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Cocktail Quickie: Yuzu Lemon Sparkler

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A cocktail does not need to be complicated. It does not need to contain 7 ingredients. It doesn’t need herbs freshly harvested from my backyard. Sometimes a cocktail is something you threw together in 2 minutes. Sometimes it looks like this.

I’ve been going through those watermelon chunks like crazy and came to a point where I ran out but still had half a bottle of OK champagne in the fridge. Ah dilemma. I could have gone the Champagne Cocktail route, but I’m trying to get through that bottle of Limoncello because I need that bottle to make a new batch soon. So this became a marriage of convenience (of ingredients).

I like the idea of sometimes having something in my brain Rolodex that I can throw together quickly without having to think too much on it (like after a grueling day at work). This is one of them, and may possibly be a new vein of recipes on here: the quickies.

1-1/2 oz Limoncello (homemade if you got it)
2 dashes of Miracle Mile Yuzu Bitters
3-4 oz of Champagne

Pour limoncello and bitters in a chilled Champagne flute. Swirl gently to mix. Pour in champagne. Bottoms up.

I love the heightened citrus and woodsy notes that the Yuzu bitters adds to the mix (DO go and find these bitters. So worth it.). Can you drink champagne without any extras? Yes. But if you want an extra punch to the drink, this quick fix will do you right.

Lime Tree and a Daiquiri

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Recently we invested in a lime tree. Or rather, I had one picked up and brought to the house and my husband came home and wondered when a lime tree had relocated itself next to the front door.

It smells amazing. I immediately had to make a drink out of it, and luckily I had an order for a drink. Stat!

I always associate limes with Daiquiris and I figured this was an easy jumping off point to really indulge in the flavor of the fruit. And it really does. It’s perfectly sour and sweet, and with just three ingredients and the right balance, all are identifiable yet harmonized.

This drink also packs a nice punch, which in part influenced my decision to serve over ice. I read up on a couple different versions, and figured if you want to sit and sip this, a couple of ice cubes help draw out the time you get to spend with your Daiquiri.

2 oz. 10 Cane Rum
1 oz. Freshly Squeeze Lime Juice
1 tsp Simple Syrup

Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Give it a good shake and pour into a chilled champagne saucer filled 2/3 with ice. Contemplate the next fruit tree purchase.

The Angela, and Introductions

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Bad whiskey. Or at least not sip-able whiskey. Is sitting on the shelf left over from it’s need during Christmas time as being the main ingredient in my home made egg nog. Which reminds me I need to invest in a larger punch bowl. It’s Old Crow. And really, it is fine mixed in with diet coke, and even was fantastically subdued in the egg nog. But you can’t sip it while watching an old episode of Murder She Wrote. On netflix. Yes, I’m watching it on purpose. So what to do with it? Well, sometimes I will make a poor version of a Manhattan (because it is not Rye), but oops, no sweet vermouth either tonight. And really, I’d like to get back to the mystery and make this quick. So what other flavor is delicious where you want to still taste some whiskey? Oranges. Grand Marnier. Bitters. While this combination is not new, it really makes a couple glugs of Old Crow quite tasty. So here is the loose recipe.

2 Fingers of Old Crow
½ ounce of Grand Marnier
3-5 dashes of Peychaud’s Bitters (to taste)

I’ve lovingly nicknamed this the Angela because I like to make this lately while watching the above mentioned show. And on a last note… this blog is a record of sorts of me putting down some drink recipes and concoctions. And really is a discovery into mixology for me. I’m not a bartender, or mixologist. The only drinks I’ve made and sold to people were coffee based about 10 years ago, and the closest I’ve come to working in a bar was as the DJ here in Los Angeles. However, I do love a good cocktail, especially if it leans towards the classic variety, and occasionally veers off wildly into the realm of Tiki. I also am a believer of the art of crafting your own ingredients, even growing them. This is not meant to be an encyclopedia of drinks by any means, and will evolve as my journey through learning about cocktails and their history reveals itself to me. So there may will be corrections. And I am sure I will say something wrong at some point. This is the internet after all. Comments, corrections and ideas are welcome and encouraged. Now let’s go make some drinks.