Blueberry Mint Infused Bourbon and Julep Recipes

BLUEBERRIES, MINT & BOURBON

This is how you do cool in the summer!

I was given a huge bag of frozen blueberries and since I had already made Blueberry Vodka and Liqueur I decided it was time to infuse some bourbon!

I took my blueberries, some honey, some fresh mint and a little pinch of nutmeg and made myself some Bring-It-Down-Home Blueberry Bourbon that will knock your socks off!
 
 Here's the recipe for my
Blueberry Mint and Honey Bourbon

  INGREDIENTS
12 Oz. Good Kentucky Bourbon
1 C. Fresh or Frozen Blueberries
5 Fresh Mint Leaves
3 Tablespoons Honey

TOOLS
Infusion Jar
Potato Masher or Cocktail Muddler
Strainer**

DIRECTIONS
Crush the mint a bit to release the oils and add to your infusion jar..
Add the frozen or fresh blueberries and mash them up to release the juices.
Warm the honey for about 20-30 seconds in the microwave then add to your infusion.
Optional: I added a couple of strokes of grated nutmeg.

Allow this to infuse for several hours up to a week. Mine was perfect in three days.
Remove the mint leaves but keep the blueberries in the bourbon, they look nice in the cocktail and people love it in the drink.
**If you want, you can strain the bourbon by pouring through a metal strainer into your final storage bottle. I kind of like having the berries in there so I don't usually strain.  If I want a clear liquor for a cocktail I'll strain this through a metal strainer when I make that cocktail.

As you can see from the photos I did a small test batch here. It was so good I went ahead and made two full batches 

Then I had to use this glorious moonshine in a cocktail so I made myself a little Blueberry Mint Julep that also incorporated some fresh blueberry juice and some Blueberry Simple Syrup (recipe below).  Sheer heaven on a hot Arizona evening, I had two and only stopped myself from having a third by sheer will power!

I didn't have blueberry juice on hand BUT what happens when you defrost fruit? You get a lot of juice from the crystallization of the berries! I simply put my frozen blueberries in a large strainer over a measuring cup and had myself a good cup of blueberry juice by the time the blueberries had defrosted. The berries went into the booze, the juice went into the Julep.

Here's the recipe for my
BLUEBERRY MINT JULEP

INGREDIENTS:
2 Oz. Blueberry Mint Bourbon (recipe above)
1-1/2 Oz. Fresh Blueberry Juice
3 Tsps. Blueberry Simple Syrup (recipe below)
Fresh Mint for Garnish

DIRECTIONS:
Chill your glass in the freezer. Add 1 cup of ice to a cocktail pitcher, add the bourbon WITH the blueberries included but the mint removed.
Add in the fresh blueberry juice, the simple syrup and stir until chilled.
Add a few ice cubes to a cocktail glass, pour the cocktail over the ice, garnish with fresh mint and a few fresh blueberries and serve.

Blueberry Simple Syrup 

1 C. Water

1 C. Sugar

1 C. Blueberries

2 Tsp. Vanilla

Juice of 1 Lemon

Bring this to a simmer until the mixture is reduced by half.  Strain out the blueberries and save those to spoon over cake or ice cream.  Pour the Blueberry Simple Syrup into a glass container, refrigerate and enjoy!

Updated March 2016

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Happy National Cherry Day! Cherry Martinis to Celebrate.

 HAPPY NATIONAL CHERRY DAY

Toast to the occasion with one of my
Cherry Martinis

A CHERRY BOWL FULL OF CHEERS, M'DEARS!

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STRAWBERRY BASIL LEMONTINI

The

STRAWBERRY BASIL LEMONTINI

I've mentioned before that I have a basil colored thumb, I can grow basil like old bread grows mold.  If I didn't find ways to use up all the basil I'd be living in a basil jungle.  Cocktails are one of my favorite ways to use this herb (as well as on a Margherita Pizza and in Caprese Bruschetta and Salads).

Strawberries and lemon both go great with basil so I've combined Strawberry Vodka, Lemoncello and some of the fresh fruit together with my fresh basil for a really nice, refreshing martini.

GET THE RECIPE FOR MY
STRAWBERRY BASIL LEMONTINI

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HOMEMADE MARASCHINO and BOURBON CHERRIES RECIPE

DRUNKEN CHERRIES ABOUND!

HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN

MARASCHINO CHERRIES
or BOURBON CHERRIES

1 C.Maraschino Liqueur (or Bourbon*)

1 Pint Fresh Marasca** Cherries, Stems on Un-pitted

(Yes, I left the stems on and pits in, I'll tell you why below***)

One sterilized glass jar with a metal lid.

DIRECTIONS:

• Pick out as many cherries as you can without blemishes. Clean the cherries well and allow to dry.
• Gently place your cherries in your clean jar. I cleaned and sterilized a pickle jar but you can get Mason jars or whatever you like.
• Pour the Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur (or Bourbon*) over the cherries until they are covered.
• Seal the jar and refrigerate for a minimum of two weeks.

You'll notice that your cherries lose some color the longer you allow them to infuse.  If you insist on the bright red color you can add in some food coloring BUT if you prefer natural coloring, you can steep super strong hibiscus tea (I used 4 bags in 6 ounces of hot water) or reduce some beet juice and add until you get the color you like. Blanching the cherries before getting them drunk can also help preserve the bright red color.

If you're in a time crunch, the cherries do soak up quite a bit of alcohol in just a few short hours, though allowing them the full two week drunk gives them a much more mellow flavor and brings more flavors to play.

A LITTLE 411 on MARASCHINO CHERRIES:

Maraschino: Italian, from Marasca bitter wild cherry, alteration of amarasca, from amaro bitter.

The cherries are pronounced "marr-a-she-no" and the liqueur is generally pronounced "marr-a-skee-no"  The name "maraschino" refers to the Marasca cherry from the Dalmatian coast of Croatia which was preserved in a liquor made with the same cherry.

Dalmatian aka Maraschino Cherries were popular in Europe as a sweet delicacy enjoyed by royalty and the wealthy. The Dalmatian Cherries were discovered by Americans traveling in Europe during the late 19th century and brought back home to great acclaim. During Prohibition Dalmatian Cherries were outlawed with all other things of an alcoholic nature and the chemical soaked, artificially colored cherry most of us are familiar with started popping up in cocktails as a substitute.

These preserved cherries were not created as a substitute for Dalmatian/Maraschino Cherries but as a method of preserving cherries for the marketplace prior to Prohibition. Ernest H. Wiegand, a professor at Oregon State University and mistakenly referred to as the "inventor" of Maraschino Cherries, simply developed a better brining method around 1919 that resulted in a firmer end product and his methods are still the standard used today.

**Even though the FDA held in 1940 that "maraschino cherries" are "cherries which have been dyed red, impregnated with sugar and packed in a sugar syrup flavored with oil or bitter almonds or a similar flavor", technically these are not really "maraschino" cherries as they do not employ the Marasca cherry from the Dalmatian coast of Croatia nor the Marasca cherry liqueur.  Since it's pretty hard to get ahold of real Marasca cherries,  I've used several non-Marasca varieties in mine, including Rainier and Dark-Sweet cherries (both of which I received as a Tweeter chat prize from StemLit.)

***I left the stems and the pits IN my cherries for several reasons. I wanted my stems on because when you use a Maraschino Cherry as a garnish in a cocktail it is accepted practice to leave the stem on so the drinker can easily grab it and pop it in their mouth. As for the pits, these actually impart a flavor of their own, a somewhat almond essence. In fact, the pits are often used to create a liqueur on their own. I also don't have a problem telling my free-loading cocktail guests to be careful of the cherry pits!!!

MY FAVORITE COCKTAIL USE OF
MARASCHINO CHERRIES:

OLD FASHIONED

1 Sugar Cube

3 Dashes Angostura Bitters

1 Orange Slice

1 Maraschino Cherry

2 Oz. Whiskey

Add the sugar cube to a chilled glass, tap the bitters onto the sugar cube and crush with a muddler. Add ice, pour in the whiskey, garnish with the orange slice and cocktail cherry and serve.

*Yes, you can do this with other liquors, like rum.

The very first night I made a few extra Bourbon Cherries and enjoyed them in this Not So FANCY FREE Cocktail.  After a few hours the cherries had absorbed enough of the bourbon to be feeling pretty good, if not drunken, and the color was still a beautiful red!

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Updated 8-2016

MANDARIN ORANGE GRAPEFRUIT COCKTAIL

Refresh Yourself with this

MANDARIN ORANGE GRAPEFRUIT MARTINI

That little can of mandarin oranges in your cupboard is good for more than just a salad! I've muddled a few in this orange and grapefruit cocktail and used them as the garnish as well.  In a pinch they'll substitute for oranges and orange juice in other cocktails!

MANDARIN ORANGE GRAPEFRUIT COCKTAIL
1-1/2 Oz. Grapefruit Vodka
1 Sm. Can Mandarin Oranges, Drained
1/2 Oz. Juice from Mandarin Oranges
Splash of Triple Sec
Splash of Orange Juice

Chill your martini glass in the freezer. Pour the grapefruit vodka, 3 or 4 slices of the Mandarin oranges, the Mandarin orange juice, Triple Sec and Orange Juice into a blender and pulse blend until smooth. Pour this into your chilled glass, skewer a few of the remaining Mandarin Orange slices onto a cocktail pick, place this on the rim and enjoy!

Get the Free, downloadable recipe card at my website HERE

or

Purchase it on Customizable Greeting Cards or Postcards Here.

Cheers, M'Dears!

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PEAR CHAMPAGNE MARTINI

I made a wonderful Pear Sorbet and even after serving it as dessert at a dinner party I still had some left over.  I was wondering just what to do with it when I spied a little bitty bottle of bubbly looking lonely all by itself in my fridge, so....

PEAR CHAMPAGNE MARTINI

Brut Champagne

(or another favorite bubbly of yours, I happened to have a Brut)

1 Scoop of Pear Sorbet

Slice of Fresh Pear

Spoon the sorbet into a martini glass or a coupe, pour the bubbly over the sorbet, slide your pear onto the rim and enjoy!

Since I had the Brut that is what I used and, frankly, I liked the dryness with the sweet sorbet but feel free to bubble this up with your choice of sparkling wine - you could even use soda for a mocktail version!

I served this up with some Pear & Blue Cheese Bruschetta and you'll find that recipe over at my Diva of Tiny Foods Blog today!

Cheers, M'Dears!

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Classic MAI TAI Cocktail Recipe

The Mai Tai was invented by Victor Bergeron in 1944 and brought to Waikiki by The Royal Hawaiian Hotel in 1953. This is believed to be his original recipe.

The Official

Mai Tai

from the Royal Hawaiian Hotel

1 Oz Light Rum

1 Oz Dark Rum

1 Oz Orange Curacao

2 Oz Orange Juice

1/2 Oz Lime Juice

Splash of Orgeat

Splash of Simple Syrup

Pour each ingredient in order over an ice filled Old Fashioned glass, stir and garnish with a slice of pineapple, an orange slice and a Maraschino cherry.

To make a Pink Mai Tai simply add a dash of Grenadine.

VOICEOVER VIDEO WITH INGREDIENTS AND DIRECTIONS:

You can get my

Mai Tai Cocktail Recipe Art

on Completely Customizable & Personalizable Art, Posters, Prints, Home Decor & Gifts

HNATIONAL MAI TAI DAY is June 30th.

Updated 6-2021

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