Geez, That's Corny

This was a submission I made during quarantine to be a part of a virtual live happy hour with Hella Cocktail Co. Virtual happy hours were a huge thing during the first few months of quarantine but seemed to teeter off quickly. Drinking through Zoom isn't quite the same, especially when 15 people are on a call and only one person can talk. I forgot to edit my video to under 1 minute for the submission. Whoopsie. But it is still a tasty drink. 

1.5 oz. Mellow Corn Whiskey

0.5 oz. Licor 43

0.25 oz. Lime Acid Solution 

3.5 oz. Hella Cocktail Co. Bitters and Soda - Spritz

Build the drink in a highball glass with ice and stir lightly. Garnish with the peel of an entire lemon (Horse's Neck). 

To make lime acid solution:

Mix 94g filtered water, 4g citric acid, 2g malic acid, 0.04g succinic acid. Or just use fresh lime juice as a substitute.

The Hella Cocktail Co-spritz is a fascinating non-alcoholic cocktail in a can. It's similar to bitters and soda, a popular hangover cure in the industry. The Hella brand has more cinnamon and clove spice than typical Angostura. To balance that, I wanted to incorporate more sweet flavors, not necessarily sugar, but flavors people affiliate with sweetness, like vanilla and sweet corn. Mellow corn was a gut reaction choice for a base spirit to build this highball on, and Licor 43 brings a creamy citrus undertone throughout, further complimented by the massive swath of lemon peel. 

Brian's Smokey Pineapple "Margarita"

This is a little number I whipped up for the launch of Red Brick's newest product, Obsidian. Our bar program has always tried to incorporate cocktails that would be easy for consumers to go home and make on their own. Buy our product, swing by the corner store, and you'll have all you need to make more delicious drinks. Clever, keep it simple. 

1.5 oz Red Brick Obsidian White Whiskey
0.5 oz Fresh Lime Juice
0.5 oz Pineapple Juice
0.5 oz Simple Syrup

Rim a cocktail glass with a spice mixture. Shake all the ingredients with ice and double-strain into the rimmed cocktail glass.

To make Cinnamon Spice Mixture:
Mix 2 parts turbinado sugar with 1 part salt and 1 part smoked paprika

It's a margarita spec. Instead of tequila, we are using our new white whiskey. The white whiskey was partially aged in ceramic, a practice done by some mezcal. Our malt house also started producing some smoked grains, and our mash bill incorporated quite a bit. I won't give away all the trade secrets, but this whiskey had many mezcal characteristics. The smokey flavor pairs classically with the pineapple. The lime acid keeps it all in balance. Sweet, smokey, and delicious. 

Strawberry Margarita Jell-O Shots

Here's another one of my quarantine Jell-O shot recipes. It does balance the quality of craft cocktails with the fun, levity, and nostalgia of Jell-O. It's super easy to make and makes a huge difference. I'm never going back in terms of my own creations. Fresh juice and quality spirits always beat out vodka and powder. 

6 oz Jose Cuervo Tradicional Tequila Plata

2 oz Fresh Lime Juice, strained

1 oz Orange Curacao, Pierre Ferrand

1 pack Strawberry Jell-O

8 oz Water

Boil water and add the pack of Jell-O. Stir until dissolved and uniform. Add the remaining ingredients and stir again. Pour into serving cups. 15 to 18 should give you decent portion sizes. Chill in the fridge overnight or until set.

Jell-O has quite a bit of sugar and sweetness, so I tend not to add sugar to Jell-O shots. Acid from fresh juice does really help bring out the potential of Jell-O shot cocktails. It's still classic fun but way more elevated than you got in college. 

Garden of the Butterflies

This was the first cocktail I got on the menu at my old job at Royal Boucherie in Old City, Philadelphia. It was a staple on the summer cocktail menu and stayed there for a bit over 3 months. It was a lovely, refreshing floral take on a margarita. 

1.5 Tequila

0.5 Lemon Sage Shrub

0.5 Fresh Lime Juice

0.5 St Germain

Butterfly Pea Tea

Add the tequila, shrub, juice, and liqueur to a shaker tin. Shake with ice and strain into a highball glass filled with crushed ice. Top with butterfly pea tea.

To make Butterfly Pea Tea:
Add 24 flowers to a quart container. Fill the container with boiling water. Let that sit for 3 minutes. Strain out the flowers and press them to extract all the tea.

To make Lemon Sage Shrub:
Slice a series of lemons into a fish tray with the skin on. Cover the lemons with white sugar equal to the weight of the lemons in layers, making sure to thoroughly coat the lemons on all sides. Toss in one sprig of sage for every 2 lemons. Let that sit overnight to extract the oil from the lemon skin. Add champagne vinegar to the mixture in equal weight to the lemons and sugar. Muddle the lemons slightly to extract the juice. Add the mixture to a pan on low heat. Muddle and mix until the sugar is dissolved and the liquid is uniform. Run through a chinois and mash the solids to extract all the liquid possible. Store in an airtight refrigerated space.

The inspiration for this really came out of nowhere. My fiance loves very citrusy cocktails. I wanted a citrusy floral cocktail. I played with gin at first, but tequila or sotol really made the drink pop a bit more and stand out from some other generic floral gin cocktails. The pea tea adds a bit of tannin, but the real selling point is the color. We had some St. Germain branded glassware, which made this cocktail look just like a flower and its stem. It happened a lot where I would make one of these, and it would catch the eye of someone at the bar, and then that's 3 more drinks to make.

"We must cultivate our own garden. When man was put in the garden of Eden he was put there so that he should work, which proves that man was not born to rest."

- Voltaire

Juicing

Picking a juicer really depends on how much you plan on juicing. Hand juicers are fine for home use and cocktails to order but most bars need the help of something a bit more industrial. Check my post about different juicers here.

Juicing citrus is fairly simple. If the stem of your fruit is a "pole", cut the fruit in half along the equator. insert the fruit cut side down onto the juicer, be it a hand juicer, press, or mechanical. If there's an interuption you can leave the cut fruit up to 2 hours before juicing.  Apply pressure manually, or through the lever until the juice is extracted down to the pith. Juice into a china cap over a cambro. When juicing to order (a la minute) you can squeeze directly into a jigger for cocktail service. This has some drawbacks though.

I don't recommend juicing anything a la minute. every different piece of produce you juice will have different sugar and acid content. Also depending on the pulp in your juice and how you strain the cocktail, you could be getting wildly different yields. juicing in large batches and straining allows for greater consistency over the course of the shift. Some people like the pageantry of seeing the fresh juice squeezed in front of them but it does lead to less consistency overall.

A simple way to juice berries or other soft fruits like kiwis at home is to just muddle them through a mesh strainer over a container. After you've mashed a bit, scrape out the spent pulp from the inside. This keeps the strainer from getting too clogged. The mesh will catch all the skin and seeds and the liquid will flow through. Depending on the density of the mesh you made need to filter the juice more times.

Fresh juice has a fairly narrow window for their ideal flavor. Lemons, limes, and grapefruit are delicious freshly juiced but many people think they get even more flavorful after a few hours of rest and are good up to 2 days (48 hours) later. The shelf life of oranges is a bit less forgiving. Oranges contain substances called lactones, which after juicing, develop into limonin which has a bitter flavor. Fresh is best wish oranges but you can use it up to 4 hours after without much issue.

Myth: Room temperature citrus yields more juice than cold produce.

This theory is odd. People think that the fruit sacks or cells are scrunched together and warming them up will ease the process of juicing. Some people even think that microwaving the fruit will make it possible to extract more juice. Don't do that. Everyone who has tested this has disproven this concept.  The yields are the same regardless. 

Myth: Rolling the citrus yields more juice.

This is the same silly idea. Even Jamie Oliver thought this works. No, it doesn't. People have tested it. Don't waste your time. A good press juicer extracts all the juice possible, you're not manifesting new juice.

Juicers

Hand presses or clamshell or elbow juicers are the most common type of juicer I see in the home and are also found in some cocktail bars which utilize al la minute juice service. friendly reminder that when juicing halves of fruit they go flat side down, not conforming to the bowl shape of the press. Cut Side Down! Older styles had a flat base to match and no holes for drainage of juice, simply a pour spout on the side to dispense the fresh juice. Newer styles have a curved bowl to cause the half-cut citrus to partially flip inside out along with holes at the bottom to allow it to dispense into a tin or other receptacle. An issue with these style of juicer is the variable size of citrus and you'll most likely need a different one for lemons, small limes, and larger oranges and grapefruit. Material is important when purchasing. plastics can break easily some metals are much more difficult to clean than others, especially when scuffed after extended usage. Amco is a good durable metal brand. Norpro is a bit more expensive but many experts swear by it. Chef'n Force does a good job and alleviates strain on the wrist but does have a shorter lifespan I've found.

Standing levered presses are very popular in homes and in bars with a fresh juice program in medium but not excessive volumes. There are two main types, those with gears and teeth and those with a hinged concept that acts more like a scaled-up hand press. Hamilton Beach is the most common brand of the former and has become quite affordable. At volume, these do tend to break down after a few months, but they work amazingly well for home use. The parts can't practically be replaced and tuned other than some simple cleaning and oiling. Ra Chand is a fine example of the latter. It also has a much longer shelf life and requires less care, cleaning, and maintenance. It is a little clunky to operate, especially on a high bartop.

Motorized Reamers are widely utilized by bars juicing high volumes of juices. these are certainly more expensive but they do last substantially longer, making up for the cost in the long run. The preferred brand is Sunkist. These are HEAVY and noisy. They belong in the prep area of a bar/restaurant not anywhere near the front of the house. the fact that you're juicing your citrus by hand leans to a lot of strain on the hands and arms. There's minimal contact with the skin compared to press juicers so not a lot of oil is extracted, but you do yield a substantial amount of juice. Also, your hands do get messy. Wear gloves. Even then your hands will slip on the oil of the skin and the fruit will spin like it was the pottery wheel in ghost.

Fully automated juicers like Zumex were my best friend at several of the bars I've worked at. All you need to do is fill the hopper at the top with oranges (you can do other fruits but it'll wear on the blades and other parts) and the machine will slice it, press it (with pressure on the skin to extract oil), and partially filter large pulp from the juice. It's load and forget, no effort or strain on the body whatsoever. They are quite expensive though, upwards of two thousand dollars. not economical for home bartenders but ideal for bars with a busy morning/lunch crowd that enjoys fresh juice.

Juice extractors are the best way to extract liquid fruit fruits and some vegetables. They are broken into two types: Centrifugal Juicers, and Masticating Juicers. Centrifugal juicers spin a blade around slicing and dicing. They're basically motorized food mills that you'd use in the kitchen. They shred the produce and spin it allowing the juice to drain through and the pulp gets separated into a bin. Masticating juicers work almost exactly like a meat grinder, forcing the produce between gears to extract the trapped liquid. Centrifugal juicers do produce a lot more food waste and commonly yield 20% less juice than their masticating counterparts. A con of the masticating juicer is that it doesn't handle large chunks very well without clogging and jamming. you can shove a whole apple in a centrifugal juicer with no issue. So Masticating juicers need some extra prep. Both of these styles are great for pineapples, carrots, celery, rhubarb, ginger, and any other dense or stalky produce. Centrifugal juicers do lead to a lot of air going into the juice which for the most part will dissipate in time, but some bartenders will juice oranges in these a la minute to create a really fluffy textural drink like a garibaldi. Masticating juicers also have loads of attachments which make them very versatile. All kinds of things, like almond milk, butter, iced cream, baby food, and even make pasta can be made with the right attachment. Masticating juicers also are usually about twice the cost of centrifugal juicers, both in the couple hundred dollars range. Preferred brands are Breville and Omega. P.s. never put a banana in these.

Milk Punch: Italian Flavor

So, this is my fourth attempt at making milk punch and my third success. For the record, this post is in no way an exact recipe with a glorious final product. It is a process I've been playing with and am still honing. That said, this was a pretty tasty drink. I first heard of the concept when I was in New York City for a bartending conference with the USBG, United States Bartender's Guild. I was actually truly fascinated by the process. It was captivating seeing clear liquid come out of that filter when it started with so many opaque. Let's start with the ingredients and tools you'll need:

Ingredients:

6 1/2 oz granulated sugar, 3 - 4 Lemons depending on size, 3 - 4 Limes, 2 Tsp Crushed Pepper, 1/2 tsp Cracked Black Pepper, 1 bag Rooibos Tea, 1 bag Mint Green Tea, 3 sprigs Rosemary, leaves of 3 sprigs of Sage, 1/16 oz. Thyme, 1/2 tsp dried Marjoram, 1/2 tsp dried oregano, 3 oz. Amaro del Capo, 9 oz. Gin, 20 oz. Milk

Tools:

Mixing bowl, muddler, measuring spoons, measuring cup, at least 2 large pots buckets or bowls, a chinois, enough cheese cloth to line the chinois 4 times over (I used 28 x 24 thread count), and lastly a means of bottling the final product

The start to any good punch, in my opinion, is an Oleo Saccharum. Peel two large lemons and two large limes and all your dry ingredients. For the tea bags tear them open and dump them in. The oils and the flavors from the herbs, leaves, and peels will be pulled out by the dried ingredients in a form of osmosis. Everyone has different feedback about how long this process takes. It, of course, depends on the recipe. Some people say that for a standard oleo is takes up to 72 hours to achieve full osmosis. This can be reduced with fancy cryo-vac machines, which I do not own. I only let this sit for 6 hours.

The next step does help infuse the flavor a little faster, though. Add 8 oz of boiling water to the bowl. This is how we make tea. Hot water infused much faster than cold, and much faster than osmosis between the flavors alone. the point is adding all this to the final product so we need to pull as much flavor out as we can without diluting too much. Let this steep, covered, until it settles down to about room temperature. Strain the whole contents of the bowl to a large pot. Rinse the bowl with some of the alcohol to collect any flavors or undissolved sugars. Add 4 oz of lemon juice and 4 oz. lime juice. Stir this around to make sure it's uniform. Next, comes the risky part. 

The milk. Start by heating it and bringing it to a near boil. If it starts to boil, take it off the heat immediately. Trust me it gets messy. Add the hot milk to the pot. The mixture should start to curdle. If it doesn't curdle well, add more citrus. Stir it around a little to let it all bind. You could put this in the fridge and then skim off the curds. I'm told using cheese cloth is not only faster but certainly more reliable at getting all the particulates out. Line the inside of the chinois with several layers of cheesecloth and clamp it to the rim. The more volume you can fit the better. Pour the punch through the strainer. Naturally, have a bowl or a bucket under the strainer to catch it.

The first part of the run will come out slightly cloudy as the curds fasten themselves into the cloth. Once it starts running clear, start cycling the liquid back into the strainer. the more you keep cycling it the cleaner the product will be. Yes, this process does take some time, several hours. I tend to cycle it back in once the flow slows to being drop by drop. Usually, it takes about 3 to 4 full runs. It takes ages the to get those last few drops out. One it's effectively done, take the cloth and lightly squeeze it over another bowl. If it comes out fairly clear, drink it, if you're getting a cloudy liquid out, you can still drink it but it might not taste great if you're getting curd. Next, I just funneled the good stuff into a bottle and stuck it in the fridge to chill. Serve with ice and drink up. You can also cut it with soda, sprite, or sparkling wine. I made my batch over a week ago and it tastes exactly the same. The shelf life is effectively infinite. 

The final product is a clear liquid with a slightly golden brown tint. It is a very herbaceous cocktail. The rosemary and black pepper pop as flavors and it leaves the mouth feeling dry. The alcohol is not too dominant. The dryness does not make it a drink you could drink for hours on end like some of my other punch batches. but it is tasty. The infinite shelf life granted by this process is ideal for a fancy drink you'd have once in a while. Stick a bottle in the fridge and have some every now and then.

“Drinking just to get drunk is like having sex just to get pregnant.”
- Robert Hess

Tequila 401: Evolution of a Cocktail: The Margarita

The actual origins of the margarita are very open to discussion. It's been claimed by countless bars and bartenders as their own creation. Some stories seem to be more factual or fanciful than others. I'm going off what I believe. I told my favorite story in my Tequila 301 post, in this one I'll go into a few more other plausible stories.

The Daisy

2oz. Liquor, 1 Lemon juice, 3/4 Sweetener, 1 Club Soda, 1/2 Cordial

Add all the liquid ingredients to a mixing tin with ice, aside from the club soda. Shake and strain into a rocks glass with cracked ice. Garnish with an orange slice and a cherry. 

This is a very old style of drink with very little consistency in terms of the recipe. The drink style, daisy, is very similar to that of a sour, collins, or fizz. Any liquor can be used, brandy and gin being the two most popular. Grenadine is certainly one of the most common sweeteners used, but some recipes may call for simple syrup, gum syrup, or even an orange liqueur of some type. Some recipes omit the club soda or substitute chartreuse for the cordial. as a base, try 2 oz brandy, 1 oz. lemon juice, 3/4 grenadine, with club soda and orange curacao. 

The Sidecar

2 oz. Brandy, 3/4 oz Cointreau, 3/4 oz. Lemon juice, sugar rim

Add all the liquid ingredients to a mixing tin with ice. shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass with a sugar rim. Garnish with an orange slice and a cherry. 

This is the drink that would seem to be the most natural precursor to the margarita. While the margarita is in its core components a sour, it had to take a few steps to get there. These days the margarita is the reigning sour, a cocktail comprised of a liquor a sweetening agent and a souring agent. The sweetening agent in a margarita is typically the orange liquor, unlike the usual simple syrup. The earliest record of this drink is from 1922 as equal parts cognac, Cointreau, and lemon juice. It's a simple variation on the brandy daisy. This drink predates the margarita by at least a decade, possibly two. The margarita was just two baby steps away from this cocktail. 

The Margarita

2 oz. Silver Tequila, 1 oz. Cointreau, ¾ oz. Lime Juice

In a mixing glass add all the ingredients with ice. Shake and strain into a salt-rimmed margarita glass with ice. Garnish with a lime wheel. 

Here we have the legend, the drink that is possibly the best selling drink in America. Margarita actually means little daisy, though it is quite different from many of the original recipes in its use of lime juice over lemon. A daisy was a very common cocktail style in it's day and one can see how it influences a great many modern cocktails. The margarita is a great sour style cocktail and can easily be modified with other fresh fruit flavors. It remains a blank canvas to play with while still being absolutely charming on its own. Many people will actually take this drink up, without ice. There are no rules, 

The Frozen Margarita

2oz Tequila, 1/2oz Triple Sec, 1oz Lime, 1/2oz Simple Syrup, 8oz Ice

Add all the ingredients to a blender with ice. blend until a uniform consistency, usually about 12 seconds

This is, unfortunately, one of the many times I'll have to add a cocktail variant after the original that may actually be the version the average person is more familiar with. The recipe I gave is a great way of making fresh-tasting cocktails. With blended drinks, however, some people actually prefer drinks with concentrated lime juice or sour mix. Flavored mixes are so abundant that strawberry and mango flavored margaritas are just so easily replicable that everyone is doing it. This really is a good drink to sip on the vacation.

No matter how you enjoy your margarita, it's always nice to know a little bit of history behind it. The margarita is a canvas in its own right, but it does have its roots in other earlier cocktails. I'll never tell you what you should or should not like, but make sure you try the classics every once in a while.

- Tequila is like duct tape, it fixes damn near everything. 

Brandy 301: Let's try some Brandy Cocktails

Brandies and cognacs are probably the least used liquors for cocktails. I, personally, find that very sad. Brandy is such a fun thing to play with. It has so many layers and complexities that can make cocktails feel a bit muddy, but a light hand can create a great balance and really let brandy shine among the other ingredients. 

Sidecar
1 ½ oz. Cognac, ¾ oz. Cointreau, ¾ oz. Lemon Juice, Sugar Rim

Add all the ingredients to a mixing tin with ice. Shake until well chilled. Strain into a chilled martini glass with a sugar rim. Garnish with a lemon twist or an orange slice. 

The sidecar is a very classic cocktail. It is effectively a brandy sour with Cointreau instead of a raw sugar element. It has quite a history. The exact history is a bit hazy but it seems to have come about toward the end of World War I and began appearing in books in the early '20s. The invention of this drink is credited to an American Army captain. This drink did come from France, just look at the ingredients, supposedly at the Ritz Hotel in Paris. Supposedly the captain would go to the bar and order this cocktail. He'd get a bit drunk and one of his privates would have to shuttle him home in the sidecar of a motorcycle. The drink eventually took its name from this mode of transport. 

Brandy Alexander

1 oz. Brandy, 1 oz. Dark Crème de Cacao, 1 oz. Heavy Cream

Add all the ingredients to a mixing tin with ice. Shake until well chilled. Strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with some freshly grated nutmeg. 

The original Alexander cocktail supposedly uses gin instead of brandy. Brandy just brings so much more to the drink in my opinion. Brandy is an after-dinner drink; it's a dessert. It blends with other desserts with ease. Gin just doesn't work as well. This drink dates way back to 1915 or earlier. You probably know the cream drinks made popular in the '60s. Grasshoppers, creamsicles, pink squirrels, and the like share many similarities with the alexander. The Alexander tends to have a bit more alcohol and is a bit more serious a drink. 

Apple Brandy Hot Toddy
1 oz. Apple Brandy, 1 oz. Bärenjäger, 4 oz. boiling water, Nutmeg

Start by warming an Irish coffee mug with boiling hot water. Once warm, remove the water and add the Brandy and Bärenjäger. Add the nutmeg and fill with more boiling water.  Stir lightly. Garnish with a cinnamon stick and a lemon wedge. 

The original Hot Toddy would be made with whiskey, rum, or brandy. They would add hot water, honey, and a few baking spices. It's gone through countless iterations, but the combination of apple and honey with some baking spice is used across the board in baking. This drink can be made with calvados instead of American apple brandy. It's like an apple pie in smooth liquid form. Some people will actually throw a tea bag into the hot water do add a bit more flavor to the drink. 

Pisco Sour

2oz. Pisco, 1oz. Lime juice, 1oz. Simple Syrup, Egg,

Crack an egg and separate the white into the drink. Add all the ingredients to a mixing tin without ice. Dry shake until well emulsified. Open the tin, add ice, and shake again. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. To garnish, drop 3 droplets of Angostura bitters across the foam of the drink. 

Traditionally this drink uses Peruvian Pisco. It was invented in Lima, Peru in the early 20's by an American, just after the sidecar was gaining popularity in Europe. It went through some iterations, figuring out the best citrus and eventually adding the egg and bitters. This has led to some debate as to the real origin of the cocktail. Some experts are convinced it came about in 1915 while others will say up to nearly a decade later. This has become something of a national drink. On the first Saturday of February, Peruvians do have a national holiday celebrating the cocktail. Give it a try, the new flavors and textures have opened many people to a new level of drinking. 

Special mention to: Pierre Collins, Beautiful, DOM B&B, Godchild, Stinger, and the Jack Rose

“Art is wine and experience is the brandy we distill from it”
-Robertson Davies

Photo Credit: wikimedia

#003 Venusaur

This is a part of an ongoing project I'm working on to make a Pokemon cocktails for each and every Pokemon. I'm starting with just generation one and we'll see how the response is. 151 drinks is a tall order, but people have done crazier things. If I succeed I will most likely publish an eBook or possibly hard copy collections of each drink. Give them a try and let me know what you think. 

1 1/2 oz. Applejack
1 oz. Pineapple Juice
1/2 oz. Melon Liqueur
1/4 oz. Blue Curacao
1/4 oz. Lime Juice
1 1/2 oz. Lemon Lime soda

Add all the ingredients aside from the soda to a mixing tin with ice. Shake until well chilled. Strain into a decorative specialty hurricane or tulip glass. Top with the soda to fill. Garnish with a few mint leaves and a lime wedge.

This cocktail was derived very simply from the middle evolution, Ivysaur. We stretched it a bit and found that it actually makes a very drinkable tall drink. It reminds me of an old favorite, the Liquid Marijuana. Midori, blue curacao, pineapple, with some lemon and lime. If you were to add a few bits of rum to that and you'd have a popular club drink. I opted for apple brandy as I feel it's underutilized in tall drinks and I thought that it better represented Venusaur. The seed Pokemon matches well with apple flavors wouldn't you say? Remember our friend John Chapman, often called Johnny Appleseed. 

"Venusaur, the Seed Pokémon. Venusaur uses its large petals to capture sunlight and transform it into energy."

Charmander -->

<-- Ivysaur

Recommended Brands: Laird's, Midori, Bols, fresh juice that's not from concentrate, Sprite

#002 Ivysaur

This is a part of an ongoing project I'm working on to make a Pokemon cocktails for each and every Pokemon. I'm starting with just generation one and we'll see how the response is. 151 drinks is a tall order, but people have done crazier things. If I succeed I will most likely publish an eBook or possibly hard copy collections of each drink. Give them a try and let me know what you think. 

1 1/2 oz. Applejack
3/4 oz. Pineapple Juice
1/2 oz. Midori
1/2 oz. Honey Syrup
1/4 oz. Blue Curacao
1/4 oz. Lime Juice

Add all the ingredients to a mixing tin with ice. Shake until well chilled. Double strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a few mint leaves and possibly a fresh cherry.

This cocktail was based very loosely off of a sidecar. Instead of cognac I decided to use an apple brandy, feel free to try it with a calvados or even a pear brandy. I felt that straight lemon juice wasn't quite playful enough so I substituted lime and supplemented it with pineapple. For color, I used Midori and a bit of blue curacao which also compliment the other fruit flavors without being too overwhelming. Balance is everything in a sour and it took a lot of tinkering in order to ensure that the drink wasn't too sweet or sour. 

"The seed Pokemon, Ivysaur, Bulbasaur's evolved form. The bulb on its back absorbs nourishment and blooms into a large flower."

Venusaur -->

<-- Bulbasaur

Recommended Brands: Laird's, Midori, Bols, fresh lime juice