The Rufous Hummingbird - A cocktail recipe by Michelle Hartsell Cocktail Engineer

Hi, there.  I recently visited the Venus Spirits tasting room in Santa Cruz to see what they had on offer.  Boy was I impressed.  They have a nice selection of Gin, Bourbon and more with some seasonal offerings.  Anyway, I decided to make a cocktail from their Gin #02.   As I wanted to keep this local, I used Lo-Fi Brand Gentian Amaro out of Sonoma (also wonderful).  This cocktail is really fantastic if you enjoy a kind of complex, slightly bitter, citrusy, tad smoky, and moderately sweet straight-up drink.

To a cocktail shaker half filled with crushed ice add

• 4 oz Venus Spirits Gin #02
• 2 oz Lo-Fi Brand Gentian Amaro
• 2 oz Orange Juice
• 2 oz Cranberry Juice
• 1 oz lemon-thyme simple syrup

Shake and strain into two chilled cocktail glasses.  Garnish with a twist of orange peel and a twist of lemon peel.

To make a lemon-thyme simple syrup add several good sized sprigs of lemon-thyme to a 1:1 ratio of water and sugar.  Bring to a low boil, reduce to simmer and cook for 20 minutes.  Once cool strain into a glass container.  Keep in the refrigerator.

Cheers!

The Scarlet Ibis - A cocktail recipe by Michelle Hartsell Cocktail Engineer

 

What to do with fresh raspberries?  Why make a cocktail of course!  This cocktail is fruity and spicy and very nice on a warm afternoon.

Reserve a few raspberries from a 6oz pack for garnish.  Squish the remainder through a sieve to remove seeds and create a pulpy-juice base.  Add fresh squeezed juice from one lime.  This will make more than you need for 2 cocktails and will keep in the fridge for a few days.

To a shaker 1/3 filled with ice add

3 oz. tequila reposado (I used Herradura)
1 oz. Pepper Vodka (e.g. Hanson of Sonoma Habanero)
1 oz. raspberry liqueur (Vedrenne is a good one)

1 oz. Cointreau

1 oz. of the raspberry-lime juice

2 oz. of raspberry juice blend (e.g. Evolution brand)

Shake and strain into two chilled cocktail glasses that have been rimmed w/raspberry-chipotle sale (I purchased mine from D'Olivo in downtown Walla Walla, Washington).  Drop in a couple of raspberries for garnish.  To make it extra festive sprinkle some edible gold glitter in the coupe before straining in the cocktail (I purchased mine from Fancy Sprinkles).

Makes 2 cocktails.

Cheers!

The Scarlet Ibis is a beautiful tropical bird that calls parts of the Caribbean and South America home.