Pickle juice adds tang and soothes the bite of the whiskey. Whiskey first pickle juice second.
Shoot or sip separate or combine, your choice. The “proper way” to partake is up for debate amongst many. All goes down the same way if you ask me. Cheers!
PickleBack Shot
Ingredients
2 oz of whiskey
2 ounces of pickle juice of choice
One (or several) pickles
Method
Using a jigger pour 2 ounces of room temperature whiskey into a bucket glass. Using the same jigger pour 2 ounces of of chilled pickle juice into a shot glass. Shoot one after the other. Sip one after the other or combine and shoot or sip combined liquids. Eat pickle after all the shot consumed.
Pickle juice adds magic to the whiskeyBack it up..
Do you remember the kids easy bake ovens? Inspired by childhood nostalgia, meet my easy bake heart garnish for my « clear intentions » cocktail. Or any cocktail really. I had a recipe in mind when preparing this garnish. Clearly, not really. You can make any shape you want to make though. The heart cookie cutter is what I have and was the inspiration here. You don’t need a cookie cutter either. In pastry school I did some free form stuffs on the silpat. Have fun. Be creative. Cheers to making a successful sugar garnish for your drinks!
Ingredients and Tools
Caullet Glucose Syrup – 2.2 lbs by Banshee
Heart shaped Wilton cookie cutter
Pam cooking spray
Kitchen scissors
Baking tray and silpat silicone mat
Method
Add syrup inside a free form and inside cookie cutter/mold
Preheat the oven.
Place a silpat in a baking sheet. Oh and a silpat is a silicone baking mat used to line a baking tray making the stickiest of the stickiest sugary treats easy to remove.
Spray the inside of your heart cookie cutter with a non stick baking spray. Set on top of the silicone mat. Pour glucose syrup into the mold. If using a spoon or spatula, spray that too so the glucose syrup doesn’t stick. Some may ooze outside. Don’t worry, this is normal. I didn’t measure. I eyeballed. Not too thick not too thin. How is that for professional measuring. Bake 356 degrees Fahrenheit until bubbles. About 25-35 minutes.
Let it cool slightly. Not too much as the shape will break. Use scissors to trim the excess hardened baked sugar. Carefully.
Side note: dash of vanilla and food coloring flavorful and fun ways to elevate your easy bake garnish
Carefully remove the cookie cutter and trim around the edges using kitchen scissors
Where to buy some of the goods seen in this post? Uhm, Blonde Behind the Bucket Storefront of course.
* I may receive compensation for eligible purchases.
This bottle of Ritual Zero Proof was gifted to me. Introducing the first of many recipes to come with this alcohol alternative. You won’t miss the alcohol. In case you were wondering. The flavors are specific and pronounced without being overpowering. Most certainly comparable to the spirit intended to mimic when mixed.
This summer slushy will be a go-to for sure for those I don’t feel like drinking for whatever reason days.
Cheers! The Vera!
The Vera
Ingredients
2 oz Ritual Zero Proof Tequila alternative
1 1/2 cups of Pitaya Foods frozen aloe vera chunks
1/2 cup of fresh organic cucumber and a ribbon to garnish
1/2 oz agave (I used a Whole Foods brand 365)
1 whole fresh washed green lime (only need half for this recipe)
Salt for the rim of the glass
Taste testing .. it’s good. It’s good. Some behind the scenes before the method..
Method
Wash cucumber. Using a vegetable peeler, carefully slide vertically from top to bottom of the cucumber with light pressure to create two or three ribbons. Refrigerate until ready to use.
Cut a lime in half. Use a lime to moisten the rim the glass. Add salt to a saucer and roll the glass in salt and set aside. Refrigerating your salt rimmed glass a superior choice. Put a cold thing in a cold thing keeps the original cold thing cold. Besides you know you love a frosted glass. Save the half for the finishing squeeze once the drink is in the glass.
Rough slice the cucumber. Skin on is my vote. Add to blending machine with all other ingredients. Blend until smooth slushy consistency. No ice needed as the frozen aloe vera chunks the « ice ».
Remove the glass and cucumber garnishes from refrigerator. Pour slushy mixture into the glass. Top with garnish. Squeeze the juice from the fresh lime used to rim the glass pre salt for brightness, over the drink.
This one could be a patio pounder, but we are still in dry January. Even if we weren’t, you won’t miss the gin (too much) with this one, though. The bitters’ flavors offer the botanicals we love in gin, and the blood orange adds a tart, bright light. The lemon zest Pellegrino provides a satisfying, refreshing finish, leaving you wanting more. Eight days and counting…
Cheers! You’re almost there.
Blood Orange Delight
Ingredients
1/2 of one blood orange
1 oz of agave
4 oz of lemon Pellegrino sparkling water
3-6 dashes All the Bitter cardamon coriander blood orange non-alcoholic bitters
Method
In a mixing tin, muddle half of a blood orange, pressing out as much juice as possible. A room temperature rolled orange helps. Add agave and ice, then shake until the mixing tin is cold. If you prefer a pulp-filled drink, strain into a bucket glass; if not, double strain. To double strain, use a Hawthorne strainer with a fine mesh strainer. Add ice to your bucket glass and top with lemon Pellegrino.
Glass: Bucket Glass
Garnish: Thinly sliced blood orange circle. Brûlée the orange using sugar and a torch for a fancy touch.
Bar Chef Note: Double-check all bitters ingredients for allergens and interactions
Cheers!
Test video. Mixing tins and glasses take 2 and a gentle reminder for myself brush hair add lipstick before video?
To reiterate what is currently circulating on social media – Dry January doesn’t have to be boring. Inspired by the Japanese coffee jelly drink (some add milk to make it a beverage), I created my own jelly cocktail and mocktail. This post will feature the mocktail, with the cocktail coming next month. Remember, this is Dry January, so I sat around thinking about how to make it more exciting. I wanted to use vanilla extract, Collins maraschino cherry juice, Sadaf pomegranate molasses, all infused with saffron. And thus, my Hello Jello Mocktail was born.
It’s easy to make and delicious. This is more than cubes of jello in a glass. Cheers! You’re almost there.
Hello Jellie Mocktail
4 cups of still water (one reserved for the the gelatin sheets)
2 cups of white granulated sugar
17 gold leaf gelatin sheets
2 Tablespoons of vanilla extract (make your own here)
2 teaspoons of Collins maraschino cherry juice
1/2 teaspoon of Sadof pomegranate molasses
1 teaspoon of Cultures for Health citric acid powder
1/4 teaspoon (ish) of saffron (I eyeballed this one)
Video! What a beauty.
Method
Using a bowl, add 1 cup of cool water to seventeen 220 bloom gold leaf gelatin sheets. It’s ok to break the sheets up a little bit. All sheets should be covered completely or at least much as possible with water. Let the sheets bloom for about 5-10 minutes.
Meanwhile, using a pot (I use an oval Le Creuset Dutch oven), bring 3 cups of water and sugar to a simmer until sugar dissolved. Remove gelatin sheets from blooming water bath squeezing any of the excess water along the way. Add gelatin to the simmering water. Add vanilla. Add citric acid and syrups. Roll saffron in your hand to break it up a bit and toss into the mixture. Stir to blend then remove from heat. Let steep and for 5 to 10 minutes. Strain the saffron out or leave inside mixture.
Pour cooled mixture into silicone molds or container of choosing. Refrigerating overnight is best.
Remove from the molds once refrigerated and cut into desired shapes. I choose cubes. I love how the light reflects and the sharpness.
Glass: Bucket Glass
Garnish: None
Side note: If using silicone molds, spray with cooking spray or brush with a neutral oil and wipe with a paper towel. I used some silicone mold and my mixing glass. You can use a bowl or a pan. Any works as you will cut into cubes. Set aside.
Pro tip: to remove the jello, place silicone molds into warm water. The sides should release with a jiggle.
Challenge accepted. Riff on a Negroni. Sort of. Here. It. Is.
You’re welcome. Wink. Wink.
Stir A Good Goldie
A Good Goldie
Ingredients
2 oz Bombay Sapphire gin
1 oz of Liquor 43
1/2 oz dry vermouth
1/2 oz Antica Carpano sweet vermouth
3 droppers of rye chocolate bitters
6 dashes of orange bitters
Method
Add all ingredients to a mixing glass with ice. Stir and strain over ice.
Garnish: orange peel or dehydrated tangelos
Glass: bucket glass
Please enjoy of the legal drinking age and drink responsibly
Where to buy the goods? You know dehydrated fruits because you can’t be bothered, or dehydrator because you can, or chocolate bitters because you can’t be bothered, or cocoa nibs and rye because you can, and glassware or other stuffs?
Crémant is sparkling wine from France. It’s typically made with more grapes than champagne. Champagne is made typically made using three or in some cases one grape varietals. The process, methode traditionelle, the same for both. The wine can only be called champagne if it’s from the Champagne region of France and crémant if it’s from one of its producing regions; Loire, Alsace, Bourgogne, and Limoux. Crémant was the name given in the 1980s because of law.
This one featured here is is Gratien & Meyer Cremant (Gra-shen My-er) De Loire Brut Rose. 100 % Cabernet Franc and has a price point range of $16-$20 USD per bottle. This wine is bright with berry fruit and dry. It’s excellent on its own or as a topper to many cocktails.
Last year I was asked to create a cocktail for the 20th anniversary of the Legally Blonde movie. There were a couple of must haves. It had to be pink and called The Bend and Snap. Why the Bend and Snap? It’s named after the movie’s famous how to secure a date scene featuring the “bend and snap » technique. The scene was written at the hotel bar called the Writer’s Bar and paying homage to the creators and technique, this is my 2021 Bend and Snap.
didn’t have any more purple flowers or this signifies a mocktail
This cocktail scheduled to be on the menu for one week. That was July 2021. It is still on the menu today. I am so proud of my little cocktail. I can’t promise it will secure you a date but sure is a tasty way to try.
Bend and Snap
2 oz Belvedere vodka
5-6 slides of watermelon
8 sprigs of fresh mint
1 slice of a jalapeño
3/4 oz fresh lime juice
3/4 oz agave syrup (add little water if too thick as this reduces the agave sweetness and adds more fluidity. This is a trick when using speed pour spouts at a bar)
Purple edible viola flowers
Method
1. Add 5-6 small slices of watermelon to a small mixing tin. Think watermelon cut for a breakfast fruit plate. Using a muddler, mash the watermelon to create a pulpy juice.
2. Add 8 sprigs of mint to the same tin. Gently press and twist the mint using a muddler.
3. Add one thin slice of jalapeño with the seeds. Turn once with the same muddler to extract the juices. Don’t over muddle. This drink isn’t a spicy drink. The heat and “snap” should be in the back of the throat a the finish of the sip.
4. Add agave, fresh lime juice, vodka and ice. Shake and double strain into a bucket glass over one large ice cube. Garnish with a purple or lavender viola flower.
Glass: Bucket glass
Garnish: purple or lavender edible viola flower
*** pro-tip if the jalapeño is too spicy or too green consider making or purchasing jalapeño bitters for consistancy
Side notes: I tested this cocktail with tequila and honey together and both with vodka. For this assignment, these ingredients work best.
« The Thing ».That’s it’s nickname for my Tatooom’s espresso martini. Or « The Thing ».
Tatooom’s Espresso Martini
Ingredients
2 oz of Kettle One Vodka
1 oz of Mr. Black Coffee Liqueur (cold brew coffee liqueur from Australia)
1-2oz of Umbria espresso depending on size of glass (Umbria is from Pacific Northwest of United States and espresso pods papers are made from recycled pineapple pulp)
1-2 bar spoons of simple syrup if your espresso is bitter or you prefer a sweeter drink as the simple softens the sometimes harsh espresso flavor
3 drops Chocolate bitters (add cocoa nibs to rye whiskey and let it sit in a closed jar at room temperature until chocolate desire chcokatebflavornisnacjieved. Longer is better if you ask me.
Coffee beans for the garnish
Method
Add all ingredients to a mixing tin. If your espresso is hot, add this to ice first and let it chill. Then add all ingredients and shake. Strain into a coupe glass.
Several months ago I was thinking about creative was to garnish my martinis. This, a way. Black pitted olives from a can stuffed with feta cheese. You will find yourself saying Spanish queen green pimento stuffed olives who?
Feta Stuffed Black Olives
Ingredients
1 can of pitted black olives
Feta cheese of choice
Method
Open the can and drain the olive juice. Reserve for a dirty martini or not. Slice or break feta cheese apart and stuff olives. Try not to eat them all before making the martini.
