Having my younger brother here was fun and educational regarding the state of our liquor cupboard and the drinks we could make from it. We don’t imbibe very often at all and I’m more likely to add something yummy to hot cocoa than make a cocktail. I’ve always wanted to play with the fancy ones though, so it was fun to get some ideas.
The Brother introduced me to Difford’s Guide, which is fantastic for searching for different drink ideas. The link is here: https://www.diffordsguide.com/
We set up a drink station one Friday after lunch and had summery cocktails out in the yard using things we had at home. It was so much fun! I’ve been wanting to play with drinks and light for a while, so now you get to see the results. I have plans to do this seasonally. We have a lovely fireplace after all and I made a fun Christmas table cover for drinks a year or so ago with that intention.
Our first batch was non-alcoholic libations.
I made sparkling ginger limeade with the flamingo stirrer. It was yummy! I made my own limeade with fresh lime juice, simple syrup, and ginger beer. The red is hibiscus ice tea with Hibiscus Ginger tea from Tea Runners. It is lovely and refreshing. The purple is actually sparkling White Peach and Butterfly Mango Tea from Tea Runners. It does something super cool! When you make it, it’s blue and when you add acid, like 7 Up, in this case, it turns purple! It’s so cool. I found a bunch of fun color changing drinks with it too, both boozy and non-boozy.
Here’s a link for some of the color changing drinks, if you’re interested. I didn’t have things quite prepared, but would like to play around with the recipes later. https://www.theflavorbender.com/magical-color-changing-cocktails-galaxy-cocktails/
Since there were only two of us, we moved on to the cocktails. These are all based on garden herbs we have in the garden.
How gorgeous are these? I loved how they looked in the sunlight and they were all tasty. My favorite is the one in the music glass- a sage Bee’s Knees.
https://saltandwind.com/recipes/396-sage-bees-knees-cocktail-recipe
It was deliciously tasty! Apparently I like gin. Who knew?
The next cocktail on the top of the picture is a gin basil smash, which was also yummy. https://www.diffordsguide.com/cocktails/recipe/3282/gin-basil-smash
The next drink is a Thyme Will Tell Sour.
https://www.diffordsguide.com/cocktails/recipe/4597/thyme-will-tell-sour
This was probably the strongest drink of the three. I liked it better once the ice melted a little. We thought making a thyme infused simple syrup would make it even better.
The next group was more summery drinks, including “The Blue Drink,” which we had to have for Shark Week. My brother was horrified, but drank most of it. It was his idea to serve it in the Star Trek glass and call it Romulan Ale. 🙂
The Blue Drink is actually a Blue Riband, which was awarded to the ocean liner who made the fastest Atlantic crossing. It’s basically three things- gin, blue curacao, and triple sec. https://www.diffordsguide.com/cocktails/recipe/270/blue-riband
The red drink is a Sour Cherry Spritz with some modifications by my brother to replace things we did not have. Here’s the actual recipe: https://www.diffordsguide.com/cocktails/recipe/3367/sour-cherry-spritz
He used 3 oz Prosecco, 1 Oz blood orange bitters, 1 Oz Heering (cherry brandy,) served over the rocks topped with 7 up, and garnished with a cherry. He said it was definitely a sipping drink and a bit heavy.
The last drink is a N’oreaster, which should really be a winter group, but it is lovely any time. It’s a variation of a Moscow Mule, which is one of my favorite drinks. This one has maple Syrup and bourbon. https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1016278-noreaster
Here’s an up close at my fancy owl mug.
I bought it to use at our Harry Potter party this year to hold delicious Butterbeer, but alas, we got food poisoning and had to cancel.
It was fun to try some new things out and get some lovely pictures. I quite enjoyed the shadows made by the trees. I also made some yummy Cajun spiced nuts and ranch crackers to eat with our drinks. I have a bunch of cocktails and mocktails saved to try later and some even have tea in them! It’s a fun thing to do while still having home vacations.
I hope you enjoyed hearing about them and maybe are inspired to make your own. Difford’s is a great resource for alcoholic drinks. I’ve found a couple of websites for mocktails too.
https://www.eazypeazymealz.com/mango-orange-mojito-virgin/
https://midlifeboulevard.com/10-quick-easy-mocktails/
Happy Summer Sipping!