I love craft cocktails...yup, love them! There's something about mixing fresh fruits, herbs, extracts or flavorings into alcohol that just ups the delivery and makes it feel special. Restaurants are picking up this trend and you can see craft cocktails in way more places than ever before. But why go out to drink when you can easily make some of the most delicious drinks at home? And the real secret is how simple it all is!
Last weekend, I put together a few cocktail basics to enjoy as before dinner drinks. They took me about 20 minutes to prepare and I have been mixing them up in different ways all week. It's been fun and I'll be keeping my eye out in stores as spring comes in for additional seasonal ingredients to play with. But just about anything can be an ingredient!
This week I am playing with a basil simple syrup, a strawberry puree and cucumber juice. They are really so easy to make and use.
Simple syrup is just equal parts sugar and water and they can take on a lot of flavors if you steep items in the mix as it cooks. It usually takes five or ten minutes of cooking and then 20-30 minutes of steeping as the mixture cools and that's it. If you want to learn more about simple syrups, check out this post I did not too long ago.
For this syrup, I simply rough cut a few basil leaves and cooked in the sugar water, let cool and strained into my container.
Simple syrups will typically last a few weeks in the fridge and you usually only need a half ounce to an ounce per drink. This batch made me a little over 1 cup of syrup so that is 8 or more drinks. Awesome!
Purees can just be pureed fruit or vegetables but for this one, I cored and cut the strawberries, placed it in equal parts sugar and water and heated it a bot for 5 minutes or so. I then let it cool slightly, pureed it in a blender and then strained it into a storage container.
If this were summer and the berries were in season, I probably would have opted to just blend them up and skipped the sugar and water; but since they were a little sour this time of year, the added sugar complimented it nicely. I didn't have to strain it, but I am not a fan of seeds in my drinks, so I ran it through the strainer. This will last a few weeks as well and can be used not only for cocktails, but regular drinks too. Stir some into lemonade or seltzer water for a little flavor!
I did just puree the cucumbers for the cucumber juice. This ingredient really is delicious! I just peeled some small cucumbers, cut and discarded the bitter ends, and then cut them into big chunks and ran them through the blender. This one requires the strainer because there is a lot of flesh left behind.
Cucumber juice will last 2 weeks in the fridge as well, but I guarantee it won't make it that long! This juice is so tasty in cocktails, it'll be gone in a flash!
So try some syrups and juices in your fresh cocktails! It's so easy and makes mixing and drinking more fun! And if you try any of the three I listed above - you can enjoy them in the following recipes. Cheers!
Summer Wind
1 ½ oz Gin
¾ oz simple syrup
¾ oz lemon juice
½ oz cucumber juice
Seltzer
Combine first 3 ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice and shake. Strain into a rocks glass and top with seltzer. Garnish with a lemon wheel and a pinch of dill.
Strawberry Basil Cocktail
2 oz gin 2 oz strawberry purée 1 oz basil simple syrup 1 oz lemon juice Seltzer
Combine first 4 ingredients in ice filled tin and shake. Strain into ice filled glass and top with seltzer water. Garnish with strawberry.
Vodka Cucumber Cocktail
2 oz vodka 1 oz cucumber juice 1/2 oz simple syrup 1/2 oz lime juice Seltzer water
Shake first 4 ingredients over ice and strain into ice filled whiskey glass. Top with seltzer water and garnish with cucumber ribbon.
Strawberry Basil Champagne
3 oz strawberry purée 1 oz basil simple syrup 4 oz champagne
Gently stir ingredients in a tall glass and garnish with a strawberry.
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