Spring is launching into full on summer mode pretty soon and looking for fun and fresh cocktail ideas for your brunches and lunches becomes a priority. Last week I was playing around with lambics and got the idea of trying to make a milkshake flavored cocktail. So, I did a little experimentation and came up with this recipe featuring cake vodka and instead of tasting like a milkshake I thought it was more in the realm of a shortcake. My serendipitous recipe is as follow:
Wild/ Sour Beers
I’ve been on a bit of a health kick lately and those that follow me on twitter have most likely seen the daily gym check-ins. In line with my kick, I’ve gone back to drinking my favorite semi-alcoholic morning beverage: Kombucha. Kombucha is an amazing drink full of antioxidants and microbes that do everything from detoxifying your filthy self to killing that hangover you’re working on. As great as Kombucha sounds, its taste is not for everyone. Being fairly acidic to some, kombucha tastes slightly of vinegar. Keeping that in mind, I thought it would do wonderfully with a sour or fruit beer and that’s when the Cherry Chia Cocktail was born.
This is the cocktail that I submitted for the Bols Cocktail Competition, so cross your fingers for me.
I love these beer syrups, the honey is amazing with Lindemans Gueuze Cuvée René. The sour and sweet blends harmoniously and opens the floral components of the beer nicely. The cocktail is delicately sweet and surprisingly refreshing. Plus, blood orange makes for a stunning color.
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Do you remember girls in high school stuffing their Zima’s full of skittles? No? Maybe it was a Reno thing… I guess maybe girls in other cities went with Smirnoff Ice. The point is, that generally speaking, women are not the target market when it comes to beer. I know this upsets some of you, but it is not a judgement, it is just the truth. And it is rather unfortunate if you ask me. Between the image factor, the social stigma and those damn skinny girl margaritas, what is a sophisticated (or not) beer loving lady to do?
While serving up flavored vodka after flavored vodka, I began to formulate a plan for a mixture that would appease the fairer of the sexes. This concoction caters to the fruity cocktail loving palate as well as introduces some depth and interest that will never be found at the bottom of a Whip Cream Vodka & Soda glass.
Let’s face it, the Cosmo was sooooo last decade. Yet, weirdly enough, it still remains one of the most commonly ordered drinks at bars. I blame this partially on lack of bartender creativity combined with lack of knowledge on the consumer end.
Anyways…. I almost never drink vodka, partly because I think it’s a flavorless spirit that adds nothing but an alcoholic backbone to cocktails, but mostly because I am a gin girl. I recently found myself in possession of vodka, leftover from an evening of Bloody Beers with a fellow beer mixologist, and said what the hell, let’s use it. Since, naturally, I am a gin martini girl, the first vodka cocktail I could think of was the Cosmopolitan. Not typically a fan of the Cosmo, I took it upon myself to sex up the concoction with a beeralicious twist.
turbulence (ˈtɜːbjʊləns)
— n
1. a state or condition of confusion, movement, or agitation; disorder
2. signature beer cocktail of The Beer Wench
Essentially, a signature [insert choice word] anything is a piece of work or object that readily identifies its creator or owner — think signature artwork, signature pieces of clothing, and signature drinks.
From the moment I started experimenting with beer mixology, I became obsessed and preoccupied with designing what I wanted to ultimately become, my signature beer cocktail.
There have been a few scary mornings in my day. You know, those mornings where you open your eyes and you feel not just dead but slightly decomposed. You lift open your eyelids only to be bombarded by the weight of the world which is simultaneously spinning around you. I experienced one much like that last November in Denver at the first ever Beer Bloggers Conference and it appeared as though I wasn’t the only one.
The wonderful folks at Breckenridge Brewing Co had brought us all Agave Wheat “Beermosas” for breakfast. There’s nothing like a little hair of the dog to help survive the morning after. Since then I have had time to experiment with several different kinds of beermosas that have been greatly enjoyed at baby showers, brunches and birthdays this past year.
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