Hi, everyone. Hope you’re enjoying your summer and have made time to cherish this beautiful weather with good food and drink.  Here in New England we have had one of the hottest Julys in the last quarter century! And with warm weather comes nice juicy fruit and vegetables. What has made this year unlike many years past has been the simple fact that the extremely hot weather has made many of our crops ripe at the same time.  This includes strawberries, blueberries, cherries, raspberries and peaches.

Since I can remember, I have loved blueberries above all fruit. When picked at their peak they have a combination of sweetness
and tartness that can make for some unusual drinks as well as desserts. This month, I have chosen a drink that will offer thirst quenching refreshment and is easy to drink, but has a complex and satisfying taste (as well as health benefits)! You’re gonna want to exhale and take a deep breath from this drink’s bouquet before you even sip it. Enjoy!

The Antioxinator

blueberries, fresh

3 basil leaves

2 Tb. simple syrup

2 oz. Grey Goose L’Orange

1 oz. sparkling elderflower*

cranberry juice

orange wedge

Place 4 blueberries into pint glass. Place 2 basil leaves into glass.  Add 4 squirts, or 2 tablespoons, of simple syrup into glass. Muddle everything in the glass for 10 seconds, or until crushed. Pour 2 ounces of Grey Goose L’Orange into glass and shake for 10 seconds.  Add 1 ounce of sparkling elderflower.  Strain into highball glass packed with ice.  Add a splash of cranberry juice for color and taste.  Garnish with orange wedge cut into a small triangle or quarter.  Place 1 basil leaf next to orange wedge and top leaf with 1 blueberry.  Add a straw and enjoy!

This cocktail makes for a great sipper anywhere outside in the summer. The orange, blueberry, cranberry, basil, and elderflower offer sweet, tart, floral and spicy flavors in a classic presentation.

*If you are unable to find sparkling elderflower, soda water works fine.

Fourth of July is a week from this Sunday.  Have you begun planning your celebration?

What time will the party begin?  Who will you invite?  What food will you serve?  With so many things to consider, you may decide to take the easy route on beverages and simply provide coolers filled with soda and beer.  However, for a once a year event, doesn’t it seem worth the effort to make a special cocktail for the occasion?

Feeling Blue is the perfect cocktail for a Fourth of July party.  First, it is a bright blue drink that will coordinate nicely with your red, white, and blue decorations.  Second, it has a refreshing orange flavor, which will help keep your guests cool on a hot summer day.  Third, it can be made as an individual drink for each guest, or the recipe can be multiplied to make a pitcher for all of the adults in attendance.

Get ready to celebrate the red, white, and blue with your own festive cocktail!

Feeling Blue

1-1/2 oz. of Van Gogh Blue Vodka
1/2 oz. orange liqueur
1/2 oz blue curacao
1 oz orange juice
2 splashes of sour mix
orange slice

Fill a lowball glass with ice.  Add first five ingredients, and stir well.  Garnish with orange slice.

It’s after 5:00 pm on a Friday afternoon that is the start of a 3-day weekend.  Well, sort of a 3-day weekend.  I am sure there will be some work on Monday, but it won’t be a full workday.  So, as far as I am concerned, it is a 3-day weekend.

Having stated that, I will confess that knowing I had one project to complete before starting my weekend, I was seeking the easiest way to complete that project.  Luckily for me (and you, the reader), the easiest way also happens to be tasty and fun.

The remaining project was creating and writing about a new cocktail recipe.  Conveniently, this week I received a few new recipes via email, and after reviewing the recipes, I found one that needed to be shared.  The Pomchi Smash is the creation of mixologist, Paolo Votano of Bocca di Bacco in New York City.

So, while I could write more about how delicious drink this is, I simply will share the recipe.  You get the benefit of getting to the recipe more quickly, and I get to start my 3-day weekend.  Enjoy!

Pomchi Smash

10 fresh raspberries

5 mint leaves

1-1/2 oz. Ron Abuelo Añejo

2 oz. cranberry juice

1 oz. fresh lemon juice

1/2 oz. simple syrup

dash Angostura bitters

ginger ale

In a shaker, muddle raspberries with the mint.  Add ice and all remaining ingredients, except ginger ale.  Strain into an ice-filled highball glass, and top with ginger ale.  Garnish with a raspberry and mint leaf.

At Parched No More, we are fans of infused beverages.  We typically have a few infused vodkas and at least one infused rum in our liquor cabinet.  In fact, we like the taste so much that we have done some infusing at home with decent results.

Visiting local restaurants and reading trade journals, I have discovered that besides the infusion of fruits, sweets, and vegetables into liquors, there is another ingredient that has gained popularity with the cocktail crowd: edible flowers.  Whether they are added via muddling, infusing, or garnishing, flowers are appearing on many cocktail menus and in recipe books.

There are a multitude of flowers that can add a beautiful color, aroma, and flavor to your cocktail.  Included in this list are roses, hibiscus, and lavender.  Of course,  if you are making drinks at home, you want to make sure that the flowers have not been treated with harmful preservatives or herbicides.

If you’re ready to give a floral cocktail a try, we have the perfect recipe.

Lavender Raspberry Collins

3/4 oz. fresh lemon juice

3/4 oz. lavender syrup

1 oz. Bombay Sapphire gin

lemon wedge

3 oz. club soda

Pour lemon juice into a Collins glass, add lavender syrup and Bombay Sapphire gin.  Stir and fill with ice.  Top with club soda, and garnish with a lemon wedge.

At Parched No More, we’ve published information about organic wines and reviews of organic beers, so it seems only fitting that we write about organic vodka.  Prairie Organic Vodka is made from corn and is distilled in Benson, Minnesota, which is not far from their cornfields.

This vodka has been certified as organic by the United States Department of Agriculture.  It is made from certified organic #2 yellow corn that is grown by the farmers who own the distillery.  In addition, this vodka also has been certified as kosher by The Orthodox Union.  There aren’t many vodkas that can make both of those statements.

Produced by Phillips Distilling Company, there are several key points to note about the sustainable production of Prairie Organic Vodka:

• Corn kernels are removed, dried, then milled and blended with water.
• The leftover cobs and other biomass are converted to biogas energy for heating the stills.
• Natural enzymes are added to convert starches to sugar, then natural yeast converts the sugar to carbonic acid and alcohol.
• Alcohol is removed via column distillation, and leftover distillers grains are returned to farms for re-use as feed.

Not only is this vodka enjoyable because it is kosher and organic, it also is smooth and makes a wonderful ingredient in many different cocktails.  From martinis to spiked tea, it can be used in many creative combinations.  My favorite recipe suggested by Prairie Organic Vodka is their recipe for a bloody Mary.  With a name like Prairie Mary and a great vodka, how could you resist?

Prairie Mary

2 oz. Prairie Organic Vodka

1/2 cup tomato juice

1 squeeze fresh lemon juice

Worcestershire sauce, to taste

hot sauce, to taste

1 celery stick

Fill a martini shaker with ice.  Add vodka, juices, and sauces, and shake well.  Pour ice and drink into a highball glass, and garnish with a celery stick.