We’ve got some new fun for you friends of our, inspired by the crafternoon movement. Crafting is all about havin’ a good ol’ time, if you ask the Westervins, so why not make a day of it (probably not a weekday) with some fresh tunes and even fresher attitudes (by getting liquored up)! We wanna share some of our favorite craft projects and hobbies with you, and to make it even more enjoyable, we’ve paired each craft with a special cocktail concoction and some musical suggestions. So come along. Take a ride with us to a DIY paradise. But we’ll need to fill up the tank first!
Excuse me, would you like to add some sophistication to that cocktail? Well, why not try some cucumber ice cubes?
Cucumber ice. Simple, sophisticated, refreshing.
If you’re looking for ways to add a little class to your drinks, why not freeze up some cucumber ice cubes? All you need to do is peel a cucumber, chop it up a bit and throw it in a blender along with a liter or so of water. Purée, and freeze in an ice cube tray. Then you’ll be ready to enjoy the perfect gin and tonic. Or, if you’re feeling a bit more adventurous, you might try my variation on the Porch Swing Coctail.
Veranda Tippler
2oz Tanqueray No. 10
1.5oz Pimm’s No. 1
4oz Lemonade (1 part fresh lemon juice, 3/4 part ginger simple syrup, 2 parts water)
Pour all ingredients into a large Collins glass over cucumber ice cubes and top with a splash of lemon-lime soda. Garnish with cumber and lemon slices.
Here’s a simple variation on the Port Light cocktail that I came up with to satisfy Sarah’s bourbon-hating demands. It’s also a bit easier to put together since you don’t need to blend anything. I have a feeling this is going to be a great cocktail to combat the summer heat. Here I’ve used Death’s Door Gin from Madison, Wisconsin which strays a bit from the typical London Dry style, but any traditional gin (Tanqueray, Bombay, etc.) should work well.
Continuing on the sweet side of things, I put together a new cocktail this weekend. I wanted something to celebrate spring and that utilized only ingredients we had on hand. So, without further ado, I invite you to snap into a Lem-Gin:
With the revival of vintage tiki drinks and the opening of bars like Smuggler’s Cove in SF, Rum seems to be set for a big decade. For our party a little while ago, I used Joe Scialom’s recipe for the
Shake Gently with 1 cup Crushed Ice, pour into Goblet or other large vessel. Garnish with whatever the hell, it’s dead and doesn’t care. I used a whole lime. It’s a big drink.
To really hammer home the deathly theme of the drink I used Bulleit Bourbon, and Death’s Door Gin. If anyone happens to know any death themed Rum or Cognac, please let me know.
Since I was the only one making cocktails at our party the other night, service was slow. Luckily we had a really nice punch to keep people sippin’.
In this video, Jim Ryan, the “Brand Ambassador” for Hendricks Gin, walks you through how to make Over-Under Winter Punch. Now you’ll have to get past Jim’s post-ironic retro mustache, but if you can, the result will be a fantastically pleasant punch. I didn’t have a liter of Hendricks on hand, so I blended some Tanqueray and Dry Fly. Worked great.
Results from last weekends cocktail trials are in and surprisingly, one of the most popular cocktails was one I created myself: the Pink Slip:
2oz Tanqueray (works well with white Rum, too)
3 basil leaves
2 tsp raspberry syrup
3/4 oz lime juice
ginger beer
a dash or two of grenadine
Add raspberry syrup, lime juice, and basil to a fizz glass. Muddle. Fill glass 3/4 full with cracked ice. Top with ginger beer. Then top the whole thing off with a little bit of grenadine for a bit of a color boost!
A note on ingredients: You’ll benefit by making some of these ingredients yourself:
Raspberry syrup is really easy. Start with a rich simple syrup. Simmer a 2:1 mixture of sugar to water in a small pan until it is clear and not cloudy. Let it cool and poor over a bunch of raspberries (frozen will work fine). Let the syrup and raspberries sit out overnight before straining out the berries. You should be left with a sweet red berry syrup.
For the ginger beer, I used Audrey Saunders recipe, which is equally easy. If you use housemade ginger, you’ll want to add a little seltzer to give it a sparkle.
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