Category Archives: Cocktails

Drink of the Week: Cran-Pomegranate Daiquiri

Posted on February 10, 2012 | Leave a comment

Today I looked into my liquor cabinet and saw a lot of dark rum. A glance in the fridge revealed fresh limes, simple syrup and a new jug of reduced-sugar Cran-Pomegranate juice. I had the makings of a winter daiquiri! I cribbed from a couple online recipes and, with a dash of orange bitters and a sprinkle of frozen pomegranate seeds, came up with this beauty:

Like a rum punch, only sweeter and berrier.

It’s rather like a rum punch, only sweeter. I love the colour and the fact the fruit ingredients (save the limes) are fall-early winter seasonal. Combined with dark rum, it makes a nice winter drink.

Cran-Pomegranate Daiquiri

  • 1-3/4 oz dark rum
  • 1 oz reduced sugar cran-pomegranate cocktail
  • 3/4 oz fresh-squeezed lime juice
  • 1/2 oz simple syrup*
  • 1-2 dashes orange bitters
  • Pomegranate seeds garnish

Combine ingredients in a cocktail shaker and shake with ice. Strain into a rocks glass filled with ice and garnish with pomegranate seeds. *To make simple syrup combine equal parts water and sugar in a saucepan over low heat until the sugar is dissolved. Cool and refrigerate.

— Recipe by me!

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Drink of the Week: Brandy Sangria

Posted on February 3, 2012 | Leave a comment

This week’s cocktail is rather tropical for February in Calgary, but I just couldn’t help myself. I attended a media tasting at a new resto-lounge called The Yellow Nectarine (a.k.a TYN Lounge) and sampled this delicious drink.

Thanks to the brandy, this summery sipper warms you up on a cold winter’s night.

The star ingredient is the brandy, which goes nicely with the white wine and fresh fruit juices. If you’re craving a patio sipper mid-winter, this’ll do nicely.

Brandy Sangria

1 oz brandy

2 oz pineapple juice

2 oz orange juice

1 oz lime juice

2 oz white wine

Lemon and lime wedge garnish

Fill a wine glass with ice and add the ingredients in the order listed above. Garnish with a lemon and lime wedge, stir and serve.

— Recipe courtesy TYN Lounge

As its name suggests, The Yellow Nectarine specializes in food and drinks made with nectarines or nectarine syrup. Their signature cocktail is a Nectarini, which you can read about in one of my upcoming Calgary Herald Spirited Calgary cocktail columns. In the meantime, here’s a sneak preview of what it looks like. Cheers!

Sippin' on my Nectarini at TYN. As Blake said, 'It's not a drink I'll be mixing up on the guy's ski weekend."

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Drink of the Week: Vodka Sour

Posted on January 27, 2012 | 1 comment

I think I mentioned before I am totally into sours. And so the love affair continues. I’ve blogged about a Tequila Sour and an Apricot Lady Sour. This week: a Vodka Sour.

The bitters make this drink.

I received a bottle of Luksusowa gluten-free potato vodka in the mail recently, which promted me to give this clear spirit another go. Truthfully, I’d been a bit vodka’d out, what with all the flavoured vodka martinis that were hugely popular when I first started writing about cocktails in 2010. But the Luksusowa, though rather flavourless as most vodkas are, is smooth. And it mixes gloriously with the other ingedients in this drink.

This Vodka Sour is all smooth lemony goodness. It would be nice with just the first three ingredients, but the bitters give it an edge and the egg white makes a smooth vodka even smoother.

Vodka Sour

2 oz Luksusowa vodka

1 oz fresh squeezed lemon juice

1/2 oz simple syrup*

3 dashes Angostura bitters

1/2 fresh egg white

Shake all ingredients with ice and strain into an ice-filled rocks glass. Garnish with a lemon wedge.

*Make simple syrup by combining equal parts sugar and water and heating in a saucepan until the sugar is dissolved. Cool and refrigerate.

— Recipe adapted from Cocktails Made Easy by Simon Difford

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