Cocktail Advent 4: Winter’s Kiss

Sips

There’s generally no fence-sitting with gin: either you like it or you don’t. And if you don’t, you probably prefer vodka. Which is fine, I just prefer to taste my alcohol rather than not. So I’m a gin fan and often say it’s the best way to drink a tree. In honor of all those pine trees adorning so many homes this time of year, here’s a highly botanical bevvie to match!

Image via Bombay Sapphire

Image via Bombay Sapphire

“Winter’s Kiss”
–Created by Bombay Sapphire SF’s Most Imaginative Bartender Winner, Brian Means of Dirty Habit in SF

  • 1.5 oz. Bombay Sapphire Gin
  • .75 oz. fino sherry
  • .75 oz. Martini Rossi Bianco Vermouth
  • 3 dashes bitter truth celery bitters

 

Another pet peeve of these sorts of press releases that flood my Inbox before any given holiday? No instructions with the recipe! Sure, I know that a drink comprised of all alcohol, no mixers, is typically stirred to prevent clouding (and now do you, by the by), but you know what they say about assuming…

***This recipe was provided by a representative of Bombay Sapphire Gin. I am not affiliated with this brand nor was I compensated to post this recipe, not even with review samples. As always, we encourage responsible refreshment and the use of the Designated Driver. No drunken monkeys, please!***

Cosmic Cocktails | Aries | Competitive Streak

Sips

Welcome to April, Spring and–thankfully–the end of a rather hellacious Mercury Retrograde!

Today kicks off our new series: Cosmic Cocktails.

I’ll be spending the next 3 months creating a cocktail for each of the sun signs of the Western zodiac (what most folks thing of when they look up their horoscope in the back of a magazine or newspaper), starting with Aries and ending with Pisces towards the end of June.

Now I know that not everyone is down with the idea of horoscopes or the notion that the planets and stars dictating our lives. That’s not how I look it, though. I once read something very profound (probably over on MysticMedusa.com, a great source for astrological info) that went something like this:

You are not who you are because of when and where you were born, 
you were born when and where you were because of who you are.

Isn’t that a fabulous way of looking at it?  Taking this position makes it a more introspective, reflective, meditative outlook, I think, making the information divined from the stars, etc. work for me instead of the other way around.

But enough about that, how about a cocktail?

Competitive Streak

Since the astrological calendar restarts at the Spring Equinox, we are just in the beginning of the time of Aries, the go-getting, competitive, and easily-bored ram. Though they’d probably never cop to boredom, per se, they’d just act out and find something far more interesting to do, the rest of the office/class/community be damned.

 The Competitive Streak

1 1/2 oz Absolut Peppar
1/2 oz Pomegranate Liqueur
2-3 oz Coca-Cola (or your preferred brand)

In a mixing glass half-filled with ice, combine the pepper vodka and pomegranate liqueur and stir to thoroughly chill. Place a handful of ice cubes into a lowball or rocks glass and strain the chilled alcohol over the fresh ice. Top with cola and stir once or twice around to combine. Garnish, if desired, with a dried red pepper.

Of course, the garnish might be a bit too fussy for their taste, but I’m a Taurus, sometimes I like the fussy.

This is a bold, yet uncomplicated, cocktail, quite appropriate for our first fire-sign. They may have tried it on a bet, the first time, but the peppery flavor speaks to them and now they dare others to be man enough to give it a try. No fussy martini glass, either, a simple presentation is best.  But make sure your ingredients are of recognizable brands–it’s a sign of achievement and competition that generic or bargain brands just can’t meet.