Beverages

All posts in the Beverages category

Grapefruit Margaritas

Published May 1, 2013 by jenmatteson

It might be spring in Minnesota…finally.  Though I’m not convinced it’s here to stay seeing as though the forecast says snow on Thursday.  Perfect, I thought, because I was really starting to miss the snow :(   But, let’s focus on the positive.  It was in the 70s all weekend long.  It’s getting closer to my kind of weather.  We had our neighbors over for dinner on Friday, after the four of us attended a fun FREE wine tasting at our local liquor store.  Probably not as much fun for the pregnant one, but she seems to always have a great time no matter what.  I really love that about her!  With this pleasant heat wave we’re having, we actually got enjoy our deck for a bit with drinks and appetizers before we headed over to the wine tasting.  AMAZING!

Grapefruit Margaritas

I was in the mood to make a classic summer cocktail since the weather was so nice, and I came across Nicole’s grapefruit margarita on Prevention RD.  Sounded perfect enough for me!  Fresh squeezed grapefruit and lime juice, mixed with some tequilla, all those things sounded perfect.  First, I reserved some of the juices for a mocktail for the mommy-to-be.  I just added a little bit of Sprite to her juices and garnished the same.  The result was still wonderful and she really seemed to enjoy it.  For the non-mommy-to-be drinks, I put all the ingredients (doubled, maybe more) in a shaker (it was filled to the brim), shook ‘er up, and poured.  Wow.  The three of us put down the entire shaker in about 30 minutes.  Once we returned from the tasting, we promptly finished another before dinner.

DSC02320

I got some okay pictures on Friday night, but wanted to get a few more on Saturday.  Plus, then I had an excuse to use up the rest of my grapefruits and limes (ok, I guess really I had an excuse to make another batch of these fantastic refreshing treats!).  After a very busy morning and afternoon of errands, Nate and I took a quick break to enjoy a shaker full of grapefruit margaritas on our deck before we headed over to his parents house for dinner.  Yum!  Don’t forget Cinco de Mayo is coming up.  You’ll be sure to impress your friends with these babies!

Grapefruit Margaritas

Grapefruit Margaritas

Source: Adapted from Prevention RD
Servings: 2 drinks

Ingredients:

4 oz tequilla
2 oz orange liqueur (such as triple sec)
2 oz fresh-squeezed lime juice (about 2 limes)
6 oz fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice (about 1 grapefruit)
salt
lime and/or grapefruit wedges for garnish

Directions:

1. Pour a handful of cocktail salt (I used Kosher) on a small plate.  Rub rim of glasses with lime and dip in salt.  Fill glasses with ice.

2. Fill a cocktail shaker with ice.  Add tequilla, orange liqueur, lime and grapefruit juices.  Shake.  Pour into glasses and garnish.  Serve and enjoy (responsibly!).

Coffee-Cube After Dinner Drink

Published February 17, 2013 by jenmatteson

I can take zero credit for this amazing drink, but I absolutely had to share it with you.  One of the blogs I follow, Sore Legs and Scrambled Eggs, just posted this amazing after dinner drink (if you haven’t checked out her blog, you should, it about food and fitness!).  It is really simple, but the coffee ice cubes are the best part! Many people like to have coffee after dinner, and I’m no exception.  However, sometimes you want to spice it up just a little.

Coffee-Cube After Dinner Drink

Not only is this a great way to get a little caffeine fix, but also a brilliant idea to use up any leftover coffee in that huge pot you made this morning.  Coffee ice cubes!  They’re also great for making an iced coffee without the bummer of getting watered down by regular ol’ ice cubes.

Coffee Ice Cubes

The beauty of this drink, as Ashley eludes to, is that it continually gets better.  The flavors start out with just the liqueurs and vodka, but as the ice melts, you get a rich wonderful coffee flavor.  I substituted vanilla vodka for her cake vodka suggestion, but it’s only a matter of personal preference.  Whichever way you go, you should be sure to try one version or another of this fantastic after dinner drink.

Coffee-Cube After Dinner Drink

Coffee-Cube After Dinner Drink

Source: Adapted from Sore Legs and Scrambled Eggs
Servings: 1

Ingredients:

3-4 coffee ice cubes
2 oz vanilla vodka
2 oz Kahlua
1 oz Bailey’s Irish Cream

Directions:

1. Place cubes in low ball.  Add vodka, Kahlua and Bailey’s.  Stir, or don’t :)  I prefer not to so the flavor continues to change throughout the drink.

Blue Christmas

Published December 7, 2012 by jenmatteson

I generally stay away from fruity drinks and sweet mixers, but it’s always fun to try something new once in a while.  My aunt asked me to make a non-alcoholic blue drink for her Christmas cookie exchange, and I think I really rose to the challenge.  This isn’t overly fruity, as the cranberry juice’s tartness mellows the sweetness from the Kool-Aid (OH YEAH!).  Adding in the 7-UP brings a little bubbly to the party.  I dressed this up a bit more to make it more Christmasy by using crushed candy canes (the cherry flavor) on the rim of the glasses.  Super fun!  Everyone loved these drinks and I had to make a second batch for dinner as they drank up the first one during the appetizers!

Blue Christmas

Blue Christmas

Source: Pigzilla Original
Servings:

Ingredients:

1 tbsp ice blue raspberry lemonade Kool-Aid (I used the kind pre-mixed with sugar)
6 oz white cranberry and peach juice (white cranberry would be fine, but I couldn’t find any)
2 oz 7-UP

Directions:

1. Mix together Kool-Aid mixture and white cranberry juice.  Pour over ice and top with 7-UP and serve.  *For and adult version, simply add vodka, Kool-Aid mix, and juice to shaker with ice.  Shake and pour, then add 7-UP.

Apple Pie Bourbon

Published November 25, 2012 by jenmatteson

I stumbled across this website a few weeks ago, and decided I needed to start following it immediately.  So many cool ideas for drinks!  The apple pie bourbon was the first thing I saw and I wanted to make it for our friends Thanksgiving.  Bonus: I could make a pie with the apples after they’ve infused the bourbon.  Neato!!

I’m not generally a bourbon person, but this just sounded so delicious that I had to try it.  I served it with dessert, which was the bourbon apple pie, and they went so well together (duh!).  I didn’t heat the glasses well enough, but the bourbon was definitely better a little warmed rather than room temperature.  The spices really came through and it tasted far less bourbony than I anticipated.  I cannot wait to try more recipes from Boozed + Infused!

Apple Pie Bourbon

Source: Adapted from Boozed + Infused

Ingredients:

750 ml bourbon
3 granny smith apples, cored and cut in 1/2-inch dice
1 cinnamon stick
1 vanilla bean, split

Directions:

1. Place apples, cinnamon stick and vanilla bean in large jar.  Add bourbon, making sure all apple slices are covered.  Close tightly and shake or stir every few days.  Allow to infuse for about a month (this means you’ll want to taste it every week or so) until it reaches your desired taste.  Strain through a mesh strainer or cheesecloth.

Oktoberfest

Published October 19, 2012 by jenmatteson

It’s a little late to be posting this, as Oktoberfest begins late in September and runs through the first weekend in October.  Plus, if you were to brew an Oktoberfest, you’d want to get started in August, so better luck next year!  Bookmark this post!

We started our Oktoberfest in the middle of August, and it’s just now at its prime.  This brew is smooth and packed full of malt.  We tried it next to Summit’s Oktoberfest, and three out of three of us liked our home-brew better (of course, it wasn’t a blind tasting, which we might have to try next time, but still!).  Unfortunately, this brew had quite a bit of sediment in it, which just means you probably don’t want to pour the beer into a glass to the last drop – we leave an inch or so in the bottle.

Also, this was supposed to be a lager, but we don’t have the correct equipment to brew a lager (yet); the temperature needs to be adjusted throughout the fermentation process.  We thought we were S.O.L., but the very nice man at Midwest Supplies said we just needed to sub out our lager yeast for an ale.  They are so helpful!

Oktoberfest

Source: Midwest Supplies
Servings: Makes 5 gallons

Ingredients:

dry yeast
priming sugar

Grains:
8 oz. carapils
8 oz. caramel 40L specialty grains

Hops:
1.5 oz. Mt Hood
1 oz. Hallertau Pellet Hops

Malt:
9.3 lb Munich liquid malt extract

French 75

Published October 17, 2012 by jenmatteson

This past Friday was another drink tasting party, hosted by our dear friends, Kimmy J and Nate.  In the spring they picked up and ditched Minnesota for Wisconsin.  They traded in their city digs for a simple country life.  Okay, that might not be entirely true as they are now successful business owners (;)), but it does seem that they live in the middle of nowhere to a city person.  Kimmy is still not quite sure where she lives, and I’m not making this up – she literally said this in a Facebook conversation.

Back to the party.  The theme was 1920′s, which most of us loved as we watch Boardwalk Empire.  Thankfully for me, no one brought straight whiskey for us to taste!  I didn’t get any pics of the drink itself, but here are a few of us dressed up.

Surprisingly everyone’s drink included gin.  Or not so surprisingly.  Nate and I made a French 75 (and Pesto Chicken Pockets), which was a hit!  We only snuck into the winner’s circle by one measly point.  Kimmy and Nate were a very tight second.  Not surprising as their drink was pretty similar to ours.  I like gin, but I don’t think you have to like it to enjoy this drink.  The lemon juice and sparkling wine really make it pop!

French 75

Source: Adapted from about.com
Servings: 1

Ingredients:

1/2 oz lemon juice
1 oz gin
1/2 oz Cointreau (we used triple sec instead)
champagne (we used a dry Rose sparkling wine)

Directions:

1. Fill a shaker with ice and add lemon juice, gin and Cointreau.  Shake and pour over ice filled tumbler.  Top with champagne.

Hop Scare IPA

Published October 17, 2012 by jenmatteson

I often forget to (or don’t seem to get around to) blog about our beers.  I think the problem is because there is so much waiting time between when we actually brew it, and when I can drink it and give a good honest review of the beer.

One of our more recent brews was another IPA, this time Hop Scare IPA.  I enjoyed this one far more than the Octaine IPA as it was much hoppier and tasted more like a true IPA.  When we started this one, it had been awhile since we brewed, and we sort of forgot when to take the hydrometer reading, which means that we didn’t get an exact alcohol content.  However, we’re pretty sure it’s quite high as drinking just one can get a person pretty buzzed.  Two, and you’re probably good for the evening.  My best guess is close to 12%.  Yikes!

Hop Scare IPA

Source: Midwest Supplies
Servings: Makes 5 gallons

Ingredients:

dry yeast
priming sugar

Grains:
1 lb Caravienne

Hops:
.75 oz. Yakima Magnum
1 oz. Amarillo
2 oz. Cascade

Malt:
6 lb Briess Gold Liquid extract
2 lb Light dried malt extract

Panty Ripper

Published August 9, 2012 by jenmatteson

Our last drink tasting party was Olympic themed.  You might be wondering how a drink called Panty Ripper has anything to do with the Olympics.  Well, did you know that at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, 100,000 condoms were distributed to the athletes in Olympic Village, which breaks down to 14 per athlete?  Did you know they ran out (Waoh Naija)?  The 2012 Summer Olympics are slightly higher.  There were over 150,000 condoms distributed to Olympic Village, averaging about 15 per athlete (Housing Works).  That means that athletes were getting it on about 30 times in a two-week time period (of course, that’s assuming they are only hooking up with each other – and let’s be honest, if you had a body like Ryan Lochte, wouldn’t you only hook up with someone as equally hot as you?).

Well, that is not at all why we made the Panty Ripper for the Olympic themed drink tasting, you sicko.  The rules were to bring a drink that was at least one color of the Olympic Rings.  Did I tell you this was a last-minute tasting? Anyway, the Panty Ripper is yellow, one of the allowed colors.  The first time I had one was in Belize, the country’s unofficial national drink.  In Belize, you’ll find it on menus and hear it pronounced as “panty rippa”.  It’s a simple concoction of coconut rum and pineapple juice with a maraschino cherry.  Sounds so easy, and it is, and it’s also very refreshing.  My mother, who is not generally a drinker, would put down 4-5 of these before and during dinner.  She absolutely loved them!  And they were making them “light” by any means ;)   Everyone else on the trip seemed to like them too; I think we each had a few per day while we were there.

We brought home the gold with this drink, although I must admit that we tied with Leah and Dan.  They made Olympic Dreams, Russian Style.  This drink was a mix of fruit punch flavored vodka (I didn’t even know they made that), 7Up, grenadine, and a splash of lime juice, garnished with a cherry.  It was tastey, but slightly on the sweet side for me.  It tasted like a strawberry soda!  Dave and Shane didn’t bring their “A” game and came with watermelon pucker.  But, lucky for them, they took home the bronze.  We had a ceremony and everything – Leah and I represented the top stair of the “podium” for our gold medals (although no actual medals were distributed).

Panty Ripper

Ingredients:

coconut rum (I like Parrot Bay)
pineapple juice
maraschino cherry

Directions:

1. In a tall glass filled with ice, add 1 part rum and 2 parts pineapple juice.  Garnish with a cherry, mix as desired, and serve.

Java Stout

Published July 7, 2012 by jenmatteson

I posted a few weeks back how excited I was for this beer, and boy was I right.  This beer is so delicious!  It has a deep coffee flavor, but it doesn’t taste heavy.  We brought it to our drinking tasting (the theme was beer…yes, just beer…nothing in particular) and went head to head against 11 other beers, ours being the only homebrew.  Well guess what?  We finally won our first drink tasting (the other tasting we won with the watermelon-mint jello shots took place after this one, and was a different tasting group – in case you were wondering).

Once we finish the basement and put in the bar with taps, this will have to be one that we have all the time.  While I want everyone I know to try it and see how good it is, I’m reluctant to share it because we have such a limited quantity right now.  I suppose we’ll have to make a few more batches for back ups!  We’ve shared quite a bit of this brew, and everyone seems to love it.  I think this might be one of my favorite beers…ever.

Java Stout

Ingredients:

4 oz Peace Coffee Nicaraguan Blend
Munton’s 6 gm dry yeast
priming sugar

Grains:
8 oz chocolate malt
4 oz flaked barley
4 oz caramel 60oL
4 oz roasted barley

Hops:
1/2 oz challenger
1 oz tettnang

Malt:
6 lbs dark LME

Boozy Watermelon Pops

Published July 5, 2012 by jenmatteson

It’s watermelon season, and what better way to enjoy one of the best fruits of summer than by soaking it in a little rum.  These pops, with a little extra blue for Independence Day, were great to bring along to my girlfriend, Shannon’s, BBQ.  They were super simple to make, and you certainly don’t have to use cookie cut outs, you could easily just use triangles, as did The Shiksa in the Kitchen.

Besides the addition of the blueberries, I changed the original recipe just a tad.  I didn’t have any mint extract, but I still had mint leaves left over, so I boiled those with the simple syrup to infuse the minty flavor.  It was definitely noticeable, though I probably would have used more if I had some, but I only had about 10 leaves left.  Additionally, believe it or not, I didn’t have any white rum in my cupboards.  I had spiced rum, citrus rum, raspberry rum, and of course several other varieties of liquor.  I decided to go with the raspberry rum to add a little extra flavor to the pops.  Great choice!  You could easily omit the rum to make these child friendly, too.

Shannon handed out my pops as soon as we arrived, and everyone loved them.  I probably should mention it was 101 degrees, a holiday record for the Twin Cities, so an ice-cold boozy popsicle probably tasted like heaven, no matter what was in it.  We put them back into the freezer until long after the fireworks, and Shannon brought them out again, and it was a perfect cool sweet treat at the end of the night.

Boozy Watermelon Pops

Source: The Shiksa in the Kitchen
Servings: Makes about 30 popsicle

Ingredients:

3/4 cup sugar
3/4 water
20 mint leaves
1 seedless watermelon
1 cup rum (I used Bacardi Black Razz)
1/3 cup fresh lime juice
1 pint blueberries
30 skewers

Directions: 

1. In a small sauce pan, combine sugar, water, and mint leaves.  Turn heat to medium.  Once sugar is dissolved, bring to a boil for 3 minutes.  Set aside to cool completely.  This is your simple syrup.

2. Slice watermelon as desired.  To make the pops more fun, I used cookie cutters in the shape of stars for the 4th of July.  Go ahead and get creative!  Make sure they are thick enough to stay on popsicle sticks.  In a shallow baking dish, place watermelon slices in a single layer.

3. Once cooled simple syrup has cooled, add rum and lime juice.  Pour mixture over watermelon slices and let soak for up to one hour.  I flipped mine halfway through so that both sides of the watermelon could soak in the goodness.

* Looking back, a large gallon sized zip top bag would have also been a great way to soak the watermelon evenly, without having to flip them.

4. Once watermelon have soaked, place on foil lined baking sheet in a single layer.  If you would like to place a blueberry in the middle as I’ve done above, now is a good time to do so.  Cut out a small circle using a paring knife, and wedge a blueberry in the hole.  Freeze for at least one hour.  Meanwhile, thread 5-7 blueberries on your skewers.

5. Once watermelon has semi-frozen, insert skewers, and serve on a bed of ice.  Garnish with mint leaves if desired.

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