Strawberry Blueberry Margarita

Here's a great version of a margarita that I blended up to use some leftover berries I had in the fridge. With a couple shots of tequila, those berries were just enough for a couple of delicious cocktails and a perfect end to a long day of painting and remodeling my studio. 
Strawberry Blueberry Margarita
2 Oz. Tequila 6 Big Strawberries 1/2 C. Blueberries 2 Fresh Mint Leaves Juice of 1 Lime Pinch Lime Salt 1 Oz. Agave Syrup 3/4 C. Ice
Toss it all in a blender, pulse, pour and garnish with a strawberry and sprig of mint and enjoy!

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Red, White & B'lure Martini for July 4th

Just for kicks, it being Independence Day and all, I thought a red, white and blue martini might be fun. Blue is a hard color to come by in cocktails unless you use an artificially colored liquor, but I happened to have on hand a bottle of B'lure Butterfly Pea Flower Extract, sent to me by Wild Hibiscus, that is a naturally occuring deep blue color. I'd been dying to play with this and I finally saw an opportunity.

You have to be careful with B'lure if you want to maintain the blue color, because if you add any acidic element to your cocktail the B'lure will immediately start to turn from blue to pink to purple depending on how much acid you add. That's cool too, and something I want to play with more down the road, but for a July 4th theme I needed that blue. I also needed the cocktail itself to be completely clear before adding the B'lure drops. That pretty much meant clear booze all around. Because the butterfly pea flower extract has sugar in it and has a mild floral essence, I went with cherry vodka and Maraschino liqueur then used regular vodka and chocolate bitters to balance their sweetness.

Yes, it's a powerful martini but it's meant to be sipped as you watch the fireworks and you need something with some bang for that!

The

RED, WHITE and B'LURE Martini
INGREDIENTS: 2 Oz. Belvedere Vodka 1/2 Oz. Three Olives Cherry Vodka 1/2 Oz. Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur 12 -15 Drops B'lure Butterfly Pea Flower Extract from Wild Hibiscus 5 Drops Scrappy's Chocolate Bitters Maraschino cherry Ice
TOOLS: Mixing glass and strainer, Bar spoon, Martini (Cocktail) Glass

DIRECTIONS:

Fill your mixing glass with ice. Pour in the vodkas, the Maraschino liqueur and add the chocolate bitters. Stir rapidly with the bar spoon until well chilled. Strain into your chilled glass. Using the dropper provided, drop the Butterfly Pea Extract into the cocktail. It will settle nicely on the bottom for a layered effect. Garnish with a Maraschino cherry and enjoy.

Happy 4th! HAVE FUN, BE SAFE, DRINK RESPONSIBLY!
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RED, WHITE & BOOZESICLES, Raspberry, Coconut, Blueberry Cocktail Popsicles

I've done frozen cocktails - what I call Boozesicles - a few times before, like my Pomegranate Boozesicles and my Grape Boozesicles. I've even done a few varieties of Martini Granitas, aka fancy, boozy shave ice! They're impressive, fun and a great summer refreshment or dessert that also counts towards happy hour!

When I was invited to a Fourth of July party and asked to bring dessert I decided that I needed to up the ante on frozen cocktails and bring some serious red, white and booze to play.

What I came up with was a refreshingly cool venture through three different alcoholic drinks on a stick. A RaspCherry Martini, a Coconut Colada and a Blueberry Margarita. It's like a cocktail flight (a reduced-measure tasting selection) but frozen on a stick, a tasty and neat way to end a holiday cookout! Especially if you can find the sippy straw popsicle molds I did, no dripping down the hand!

If you can't find the sippy straw molds then flip your boozesicles stick end up and let them melt into a pretty glass, combined together they taste like Tutti Fruity:

Got kids coming? No problem, just leave out the booze, reverse the colors and use a different shaped mold so there's no confusion!

These ought to set off a few fireworks of their own:

RED, WHITE & BOOZESICLES This recipe will make six standard popsicles.
RED RASP-CHERRY MARTINI LAYER 1 Cup Frozen Raspberries Water 1/4 Cup Cherry Vodka 2 Tsp. Sugar 4 Drops Orange Bitters Fill a full cup measure with raspberries then add water to the top and add to your blender with the cherry vodka, sugar and the orange bitters. Blend it all up and pour into the popsicle mold 1/3 of the way. Freeze.
WHITE COCONUT COLADA LAYER 1/3 Cup of Cream of Coconut 2/3 Cup of Milk 1/4 Cup of Dark Rum Blend it all up in and pour to the 2/3 mark of your popsicle mold. Freeze
BLUEBERRY MARGARITA LAYER 1 Cup Frozen Blueberries Water Juice of One Lime 1/4 Cup Blue Agave Tequila 2 Tsp. Sugar 4 Drops Grapefruit Bitters Fill a full cup measure with blueberries then add water to the top and add to your blender with the rest of the ingredients.  Blend it all up and fill the balance of your molds to the top. Freeze.
Happy Fourth of July!

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The BEACH BUM TIKI DRINK Tropical Cocktail

This tropical inspired cocktail is actually the love child of some left over fruit salad, a battle with my cable company, an unusually hot and humid day and a desperate need for a cooling smoothie. Now, when I'm talking hot, in Arizona that means HOT, like temperatures in the triple digits with ranges of 105° to 118°. That kind of heat gets a person thinking about beaches, and beaches get me thinking about Tiki cocktails.
As I grazed my refrigerator for more ingredients for my boozy smoothie, I spied some fresh pineapple and the cream of coconut. Along with some falernum syrup, and a nice assortment of rums, I was amply prepared to transport myself from the hot Arizona desert to a Tiki Bar paradise right out on my own front deck. Heck, I was already surrounded by sand (okay, sandy clay), so all I had to do to get away to Tiki Land was stick a cocktail umbrella in my drink, don some flip flops, turn on a fan and find some Don Ho on Pandora. Aloha.
The BEACH BUM A Little Bit of Tiki Paradise in a Glass
INGREDIENTS: 1 Oz. Light Rum 1 Oz. Dark Rum 1/2 Oz 151 Rum 1 Cup Crushed Pineapple 3 Oz. Cream of Coconut 1/3 Cup Blackberries 1/3 Cup Raspberries 1/2 Oz. Falernum Syrup 1-1/2 Oz. Fresh Lime Juice Dash of Salt 1 Cup Ice
GARNISHES: Toasted Coconut Flakes Pineapple Slice Raspberry Blackberry
TOOLS:  Jigger, Blender, Hurricane Glass, Cocktail umbrella, Vivid imagination.
INSTRUCTIONS: Add all your ingredients into the blender and pulse until the ice has been thoroughly blended and you have a smoothie consistency. Pour into your hurricane glass, garnish and enjoy.
If it helps ... feel free to add a cabana boy and a grass skirt to the mix.  

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Updated 8-9-2025

The RASPBERRY TARRAGON DAIQUIRI

This is what Hemingway wrote about the noble Daiquiri in his postumously published novel Islands in the Stream:

"... as he lifted it, heavy and the glass frost-rimmed, he looked at the clear part below the frappéd top and it reminded him of the sea. The frappéd part of the drink was like the wake of a ship and the clear part was the way the water looked when the bow cut it when you were in shallow water over marl bottom. That was almost the exact color."
"This frozen daiquiri, so well beaten as it is, looks like the sea where the wave falls away from the bow of a ship when she is doing thirty knots."
"But on this night Thomas Hudson had been ashore about four days when he got really drunk.  It had started at noon at the Floridita and he had drunk first with Cuban politicians that had dropped in ...  He had drunk double frozen daiquiris, the great ones that Constante made, that had no taste of alcohol and felt, as you drank them, the way downhill glacier skiing feels running through powder snow and, after the sixth and eighth, felt like downhill glacier skiing feels when you are running unroped."   No, Hemingway was not referring to that drink of cheap call rum and bottled sweet and sour mix that passes for a Daiquiri in some places, he wrote of the prose worthy drink he enjoyed at the Floridita in Havana.   Jennings Cox, creator of the original Daiquiri recipe of Barcardi Carta Blana White rum (now known as Bacardi Superior), fresh "limón" juice (aka lime juice in Cuba) and "sugar syrup" (aka simple syrup) served the Daiquiri shaken with crushed ice, NOT strained then served up icy cold but not frozen. The original frozen versions were served up more like a shave ice, similar to a Mint Julep. Both of these are far superior libations to the boozified, sometimes mechanized, slurpees most of us are familiar with. A real Daiquiri is the kind of drink that made folks like Hemingway wax poetic.   Hemingway liked his with a little grapefruit and a dew drops of Maraschino liqueur in place of the simple syrup (aka the Hemingway Special), I like mine with fruits that are a little sweeter. This time I went with raspberries because they were in season, then I added a little herbal zing from tarragon for the same reason and, because raspberries can be quite tart, I  upped the sweetness with some extra simple syrup.  

  The RASPBERRY TARRAGON DAIQUIRI   INGREDIENTS: 2 oz White Rum 1 oz Fresh Lime Juice 1 Oz. Raspberry Syrup Extra Simple Syrup* 10 Tarragon Leaves (Shhhh ... little secret ... ) Small Pinch of Sea Salt!! Lime Wheel Fresh Raspberries Sprig of Tarragon Ice   TOOLS: Coupe glass, Cocktail shaker, Muddler   DIRECTIONS: Chill your coupe. In a cocktail shaker gently muddle the tarragon leaves with the lime juice. Fill your cocktail shaker with ice then add the raspberry syrup, the dash of salt and the rum. *Now is the time to adjust your sweetness by adding the extra simple syrup to balance the tart raspberry syrup! Taste your mixture before to make sure it needs sweetening, then add a tablespoon at a time. (My raspberries were quite tart so my syrup needed 2 more tablespoons of simple syrup.) Adjusted to your taste? Good, now shake vigorously until chilled. Strain into your chilled coupe glass, garnish with the fresh raspberries, a lime wheel, the sprig of tarragon and serve.   Why the salt? Because salt is a natural way to awaken the palate and it helps take the bite out of any bitterness while actually enhancing perception of other tastes. It's a trick chefs have used for decades and one I've secretly applied to many of my cocktail recipes for years. Just be careful not to overdo, you don't want to taste the salt you just want it to do its job.   I can't promise this Daiquiri will turn you into a great writer like Hemingway, but it can turn you into a drinker like Hemingway.   Enjoying my Raspberry Tarragon Daiquiri:   An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools. ~ Ernest Hemingway   Updated 7-2018 PLEASE DRINK RESPONSIBLY  

Updating The GIBSON COCKTAIL

The Gibson is a classic, old school cocktail that is a variation on the Gin Martini where the olive or lemon twist is replaced with a cocktail onion. Interestingly, according to the oldest published recipe for the Gibson in the 1908 book, "The World's Drinks And How To Mix Them" by William Boothby, a Gibson is equal parts gin and French vermouth stirred with ice and strained into a cocktail glass and sometimes served with an olive. Except for the ratios, this sounds suspiciously close to a typical gin martini to me.

As you can see, no cocktail onion was on the team. When the cocktail onion came into play is as heavily debated as who created the Gibson in the first place, and frankly, m'dears, I don't give a hoot. The Gibson, as we know it today, is garnished with a cocktail onion (though usually one of those ubiquitous, soggy little orbs of a sad excuse for a vegetable) and that's it's iconic signature garnish!
At this point I'm sure you all know how I feel about bottled, canned and mass manufactured ingredients in my cocktails. I avoid them like the plague and upgrade them with a fresh, homemade, nutrient and flavor packed alternative wherever possible. In the case of the cocktail onion, it's very possible and extremely easy with a quick pickled fresh green onion, and, yes, I've provided you with my personal recipe for Quick Pickled Green Onions below.
So, instead of a mushy and tough excuse of a pearl onion you get a crunchy and savory bite of zing at the end of your Gibson!  
The New and Improved GIBSON Cocktail 
INGREDIENTS: 2 Oz. Ford's Gin 1 Oz. Martini & Rossi Extra Dry Vermouth Quick Pickled Green Onions Sea Salt Fresh Ground Pepper Ice
TOOLS: Cocktail pitcher, Cocktail spoon, Conical (Martini) glass
INSTRUCTIONS:  At least an hour or two ahead of time pickle your green onions. (Recipe below.) Chill your cocktail glass in the freezer or fill with ice to chill. Fill your cocktail pitcher with ice, add the vermouth and stir a few times. Add the gin and stir for about 12 seconds then stain into your chilled glass. Garnish with a Quick Pickled Green Onion, a few of the juniper, coriander and cardamom seeds from the pickling liquid, add a dash of salt and pepper then serve.
Yes, you will see a few drops of the olive oil floating in your cocktail as a result of the pickling liquid from the onions and the spice seeds. Believe it or not, the olive oil acted like a secondary garnish bringing tiny bursts of the vinaigrette on the palate, a nice little surprise!

Quick Pickled Green Onions Recipe

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 C. Water

1/2 C. White Balsamic Vinegar 1/2 C. Extra Virgin Olive Oil 1 Tsp. Kosher Salt 1/2 Tsp Fresh Ground Black Pepper 1 Tsp. Sugar 1/4 Tsp. Juniper Berries, Crushed  1/2 Tsp. Coriander Seeds, Crushed 3 - 4 Cardamom Seeds, Crushed 1 Tsp. Dried Orange Peel 1 - 2 Bunches of Green Onions, Trimmed
DIRECTIONS: Crush your seeds lightly, just to open them up. Heat everything but the green onions in the microwave for one minute. Pour the warm pickling liquid over the onions and allow to cool. Refrigerate for a few hours until it's cocktail time!
The pickling spices I used, inspired by the botanicals used in the Ford's Gin, give the onion a nice tiny kick of juniper, coriander and lemon when eaten, like a last goodnight kiss.

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CHOCOLATE STRAWBERRY MARTINI Redeux

I love chocolate covered strawberries and, because I do, one of the first cocktail recipes I ever created was this chocolate strawberry martini. I got to enjoy my favorite dessert as a cocktail and it started me on my mission of creating culinary cocktails for as many of those ubiquitous food holidays as possible.

For me those food holidays do serve a purpose beyond promoting some food or business, they inspire new cocktail recipes. Interestingly enough (though there are Chocolate Covered Anything, Nuts and even Raisins Days) there is no Chocolate Strawberry Day, no Chocolate Covered Strawberry Day, not even a Chocolate Dipped Strawberry Day.

Bah-freaking-humbug! 

Therefore, in honor of my mom who loved chocolate strawberries and since someone has already created a fake food holiday and gotten away with it, I declare August 29th (Mom's birthday) Chocolate Strawberry Day!

My original recipe for this cocktail was very sweet and lacked complexity so, to celebrate this new (entirely legit) food holiday, I've remastered this chocolate strawberry cocktail. I added a perky herbal touch of very dry vermouth and some extra depth with some chocolate bitters. It's still a sweet cocktail, but now it's got some character.

The

CHOCOLATESTRAWBERRYMartini(Yes, I'm still gonna call it a martini, deal with it.)
INGREDIENTS2 Oz. Pinnacle Strawberry Vodka2 Oz. Bols White Creme de Cacao1/2 Oz. Martini & Rossi Extra Dry Vermouth1 (+/-) Tbsp. Simple Syrup*Dash White Pepper3 Dashes Scrappy's Chocolate Bitters4 - 5 Pureed Strawberries
GARNISH: 1 Large Chocolate Covered Strawberry
DIRECTIONSAdd the fresh strawberries to your blender and puree.Fill a cocktail shaker with ice, add the pureed strawberries, strawberry vodka, white creme de cacao, vermouth, white pepper and the bitters.Shake until chilled.Strain** into your chilled cocktail glass and garnish with the chocolate covered strawberry.
VOICEOVER VIDEO WITH INGREDIENTS AND DIRECTIONS:

* COCKTAIL TIP: Strawberries can run a gamut of sweet intensity so you might want to taste your cocktail as you add the simple syrup to check the sweetness. An easy way to taste a cocktail to insert a straw into the mixture and hold your finger over the top of the straw then lift the straw to your mouth and drop some of the cocktail on your tongue. By not touching the straw to your mouth you can reinsert it to taste again.

** I single strain (just through the cocktail shaker strainer) because I don't mind the pulp and the seeds from the strawberries. Feel free to double strain through a fine mesh strainer if you prefer a pulp and seed free drink.

National Chocolate Covered Anything Day is December 16th and - now - National Chocolate Strawberry Day is August 29th.

Updated 8-2021

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