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Simple, Light Alcoholic Beverage Recipes & Cocktails

Let's Drink to Good Health...
Simple Alcoholic Beverage Recipes

- Continued from Beverage Recipes & Ideas -

These lovely alcoholic beverage recipes and cocktails turn any hour into happy hour. Pair them with a few favorite appetizers and hors d'oeuvres, unleash the tunes, savor the moment and enjoy! 


Sweet Summer Sun & Cocktails...

Rum: Mojinhas

A lovely cross between Cuba's mojito and Brazil's caipirinha!


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Mojinhas

Mavenjoy Picks
~Papagayo White Rum~
~Fever-Tree Soda Water~

Ingredients
1 organic lime
1 1/2 teaspoons of turbinado sugar
3 fresh organic mint sprigs
2 oz. of cachaca*
Club soda

Preparation
Halve one lime and cut into thin slices. Juice the other half and pour into cocktail shaker. Add sugar, 2 lime slices, and a sprig of mint. Gently mash. Add rum and fill shaker with ice (about 1 cup).
Shake and pour mixture into 2 double old-fashioned glasses filled with ice, remaining lime slices and mint sprigs. Top off with club soda, gently stir and serve.
Makes 2 drinks

*Cachaca (pronounces "ka-SHAH-sa") is made from sugar cane and considered to be stronger than rum. It adds its own distinct flavor and is worth adding to your home stock for just such cocktail occasions; however, most any white rum will work fine -- give Papagayo White Rum, the world's first organic rum a try.

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Vodka: Cherry Oh Baby & Pink Pony

These two cocktail variations scream summer -- super fresh with seasonal cherries and strawberries!


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Cherry Oh Baby

Alcoholic Beverage RecipesCherry Oh Baby Cocktail

Ingredients
4-5 organic black cherries (fresh or frozen)
1 spring of organic basil
1.5 oz. or 3 tablespoons of vodka
Tonic

Preparation
Add cherries and basil to an empty highball glass and muddle with pestle. Add vodka. Fill glass with ice and top to fill with tonic. Stir and top with a cherry and/or sprig of basil (optional). 
Makes 1 highball drink

Pink Pony

Ingredients
1 large organic strawberry
1 sprig of mint
1.5 oz. or 3 tablespoons of vodka
Tonic

Mavenjoy Picks
~ Prairie Organic Vodka (Gluten Free!*) ~
~ Fever-Tree Naturally Light Tonic ~ 

Preparation
Add strawberry and mint to an empty highball glass and muddle with pestle. Add vodka. Fill glass with ice and top to fill with tonic. Stir and add a slice of strawberry and/or sprig of organic mint (optional). 
Makes 1 highball drink 



Bourbon: Beggars Banquet

A big bluesy, sweet southern cocktail! And what's not to love about a drink that shares its name with one of the greatest Stones' albums? Check out another of our Stones' inspired cocktails.



Beggars Banquet

Ingredients
5 dashes of Angostura Bitters
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
3 tablespoons maple syrup
1/2 cup Maker's Mark Bourbon*
Beer
~ Mavenjoy Pick: Sierra Nevada Kellerweis ~
Fresh organic orange slices cut in half wheels

Preparation 
Combine first 4 ingredients in a shaker and fill with ice. Shake well and strain into 2 highball glasses filled with ice. Top off each glass with beer. Place orange wheel on top, slightly dunk and stir just to blend. The orange is super key -- its scent and taste meld the flavors and add punch. 
Makes 2-3 drinks
Adapted from Liquor.com


Beer: Southern Sassygaff

Somehow I came to know the shandygaff as a sassygaff -- whether by my own semantic discombobulation (which I am notorious for doing) or a Southern thang just got bungled in translation, passed along and accepted (as we Southerners have been known to do). Anyhoo, sassygaff stuck and is mighty nice, light and refreshing!

Mavenjoy Tip: Find and support your local, small-scale beer producer with this brewery locator.


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The Southern Sassygaff

Mavenjoy Picks
~ New Belgium Somersault Ale or Sunshine Wheat ~
~ Fever-Tree Ginger Ale ~

Ingredients
1 bottle of beer
1 can of organic ginger ale
Mint Sprigs

Preparation
Fill a highball glass with ice. Fill halfway with beer. Fill remaining half with soda (adjust measurements to taste preference). Softly crinkle mint sprig and douse into drink. Best served made to order. 
Makes 2-3 drinks


Vodka: Meyer Fizz

A just right sipper -- not too sweet, not too strong, just right!


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Meyer Fizz

Mavenjoy Picks
~ Koval Vodkaand Vodka 14 ~
~ Prairie Organic Vodka (Gluten Free*!) ~

Ingredients
1 thick slice of Meyer lemon, cut in half
3 oz. or 5-6 tablespoons vodka, divided 
1 8.4 oz. can Izze Fortified Natural Sparkling Blackberry Juice
2 thinly sliced Meyer lemon wheels (optional)

Preparation
Fill two double old-fashioned glasses with ice. Add 2-3 tablespoons of vodka to each glass. Squeeze a Meyer lemon half into each glass. Fill glasses with sparkling blackberry juice. Top each with a thin sliced Meyer lemon wheel. 
Makes 2 drinks


Alcoholic Beverage Recipes: Our Quick Picks

Quick Picks

  • Pimm's Cup
    Fill a highball glass with ice. Fill glass 1/3 full with Pimm's No. 1 and the remaining 2/3 with organic ginger ale. Alternate with these garnishes: a long strip of chilled organic cucumber (peeled and seeded) or mint sprig and lemon wedge or crushed basil leaf and orange slice. For a Pimm's Royal, substitute Champagne for ginger ale and add halved strawberries.
  • Vodka Gimlet
    Combine 3 parts vodka to 1 part fresh lime juice and honey (to desired sweetness) in a shaker filled with ice. Shake well and pour into a double old-fashioned glass filled with ice. Garnish with thin lime or cucumber slice.
    Mavenjoy Picks ~ Square 1 Basil Vodka and Vodka 14 ~
    Mavenjoy Gluten Free Pick ~ Prairie Organic Vodka* ~
  • Ouzo "Cream"
    Combine 1 part ouzo with 2 parts chilled water in a small highball or slim juice glass for sipping. Water turns the ouzo a pale, creamy white for a smooth as silk sipper. Pair with this mindblowing calamari, grilled with a squeeze of lemon, kick back and enjoy!
  • Your Choice & Tonic
    Whether stirred with your favorite liquor or straight, Fever-Tree's tonics stand head and shoulders above the rest. No artificial sweeteners, preservatives or flavorings here and only the highest quality quinine! A truly natural tonic highly carbonated with miniscule champagne-like bubbles for a smooth, pure taste every time. Fever-Tree's Naturally Light Indian Water is our top pick with 45% fewer calories, though their Mediterranean and other tonics are equal stand-outs. The also have ginger ales and soda water too. All gluten free!

* Gluten Free Note: Debate continues about which vodkas and other liquors are 100% gluten free because even liquor made from non-gluten grains and ingredients may carry the potential for cross-contamination with gluten during the process of production. So even our beloved Prairie Vodka, which is made from organic corn, is not deemed gluten free until testing for alcoholic beverages is available and approved by the U.S. government. As with all things, use your discretion and consult with a qualified professional as needed.

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