I love a terrible pun. This one was for Grandpa Ollie, who would have loved it. I had a lot of fun with the fall drink photo shoot. It ended up being pretty spread out, but that just gave me more time to plan, I guess. I hope you enjoy the recipes! As usual, I have both alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. We’ll start with the alcohol. Lest you start to think I’m becoming a lush, I will tell you that these 4 alcoholic drinks probably took me two months to finally make and drink. One of them I ended up falling asleep on the couch before I could even finish it. 😁
This is a Fall All Over Cocktail. It’s made with gin, apple cider, and ginger beer. You could definitely make it virgin by removing the gin, but it wouldn’t be as fancy. The recipe is here: https://creative-culinary.com/gin-apple-cider-ginger-beer-cocktail-recipe/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=pinterest&utm_campaign=tailwind_smartloop&utm_content=smartloop&utm_term=5471606
It was good, but not my favorite. I felt it was a little simple and wanted to add spices to it to brighten it up. I probably won’t make it again.
Next up are two fig drinks. Before I get to the drink recipes, want to learn a fascinating and slightly horrifying fig fact? Well, you’re going to regardless, so buckle up! Figs are inside out flowers and some thoes of them are carnivorous. Yes, you read that right. Carnivorous figs. 😳
Apparently figs are fertilized and propagated by a specific type of wasp, not surprisingly known as the fig wasp. The wasps lay eggs on the fig leaves and the larve end up inside the fruit. The male wasps do not have wings and can escape, although most do not. The females have wings, which get pulled off when she crawls inside. Both wasps are digested by the fig. Nature is so weird! Here’s one of the articles that explains it in more detail. https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=15080
I found out this out after drinking my first fig drink, a Cardamom Fig Gin and Tonic. My brother says can’t call it a G&T since I used 7 up as the mixer instead of tonic water, but I didn’t have any tonic, and the (drink) show must go on!
This was probably my favorite drink and my best photo. Oddly enough, this was the only photo I took at night, from straight up on the dining room table. The background is the underside of our Thanksgiving table runner. The drink was super delicious and I would definitely make this again, but would add the cardamom to the fig simple syrup as well.
The second fig drink, a fig margarita, gave me a headache and I ended up not finishing it. It was too sweet, but could be tasty if the sugar was reduced if some more acid was added. I don’t think tequila agrees with me.
It was fun to make the honey and sparkling sugar rim! I enjoyed the taste, but not the headache, so may not make it again. Here are a couple more fig drink recipes I wanted to try, but didn’t quite have time.
https://www.lifestylebyannaelizabeth.com/food/2018/10/10/sparkling-fig-and-thyme-cider-cocktail
https://www.halfbakedharvest.com/fig-dark-and-stormy/
K2 picked this one out for our tiny Thanksgiving celebration. It’s a Rum Harvest. We subbed pomegranate juice for cranberry juice as it was what I had in the fridge already. There was a 13.5 pound turkey in the fridge for most of the week, so space is limited. It was so yummy!
It calls for spiced rum and that was delicious. We used 7 up as a mixer instead of cola. I would make it again. It was a nice sipper while waiting for dinner.
It was fun to see all the fall themed cocktails. A lot of them sounded so good and I’m definitely going to try them at some point. Here’s a few more that are still on my list: https://www.craftginclub.co.uk/ginnedmagazine/spiced-pear-gin-autumn-cocktail
https://www.bevmo.com/recipes/amaretto-cranberry-kiss
https://www.babemadeblog.com/ginger-cranberry-whiskey-cocktail/
For non-alcoholic drinks, I tried a grapefruit drink and a warm ginger drink. I couldn’t get a good picture of the grapefruit one for anything, so I used a phone editing filter.
This is a Ginger Grapefruit Mocktail with tumeric. https://www.eatwell101.com/turmeric-ginger-grapefruit-mocktail-recipe
It was pretty refreshing. I would probably drink this again, but might kick it up with some 7 up or something to cut the acid. It slowly turned this pretty orange color while it sat. I felt fancy drinking it for sure!
The Ginger Cardamom Tea was delicious as well. I sipped it on one of the cold and dreary work from home days this week and it definitely cheered me up. Here’s the recipe: https://www.sharmispassions.com/ginger-cardamom-tea-recipe-how-to-make-tea/
I used Earl Grey for the black tea, ground ginger, and steeped lightly crushed whole cardamom pods in coconut milk. It was so yummy!
I have a couple of non-alcoholic fig drink recipes, but they require things I don’t normally have on hand and couldn’t get easily through the grocery pick up. I’ll put them here though, as they sounded good!
https://www.thisvivaciouslife.com/fig-cocktail-mocktail/
https://www.liqculture.com/fig-and-earl-grey-iced-tea/
This fig lemonade I could actually make and might try later, just forgot I had it. I would use the simple syrup in place of some of the sugar. http://www.jopreetskitchen.com/fig-lemonade/
Some other fall mocktails I thought sounded interesting are here:
The Cranberry Cinnamon mocktail: https://pin.it/4SCa3wc
https://www.purelykatie.com/grapefruit-and-rosemary-mocktail-2/
I hope this gives you some fun ideas to try as we start to look forward to winter. Well, maybe not with excitement… Christmas is my favorite though and I have the perfect tablecloth for a photoshoot.
I’ll leave you with a hearty “Cheers!”
