PRICKLY PEAR COCKTAILS

 I live in Tucson. Prickly Pears grow all over my property. You had to expect these, right?
And you know there will be more.

PRICKLY PEAR COCKTAILS
LOADED CACTUS (PRICKLY PEAR) SLIDERITAS
PRICKLY PEAR CHAMPAGNE COCKTAIL
PRICKLY PEAR DAIQUIRI
PRICKLY PEAR MARTINI
PRICKLY PEAR OLD FASHIONED

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FLORAL (FLOWER INFUSED) COCKTAILS

Nothing evokes spring more than the first flowers peeking through at the end of winter. Flowers are the essence of spring, and they can be an intriguing part of your spring cocktails as well.
There are several options for imbuing cocktails with floral elements using floral liqueurs, essences, extracts, cocktail bitters and syrups to employing actual edible flowers as a garnish. Used judiciously, even a drop of floral bitters, rose water, flower essence or just a teaspoon of floral honey syrup can add a floral touch of spring to your cocktails. To achieve a floral note, one or more of these methods has been applied in each of the cocktail recipes below.

FLOWER INFUSED (FLORAL) COCKTAILS 
ALIEN INVASION COCKTAIL ANGOSTURA & OLD LACE APRICOT LAVENDER BOURBON SOUR The AVIATION The BARBIE MIMOSA BEE'S KNEES BLUSHING ROSE BUTTERFLY PEA FLOWER - ELDERFLOWER G&T CHOCOLATE & ROSES MARTINI The COCKTAIL PURPLE MY DARLING CLEMENTINI The ELDER FASHIONED ELDERFLOWER SALTY DOG ENCHANTED FAERIE GRANDMA'S "TEA" HIBISCUS HEART FIZZ LADY ROSE COCKTAIL LAVENDER KIWI DAIQUIRI LUCKY CHARM MOROCCAN ROSE NEVERLAND COOLER PARTRIDGE IN A PEAR MARTINI PURGATORY PUNCH The SAGZERAC SPARKLING HIBISCUS MARTINI STORMBORN COCKTAIL WILD HIBISCUS G&T WILD HIBISCUS MARTINI
You might also want to check out my HERB COCKTAILS.
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The BARBIE MIMOSA Cocktail

It might be hard to believe, but the iconic Barbie doll turns 60 today. I grew up playing with Barbie Dolls, in fact, I had the whole 50s/60s pack; Ken, Midge, Toni, a slew of outfits, accessories and the peach and turquoise sports car. But that doll of my youth, the original Barbie, has changed with the times over the last six decades so I think it's time her cocktail did as well.

  The plethora of existing Barbie cocktails consist mostly of a pink drink of juices with a little vodka and or coconut rum mixed in. I think a 60 year old Barbie should be a little more sophisticated in her choice of cocktail. That's why I tossed out the jungle juice mixtures and am introducing today's senior citizen Barbie to a drink more suited to her maturity, an effervescent combination of a Mimosa and a Negroni.
Cheers and Happy Birthday, Barbie!

The

BARBIE MIMOSA
INGREDIENTS 1 Oz. Gordon's Pink Gin 3/4 Oz. Cocchi Rosa 1/2 Oz. Fresh Pink Grapefruit Juice 2 Oz. Chilled Pink Champagne 1 Drop Rose Water
Garnish: Edible Candied Rose Petals
DIRECTIONS Fill mixing glass with ice Add all the ingredients except the champagne. Stir until well chilled. Strain into a chilled champagne flute. Top off with the Champagne. Garnish and enjoy.

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Chocolate & Rye Whiskey Manhatten Cocktail Recipe

Thanks to a close friend of mine from Sonoma, I finally got my hands on a bottle of Sonoma Distilling Company's Cherrywood Rye. My friend needed a weekend away from tribulations of a divorce so I invited her out to enjoy the beautiful spring wildflowers of the desert and chill out from all the legal proceedings. She came in towing her luggage and a gift box full of some of my favorite Sonoma county goodies and tucked right in there was a bottle of that lovely wine country rye. I have been wanting to get my hands on a bottle for ages but my zip code never brought up a local source on their website so thank the Booze Gods for best friends.

After she settled in I poured us both a glass over ice to savor the rye as she vented over her departing mate. Taking a cue from that, I immediately decided a chocolate Manhattan was next, mixed two up then handed hers to her saying, "You don't need a man, you need a Manhattan!"
It was the perfect, smokey, chocolate liquid elixir for a woman in the throes of a divorce and worked out beautifully for today's International Women's Day cocktail. I just wish she'd brought two bottles.

You Don't Need A Man, You Need A MANHATTAN! A Chocolate & Rye Whiskey Manhattan Cocktail
INGREDIENTS 2 Oz Sonoma County Cherrywood Rye Whiskey 1 Oz Godiva Dark Chocolate Liqueur 1/2 Oz Cinzano Rosso Sweet Vermouth 2 Dashes Bitter Truth Chocolate Bitters 1 Dash Angostura Orange Bitters
Garnish: Brandied Cherry, Orange Twist
DIRECTIONS Chill your glasses. Fill a cocktail pitcher with ice. Add the ingredients and stir until chilled. Strain into the chilled glass. Garnish and serve.
Cheers to you, my dear friend, come back soon and bring me that second bottle. (And some Gravenstein cider!)

International Women's Day is March 8th. 
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ARNAUD'S SPECIAL COCKTAIL

Arnaud's Special was the house cocktail of the famous Arnaud's Restaurant of New Orleans in the 1940's and 1950's. It's a Southern take on a Rob Roy where the sweet vermouth and Angostura Bitters are replaced with the Dubonnet and orange bitters. 
If you're looking for a dry cocktail give this a try. It's a great cocktail to sip before dinner. Just make sure you use the new Dubonnet released in the States last year, it's more like the original 1846 formula and the Dubonnet that Europe has always had access to.  Even though Arnaud's most likely used the first American version, this new Dubonnet is much more complex and makes this cocktail way more interesting. (FYI, during the 1940s, when Hitler had control of France, the United States could not import Dubonnet so a different version was created in the U.S. It was, however, milder and less bitter as a result of the reduction of the quinine.)

ARNAUD'S SPECIAL
INGREDIENTS 2 Oz. Johnnie Walker Red Scotch 1 Oz. Dubonnet Rouge 3 Dashes of Orange Bitters
Garnish: Orange Twist
DIRECTIONS Stir in a mixing glass with ice until chilled then strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Express the orange twist over the top then drop into the cocktail.

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PEACH BLOSSOM COCKTAIL Recipe

A few days ago it snowed (yes, SNOWED) here in Tucson. Today we are going to hit nearly 80 degrees. Such are the vagaries of the beginnings of Spring in Arizona, one minute you're tossing more mesquite wood on the fire and the next moment you're putting on shorts.

Somebody with a great sense of humor built little snowmen all throughout Saguaro National Park, here's one on top of a saguaro.

For cocktail lovers, the ending of winter means it's time to pull out your Collins and highball glasses and start thinking about tall, refreshing, low ABV* coolers again. You might want to tuck the brown booze off to the side and dust off your clear liquor bottles as well because hot weather and a burgeoning garden are both very friendly with gin, vodka, light rums, unaged whiskies and blanco tequilas.
With that in mind - and since it's National Peach Blossom Day - I thought I'd kick off the approaching spring and summer seasons with a cocktail that's been around for a while but in slightly different versions. I've seen recipes for peach blossom cocktails using a peach liqueur with either vodka or gin and, having tried both, I prefer the vodka. Gins can differ quite a bit in their botanicals and, if you choose the wrong one, it can overpower or conflict with the peach. Vodka doesn't have that problem, it's a much more amenable spirit when it comes to blending with delicate flavors, in fact, you can buy peach vodkas that enhance the peach experience.
Most of the recipes floating about the net are simply a mix of spirit, peach liqueur and either orange juice or ginger ale but I figure if you're going to make a peach cocktail put some real peach in it, I used frozen ones to help keep the cocktail cool. I leave out the orange juice, add some lemon to pop the sweetness of the peach and go with the effervescence of the ginger ale. This puts this cocktail in the Buck** category, making it a perfect drink for sitting outside and watching nature wake up from its winter nap.

The PEACH BLOSSOM Cocktail
INGREDIENTS 1 Oz. Peach Vodka 1 Oz. Peach Schnapps 5 Oz. Ginger Ale
Garnish: Frozen peaches mixed in with the ice cubes, Mint leaves
DIRECTIONS  Pour the vodka and peach schnapps into a Collins glass filled with ice cubes and frozen peach slices. Stir, top with ginger ale, pop the mint between your palms (this gently releases the oils into your cocktail), then place on top of the ice and enjoy.
* Alcohol by Volume
** A Buck is a cocktail or mixed drink that uses ginger ale or ginger beer, citrus juice and any of a number of base liquors.

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The BANANA CREAM PIE COCKTAIL Recipe

Some years ago I was very much into recreating pie recipes as adult beverages and, because banana cream pie is one of my favorites, I created a vodka based Banana Cream Pie Martini. I recently saw that National Banana Cream Pie Day was coming up and thought I'd revisit this experiment but with some interesting rums instead.
I used Appleton Estate aged rum and Cruzan's Banana and Vanilla Rums, added some fresh banana, a bit of cream and a dash of salt. I nearly always add salt to even out the sweetness that is inherent in a dessert inspired drink, it's a nice little chef's trick for balancing out too much tartness and it also serves to open up the palate.
Darned thing was so good I had two and skipped dinner.

The BANANA CREAM PIE COCKTAIL 
INGREDIENTS 1 Oz. Banana Rum 1/2 Oz. Vanilla Rum 1 Oz. Aged Dark Rum 1/2 Oz. Half & Half 1/2 Ripe Banana 1/2 Cup Crushed Ice
Garnish: Crushed Vanilla Wafers for Rim, Banana Slice
DIRECTIONS Blend the ingredients until smooth, pour into a chilled glass, garnish and enjoy.

Voiceover Video with Ingredients & Directions:

Updated 3-2022
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