The Red-Eyed Raven – a cocktail recipe by Michelle Hartsell Cocktail Engineer

For this cocktail I got my inspiration from a recipe off of the Weight Watchers website for a mulled apple cider with some twists on the spices, juices, ratios and of course the addition of rum.  I used "The Kraken" black-spiced rum in this recipe.  This is a monsters and eyeballs drink and not for the faint of heart!

In a large pot combine

64oz of 100% apple juice

3 cups of cranberry juice (100% juice)

1/2 cup of pomegranate juice (100% juice)

* all above with no sugar added

Add

2 sticks of whole cinnamon

3 whole cardamom pods

1/2 whole nutmeg

1 tsp whole cloves

1/2 tsp whole white peppercorns

Bring to a simmer and keep on low heat for 30 minutes.  Strain into a crock pot to keep warm during a party or else just strain out the mulling spices and keep on a low heat on the stove.

To rim the cups pour some honey on a saucer and a pack or two of pop rocks (pumpkin patch orange flavor if you can find it) into a separate saucer.  Dip the cup into the honey and then swirl in the pop rocks.  You need the honey to make the pop rocks stick to the rim.  If you can't find pop rocks you can rim with a nice cinnamon-spiced sugar.

Add 1 to 2 oz of "The Kraken" black-spiced rum to a cup that has been rimmed with pop rocks and then 5 to 6 oz of the mulled apple-cranberry-pomegranate cider.  Garnish with a small skewer of two maraschino cherries that have been spiked with one whole clove each (the ‘eyes’).

And that's the Halloween cocktail!  Enjoy responsibly and have a spooktacular Halloween.  

Cheers!

Special Halloween Cocktail - coming soon!

Stay tuned for a special Halloween holiday inspired cocktail coming this Friday!

The Punchy Parakeet – a cocktail recipe by Michelle Hartsell Cocktail Engineer

I was lucky enough to find nice plump fresh persimmons in my local market.  These are fleshy fruit so to extract the juice you either have to squeeze them through your hand or just muddle them.  If you can't find persimmon, a tangerine will make a nice substitute.

Muddle, or juice as described above, one well ripened persimmon in the bottom of a glass then add:

juice from one lime
one generous squeeze of agave nectar
2 oz of white rum (I used Bacardi)

Stir above then top with crushed ice and a good splash of club soda.  Makes one nicely refreshing cocktail. See below.  Cheers!

The Salted Marbled Godwit – a cocktail recipe by Michelle Hartsell Cocktail Engineer

This cocktail was inspired by a weekend on the northern coast of California and local produce from the nearby market.  It’s a take on the salty dog.  It’s slightly more work than normal in that it involves the making of an infused simple syrup but it’s really quite easy – trust me!

Shishito pepper-lemon grass simple syrup:

2/3 c. of white sugar

2/3 c. of water

2 in. stalk of lemon grass chopped

1 in. piece of shishito pepper (roughly chopped with seeds)

Boil and then simmer for 25 minutes.  Strain into bowl.  You will have left-overs that you can save in the fridge.

Cocktail:

4 measures of unflavored good quality vodka (I used stoli in this recipe)

6 measures of fresh squeezed grapefruit and lime juice (I used 2 small ruby red grapefruits and 1 lime)

1 measure of shishito pepper-lemon grass simple syrup

Glass prep:

Take one piece shishito pepper, seeds removed, and rub on rim and inside of cocktail glass.  Rim with fresh ground salt (sticks to the glass with the pepper juice).

 

To build the cocktail:  Stir cocktail ingredients in ice and strain into two prepared cocktail glasses.

Garnish: With a bit of lemon grass stalk (tough outer part removed), slim shishito pepper slices and a flower garnish.

Makes (2) lip-tingling cocktails great for watching the sunset.

Cheers!

The Sichuan Duck – a cocktail recipe by Michelle Hartsell Cocktail Engineer

This cocktail has bitter and sour ingredients so it's necessary to add sweetener to this one.

4 oz of a mixture of fresh squeezed lime and meyer lemon juices
6 oz of Bombay Sapphire "East" Gin
4 drops of bitters (suggest Bittercube brand "Jamaican #1" for this recipe)
1 tbsp of brown sugar 'melted' in about a teaspoon of hot water
about a quarter teaspoon of crushed Szechuan peppercorns

Shake ingredients in cocktail shaker with crushed ice and strain into two cocktail glasses.  Garnish with a floating sprig of lemon thyme.

Makes (2) cocktails.

I hope you enjoy this spicy, peppery cocktail.  Cheers!

Notes:
- you can use agave nectar in place of the brown sugar
- the Bombay Sapphire East Gin is blended with lemongrass and black peppercorns
- the Bittercube Jamaican #1 has allspice, ginger and black pepper
- I crushed the Szechuan peppercorns, wrapped in wax paper, with a meat tenderizer mallet

The Plummy Japanese Waxwing – a cocktail recipe by Michelle Hartsell Cocktail Engineer

If you are a fan of Japanese sake you will like this cocktail as the flavor of the sake comes through nicely.

2 oz sake (Junmai super dry style)

2 oz unflavored vodka (I used Grey Goose in this recipe)

2 oz black plum juice (freshly squeezed; it will take ~2 plums)

1 tsp mashed plum flesh (this adds body to the drink and gives it an unfiltered appearance)

You can juice the plums by squeezing the flesh through a sieve.  If your plums are on the tart side you can add a couple of drops of agave nectar.  I didn’t need any added sweetener as the black plums I used were nicely sweet and ripe.  The Junmai super-dry style sake has a similar flavor profile as vermouth in this cocktail.  The sake I used was Asabiraki Suijin from Iwate.

Shake ingredients with crushed ice in a cocktail shaker and strain into a cocktail or martini glass.  Makes one nice sake cocktail.

Side note...  Here is a good website with sake cocktail recipes:

https://www.hakushika.co.jp/en/enjoy/cocktail.html