended and chilled. Basically, you want to put your stirring device in the glass and rotate it with one or two hands (as you need to keep the glass steady). Once the liquid is chilled and well mixed with the ice, cover with more crushed ice up to the top of the glass. Top with 8-10 dashes of Angostura bitters and garnish with a a chunk of fresh pineapple, a sprig of mint and a (preferably colorful) straw. Enjoy on a rooftop while basking in the summer sun.

*To make brown sugar simple syrup, heat 1 cup water with 1/4 cup brown sugar in a small pot, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Allow to cool and store any excess in the fridge for up to 3-4 weeks.

~A special thanks to Mixology Mondays and CocktailVirgin for hosting this month's online cocktail party!~

Gin + Pineapple: Level Class

February 05, 2016 by Valcohol

Let’s continue our gin and pineapple adventure from the previous post but add a touch of class. This variation is a great choice to impress a date or a gaggle of guests (which is convenient given that many of you will likely be cooking with your sweethearts for Valentine’s Day or gathering for football festivities this Sunday). While the flavor profile of this cocktail has more dimension, it’s still surprisingly easy to prepare. Winning all around.

The story of how this cocktail came to be starts with a confession: I have trouble staying focused at grocery stores. By “trouble staying focused,” I mean that I tend to wander into the aisle containing natural/exotic juices and mixers and majorly nerd out. This often results in me carrying home significantly heavier groceries than I had bargained for. Luckily, it’s usually worth it and my excitement to try something new propels me home in record time.

On one such trip to an average grocery store (Jewel, for those of you who are local to Chicago), I discovered Sipp soda. I generally use Izze or San Pellegrino in my drinks as they’re both relatively low sugar and high flavor for a reasonable price. Sipp drew my eye in the natural aisle due to the creative combination of flavors in each soda. I settled on the Lemon Flower (lemon, elderflower and tarragon) and Ginger Blossom (ginger, vanilla and lime) though it took a lot of self-control to not buy them all. Yes, it’s pricier than a bottle of ginger ale. However, it uses high-quality ingredients, avoids artificial flavors/low quality sweeteners (meaning less chance of a hangover) and elevates your cocktail making adventures without much effort. One bottle will also give you enough for 4 drinks without compromising on flavor.

This recipe uses Lemon Flower Sipp soda, along with gin, pineapple juice and a touch of lemon. It’s wonderfully easy to make in bulk (I whipped up 12 glasses for my family’s Christmas party) and doesn’t require any complicated tools (just something to stir with).

Gin + Pineapple: Level Class

2 oz gin
Roughly 3 oz pineapple juice (evenly split the 8.5 oz can between 3 glasses -> you can also split between 2 glasses to avoid waste without a significant effect on the drink’s flavor)
3 oz Sipp Lemon Flower
¼ lemon

Fill a rocks or tall glass approximately 1/3 full of ice. Top with first 3 ingredients and add the squeezed lemon quarter. Stir to chill and blend. If you’re feeling extra classy, top your glass with a lemon slice or a sprig of fresh tarragon. Serve to those you wish to impress and consequently feel extra impressive.

Gin + Pineapple: Level Chill

January 30, 2016 by Valcohol

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.