Tag Archives: cocktails & drinks

Drink of the Week: Pink Panther

Posted on July 27, 2012 | Leave a comment

I guess it’s fair to say I’m on a bit of a bourbon kick (the children are out of school all summer, after all). My drink this week is a Pink Panther. It kind of sprang off the page and begged me to drink it when I was perusing the cocktail list at the new National Beer Hall on 17th Ave. S.W. in Calgary.

Sexier than the Strawberry Lemonade (also made with bourbon), the Pink Panther features watermelon puree (yum) and housemade basil syrup (double yum). It’s strong but not overpowering, and the watermelon (which pairs so nicely with basil) almost tricks you into thinking you’re guzzling a healthy libation. It’s definitely the kind of cocktail you want to shake up when the kids are squabbling on a sticky summer afternoon.

Bourbon, watermelon puree and basil syrup make this National Beer Hall cocktail a hit.

Pink Panther

  • 2 oz Buffalo Trace bourbon
  • 1 oz basil syrup*
  • 5 oz watermelon puree (just add watermelon to a blender and hit “puree”)
  • Top club soda
  • Basil leaf garnish (optional)

Build the drink over ice in a 500 mL mason jar (or 16 oz pint glass) adding the bourbon, basil syrup and watermelon puree, screw the lid on and shake, then add more ice and top with club soda. Garnish with a basil leaf.

*To make basil syrup, combine 1 cup sugar with 1 cup water and 1 cup loosely packed basil leaves. Heat until sugar is dissolved. Let stand for 30 minutes, then pour liquid through a strainer into an airtight storage container (discard basil) and chill before using.

–Recipe courtesy Stephen Phipps, cocktail co-creator for National Beer Hall

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Drink of the Week: Zujito

Posted on July 20, 2012 | 2 comments

What to you get when you take the rum out of a mojito and replace it with Zubrowka Bison Grass Vodka? A Zujito, of course. A bottle of Zubrowka polish vodka (the one with the grass in the bottle) has been sitting in my liquor cabinet for some months now, waiting for me to try it. Ditto the mint growing in a container in the backyard.

Since the folks from Your Brand Integrated Marketing Communications, who represent Zubrowka in Canada, were kind enough to send recipes with the vodka, I quickly zeroed in on the Zujito and mixed one for myself and a friend. Our consensus: two thumbs up.

We agreed it’s the perfect patio drink: refreshing, with a good balance of tart and sweet and just a hint of mint. Perhaps the vodka has something to do with it? It contains bison grass extract, which gives it a pale olive colour and smooth, velvety mouthfeel. I likened the Zujito to “adult limeade” while my friend described it as “mojito meets margarita.”

I took some liberties and adjusted the recipe, which originally called for 3 oz of vodka (holy triple!!!), 1.5 oz of lime juice and no club soda. I think my version is pretty delish and hope you’ll agree.

Zujito

  • 2 oz Zubrowka
  • 1 oz fresh lime juice
  • 3/4 oz simple syrup
  • 8-12 mint leaves
  • Top club soda
  • Garnish with a lemon wedge and sprig of mint

Muddle mint and sugar syrup in a Collins glass over crushed ice. Add Zubrowka and lime juice and churn with a bar spoon. Add more crushed ice then top to taste with club soda. Garnish with a lemon wedge and sprig of mint.

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Drink of the Week: Pineapple Ginger Margarita

Posted on May 25, 2012 | 1 comment

The good folks at Earls sent me a care package a couple weeks ago: all the ingredients I needed to make a Pineapple Ginger Margarita, including half a pineapple and some house-made ginger syrup. I tried the drink almost immediately (if you don’t already know, I really like margaritas), but I had to resist blogging about it until now as Cinco de Mayo was earlier this month (and my DOTW on May 4 was — you guessed it — a classic margarita).

This cocktail is fantastic. Its inspiration comes from markets in Latin America where tropical fruit is served fresh with salt and chili powder, tantalizing your sweet, salty and spicy senses. They’ve transported the markets to your margarita by  rimming the glass with the sugar-salt-chili mixture, muddling pineapple to get a hit of sweet juice, and creating a delicious ginger syrup that adds a spicy kick. But you can still taste the lime and tequila, so you’re in familiar territory and will recognize it as a margarita hybrid. Yum.

Pineapple and ginger never tasted so good! Photo courtesy Earls.

Earls Pineapple Ginger Margarita

  • 1 oz ginger syrup (see recipe below)
  • 1 oz fresh lime juice
  • 4-5 fresh pineapple chunks (approx 1 oz)
  • 2 oz El Jimador Blanco tequila
  • Pineapple chunk garnish

Into a mixing glass, measure ginger syrup, lime juice, pineapple chunks and El Jimador Blanco. Using a pestle or back of a wooden spoon muddle until juice has escaped from the pineapple. Fill mixing glass with ice, top with a stainless steel shaking tin and shake vigorously 12 times to mix ingredients. Strain over fresh ice into a double rocks glass with a half rim of sweet & spicy rim mix (see recipe below). Garnish with a fresh pineapple chunk, with the top dipped in sweet & spicy rim mix.

Ginger syrup

  • 1-1/2 cups water
  • 8 oz ginger sliced into 1/4-inch coins, do not peel
  • 1-1/2 cups sugar
  • 5 oz honey

In a medium saucepan bring water, ginger, sugar and honey to a simmer. Immediately remove from heat as soon as sugar has dissolved. Puree, using a handheld blender. Strain through a fine mesh sieve into an appropriately sized container with lid, discard ginger pulp. Allow to cool uncovered to room temperature. Cover and refrigerate up to a maximum of nine days.

Sweet & spricy rim mix

  • 3 parts sugar
  • 1 part salt
  • Dash cayenne pepper

Toss together.

— Recipe courtesy Earls

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