The MIMOSA with Recipe Variations and History

The Mimosa is a modern day cocktail classic composed of equal parts Champagne and citrus juice (most typically orange juice) which enjoys widespread popularity as a brunch starter. It is widely accepted that the Mimosa was created in 1925 at the Ritz Hotel in Paris by bartender Frank Meier, although in Meier's own book, The Artistry of Mixed Drinks (p. 1936), he does not lay claim to the drink with his book's "created by" symbol. Originally the Mimosa was served over ice in a large wineglass, today's version is a straight up cocktail served up in a flute glass.

  Named after the Mimosa flower (which looks a little like a cluster of Champagne bubbles), it is a variation of the Buck's Fizz, created in 1921 at the Buck's Club in London by Pat McGarry, which is made with two parts Champagne to one part orange juice.
Recognized variations include:
The Grand Mimosa, served with the addition of a bar spoon of Grand Marnier.
The Puccini uses Mandarin orange juice.
The Poinsettia which is made with cranberry juice.
The Megmosa which uses grapefruit juice and, sometimes, a splash of Cointreau.
The Soleil which uses pineapple juice.
The Bellini, substitutes peach puree for the orange juice.
You can substitute nearly any fruit juice for the orange and end up with a lovely Mimosa variation. My personal favorites include pear juice, blueberry juice, pomegranate juice, cherry juice and strawberry juice, all freshly squeezed or sent through my electric juicer and I've been know to grill and mix my juices as well.  You can also substitute other sparkling wines like Prosecco. Additionally, I often add in a few drops of complementary bitters, though technically this is a Champagne Cocktail element. Basically any fresh fruit juice topped off by Champagne or a sparkling wine can be called a Mimosa these days.
  The
MIMOSA    INGREDIENTS
2 Oz. Fresh Orange Juice
2 Oz. Champagne    Glass: Chilled Champagne  Flute
DIRECTIONS
Add the fresh orange juice to your chilled glass and top off with chilled Champagne. Do not stir. It's that simple.
My Mimosa Variations
Barbie Mimosa Berry Mimosa
Blushing Rose Champagne CocktailFlirtini (Pineapple Mimosa)
Grilled Peach Mimosa
Sparkling Pumpkin CocktailSparkling Tangerine Mimosa   National Mimosa Day is May 16th.
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STRAWBERRY BASIL MOSCATO COCKTAIL

Moscato is an Italian dessert style white wine made from the muscat grape. Similar to the Spanish moscatel and the French muscat, it is sweet and fruity with hints of the honey and those qualities inspired my recipe for this cocktail recipe. Though muscat grapes are the oldest known variety and wine made from it has been popular for ages, it's gotten a recent surge in modern day popularity thanks to brand linked rappers and hip hop artists.
Since it's already hitting triple digits here in Tucson, I thought some moscato would pair nicely with the classic combination of fresh strawberries and some fresh basil from my herb garden for a refreshing summer cooler. Adding a little effervescence with some strawberry sparkling water and a bit of sweetness with some honey, I ended up with a pleasant late afternoon cocktail.

STRAWBERRY BASIL MOSCATO COCKTAIL
INGREDIENTS: 4 Oz. Moscato 4 Fresh Strawberries 1 Tbsp. Honey 1 Tbsp. Water Strawberry Sparkling Water 1 Oz. Fresh Lemon Juice 2 Basil Leaves Ice
Garnish: Sprig Basil, Strawberry
Tools: Muddler
Glass: Highball
DIRECTIONS: Warm the honey and water in a highball glass in a microwave just long enough to thin the honey and mix together, about 10 seconds. Add the strawberries and basil to the glass then gently muddle.  Fill your glass with ice then add the Moscato, stir. Top off with the strawberry sparkling water, garnish with a fresh strawberry, a sprig of basil and serve.
National Moscato Day is May 9th.
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The Iconic 80's COSMOPOLITAN Cocktail

UPDATE 2021The CosmopolitanLike Sex and The City, it's time to do it again . . .

Welcome back, ladies!!

Born in the late 1980's, the Cosmopolitan is an iconic cocktail in drink history which was inducted into mass happy hour culture by another icon, HBO's Sex and The City television series.

Recognized as an important part of cocktail history the Cosmopolitan, aka Cosmo, is sadly reviled by current cocktail folk. When mixed properly it is a delicious, soft pink (not red) drink that has been ruined by cheap ingredients, sour mixes and lazy bartending over the decades since its inception.
Classified as a sour, the Cosmopolitan is a modern descendant of The Daisy, a vintage cocktail made with gin, Cointreau, lemon juice, and raspberry syrup.
Like most classic drinks, the Cosmopolitan's history has a murky background. During the late 70's to mid 80's versions of this modernized take on Ocean Spray's famous Harpoon cocktail, were scattered from San Francisco to New York to Miami with almost as many claims to its creation. Both Cheryl Cook and John Caine were serving Cosmos in the eighties, with Cook being the accepted originator of the name, but the currently accepted Cosmopolitan recipe is credited to Toby Cecchini who, after being introduced to a version by Melissa Huffsmith, added the Citron and first served his version at the Odeon in Manhattan in 1987. The citrus flavored vodka is the essential ingredient as that is what distinguishes this cranberry and vodka cocktail from other vodka cranberry drinks like the Cape Cod and the Ocean Spray label recipe of the Harpoon.
The Cosmopolitan. It's time to do it again,  but do it right; with Citron Vodka, fresh lime juice, Ocean Spray cranberry juice and Cointreau.

The COSMOPOLITAN 
INGREDIENTS 1-1/2 Oz Vodka Citron 1/2 Oz Cointreau 1 Oz Cranberry Juice 1/4 Oz Fresh Lime Juice
Garnish: Lime Wedge
Tools: Cocktail Shaker
Glass: Martini (Cocktail)
DIRECTIONS Add all the ingredients to a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake well and double strain into large, chilled cocktail glass. Garnish simply with a lime wedge.
VOICEOVER VIDEO WITH INGREDIENTS AND INSTRUCTIONS:

OR HOW ABOUT JUST A SPOONFUL OF COSMO? Try something new and give my molecular approach to this classic a try.
National Cosmopolitan Day is May 7th.
Updated 12-2021 PLEASE DRINK RESPONSIBLY

The GOLD NUGGET, A Chocolate Bourbon Cocktail

When I'm out and about I am always looking for any kind of goodies for my cocktail recipes. I love hunting for unique and vintage cocktail glasses as well as interesting barware and tools, but I'm especially on the lookout for fun new garnish ideas. When I recently stumbled on some chocolate gold nuggets my mind went immediately to the California Gold Rush. A whiskey based cocktail was definitely indicated so I snatched those nuggets up like an impoverished gold miner and headed back to my bar.

Typically gold prospectors drank their whiskey neat, but I'm all about the cocktail, not just a few fingers of hooch, so that called for a few additional ingredients. There is a Gold Rush Cocktail but it's basically a whiskey sour and I wanted to feature the chocolate in the nuggets so I replaced the lemon and simple syrup with a chocolate liqueur. To play up the bitter conditions and results of most prospectors efforts, and to balance the sweetness of the liqueur, I added a bitter amaro element with some Fernet and some cocktail bitters.

The GOLD NUGGET COCKTAIL
INGREDIENTS 2 Oz. Bourbon or Rye Whiskey 1 Oz. Bols White Creme de Cacao 1 Bar Spoon (tsp.) Fernet Branca 2 Dashes Coffee Bitters 1 Dash Orange Bitters
Garnish: Chocolate Golden Nugget Candy, Orange Twist
Tools: Mixing Glass, Bar Spoon
Glass: Rocks
DIRECTIONS Chill glass in freezer. Add the ingredients to an ice filled mixing glass and stir with a bar spoon for 30 seconds. Strain over ice into the chilled glass, garnish and serve.
Historical Gold Rush Saloons Tidbit: One of the interesting things that's always stuck with me about the California, Klondike and Colorado gold rushes were tales of the fortunes of gold dust under the floors of the saloons near the mother lodes. In the California gold rush, prior to the opening of the San Francisco Mint, placer prospectors often paid for their dime shot of whiskey with a pinch of gold dust from their poke sack. The barkeep would reach in the sack and take a pinch between thumb and forefinger, considered roughly the equivalent of ten cents. In this transfer (and through other means) tons of gold dust apparently sifted down and through the wooden floor boards of gold mine era bars and reports are that many an enterprising bartender or saloon owner mined more gold than many prospectors. There's even a reference to this in the Clint Eastwood movie musical Paint Your Wagon.

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CARROT COCKTAILS

For some reason most people, myself included (as you will see below), tend to bring carrots to use in the bar at Easter. It makes sense because carrots are a spring vegetable, but in our modern world they are available year-round, are very healthy and have a sweet earthiness that works well with many spirits. Carrots also come in a wide array of colors and pair well with a number of herbs and spices, making it a versatile and naturally beautiful colored juice for drinks. It's past time we should give the carrot a little more happy hour respect.
The most important thing to remember when making a carrot cocktail is to use fresh carrot juice, and to use that juice immediately as the flavors and nutritional value begin to break down almost immediately. After that the sky's the limit on creative carrot cocktail choices.

CARROT COCKTAILS
BUNNY TRAP CARROT CAKE COCKTAIL CARROT CAKE MARTINI CARROT COLADA DRUNK BUNNY
International Carrot Day is April 4th, Carrot Cake Day is February 3rd.
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JELLY BEANIE MARTINI

You can't have Easter happy hour without a jelly bean cocktail, right? How do you make an Easter Jelly Beanie Martini? First, steal the jelly beans from your kids' Easter baskets ...

The
Easter
JELLY BEANIE
MARTINI

INGREDIENTS
1/2 Oz. Strawberry Vodka
1/2 Oz. Raspberry Vodka
1/2 Oz. Pineapple Rum
1 Oz. Coconut Water
Splash of Lemon Juice
1 Tsp. Coconut Honey Syrup*

Garnish: Multicolored Easter Cake Sprinkles, Multicolored Jelly Beans

Tools: Cocktail Shaker, Hawthorne Strainer

Glass: Coupe

DIRECTIONS
Dip the rim of your martini glass into the coconut cream and then into the Easter cake sprinkles. Chill glass in the freezer.
* Mix 1 teaspoon of Honey Ridge Honey Creme Coconut with 1 teaspoon of hot water for the coconut honey syrup.
Put 1 of each color of jelly bean onto a cocktail pick and set aside.
Add the ingredients to an ice filled cocktail shaker and shake until well chilled.
Strain into the chilled glass and set the jelly bean loaded cocktail pick across the glass rim to serve.  

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JELLY BEAN MARTINI

 
This Jelly Bean Martini is basically a playful adaptation of a Champagne Cocktail which is a bitters soaked sugar cube with Champagne poured over the top.  I just twisted things around and used jelly beans infused into the vodka as my sugar element instead of a sugar cube.  You then get an extra kick in the vodka from the flavor of the jelly beans.
P. S. I use Jelly Belly jelly beans in both my garnish and my Jelly Bean Vodka because they are made from natural fruit flavors instead of artificial flavorings.
Plan ahead for this one because you'll need the whole day to make your own Homemade Jelly Bean Vodka, then, at happy hour, it's just a simple matter of adding some bubbly and a few dashes of cocktail bitters. You can use a combination of jelly bean flavors like my recipe below, or you can get very specific on your cocktail flavor by simply choosing one, two or three flavored jelly beans. One of my favorite flavors was the fresh pear Jelly Belly and the hot buttered popcorn Jelly Belly was wildly delicious too. Pick a flavored bitters that complements the jelly bean flavor(s).

  The
JELLY BEAN
MARTINI

INGREDIENTS
1 Oz. Homemade Jelly Bean Vodka
3 Oz. Dry Champagne
2 Dashes of Angostura Orange Bitters

Garnish: Jelly Beans

Glass: Cocktail (Martini)

DIRECTIONS Make your Jelly Bean Vodka in the morning.Chill your glass in the freezer for about 10 - 15 minutes. Tap in the bitters.
Pour in the jelly bean vodka then top off with the chilled Champagne.
Garnish with a few of your favorite jelly beans.
I also have a fun JELLY BEANIE MARTINI for Easter!  

Updated 4-2019
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