Boozy Fun For Summer: Master Post
Stay tipsy, my friends.
Here are ways to keep your summer beveraging cool as you.
1. Unconventional Cubes
Sometimes, you just want your drink to stay cold, without the flavor being watered down by plain old ice. Take advantage of the produce of the season! Freeze strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, peach wedges, pineapple rings, rainbow carrots! When the drink is gone, you have a cold, boozy snack.
Herbs on Ice - an excellent way to prune that overactive basil plant. You'll get a subtle herbaceous flavor to your drink as it melts. Garnish drinks with basil flowers! Tear up mint leaves and freeze into cubes for your next mint julep.
Juice it up - freeze juice in your ice cube tray. Try mango with rum, lime and lemon with gin, orange juice with prosecco, tomato juice and hot sauce with vodka. Frozen juice cubes are a fun way to deconstruct your drink and make for awesome presentation.
Before the freeze. Left to right: honey, lemon-lime juice mixture (1 Tb each/cube), torn basil
Frozen strawberries and white wine are a magical match.
The Princess Peach: 1.5 oz Stone Fruit Infused Vodka + lots of fruit from the infusion + ice + tonic water
2. Infuse Your Booze
Get up, crush fruit, add booze. Be prepared for cocktail hour with a vitamin boost.
- Summer Cherry-Infused Vodka
- Stone Fruit-Infused Vodka
- Crush ~1.5 c of segments of your favorite stone fruits (e.g. peaches, plums, apricots, nectarines) into a jar, making sure to catch the juice. Sprinkle with kosher salt and agitate with a spoon to further break down the fruit. Add 1 c vodka. Let step for an hour at least, then pour over ice and top with tonic water.
3. Keep your liquor in the freezer
It's a tried and true method for a reason. Do not try with beer or wine! The alcohol content isn't high enough to keep it from being ruined.
4. Ice the tea
Try cold brewing and normal brewing, and see which result you like best! To cold brew, put an infuser or several bags of your favorite tea into a water bottle, jar, or pitcher. Fill the container with water, and then let it sit overnight in the fridge. From there, you can use it as a mixer or freeze it into cubes!
桃王菲 (Tao Wangfei): 1.5 oz vodka + 3 oz of oolong tea steeped overnight with half a crushed peach + fruit from tea + tonic water
5. Concentrate your flavors
Small amounts of syrups and reductions can make a big impact on the flavor of your beverage, and making your own is incredibly simple. Try these:
- For plain simple syrup, simply mix water and sugar in a 1:1 ratio in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir until all the sugar dissolves, then simmer for 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat, cool completely, and store in the fridge.
- Jalapeño Simple Syrup
- Balsamic Reduction
- Cilantro Lime Simple Syrup
- Lemon Thyme Simple Syrup
Try out these tips with some cocktail recipes
Special thank you to my cocktail beta tester, Jules...who is currently passed out.