Cucumber Spiked Vodka

Serves: 6 Prep: 10 minutes, plus 2 – 3 hours chilling time

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped seedless cucumber

1 bottle (750ml) vodka

Directions:  In a food processor or blender, puree the cucumber pieces.  Pour the vodka and cucumber into a pitcher, and stir well.  Refrigerate until well chilled, about 2 – 3 hours.  Strain and serve.  Garnish with a cucumber spear or curl.

We’re using Domaine de Canton, a French liqueur that’s an infusion of baby Vietnamese ginger with cognac, for a sophisticated ginger heat.  It’s not too strong and has very aromatic – and unique – flavor, thanks to the ginger, along with a touch of honey, herbs and ginseng.

For a festive touch, rim the glass with crumbled gingerbread cookie crumbs.

Gingerbread Apple Holiday Cocktail

Serves: 1

Ingredients

• 2 oz Domaine de Canton
• 1 oz vanilla vodka
• 2.5 oz apple cider
• 1/8 tsp lemon juice
• honey
• gingersnap cookies, finely crumbled
• orange zest, for garnish (optional)

Directions: Spread honey on a plate, then dip the rim of a chilled cocktail glass into the honey, twirl to lightly coast the edges.

Spread the crushed gingership cookies on another plate, and dip the honey-dipped cocktail glass into the cookies and press slightly so they stick.

Add the ginger liqueur, vodka, cider and lemon juice to a cocktail shaker with ice, and shake well.  Strain into a glass and pour the mixture into a prepared glass.  Float the orange zest on top.

Try this out with a hearty dinner, or it also goes well with appetizers for a casual cocktail party.  The recipe scales easily, so you can make it in pitchers for guests to enjoy.  Scroll down for the sized up recipe.  Once you have a taste, you’ll agree that this one is a winner!

The Lime Basil cocktail is sometimes also called a Bolshoi Basil Cocktail, paying homage to the Russian heritage of producing excellent vodka.

Lime Basil Cocktail

Serves: 1  Prep: 10 min

Ingredients

• 4 oz vodka
• 3 oz fresh lime juice
• 3 fresh basil sprigs
• 2 tsp sugar
• soda water
• sprigs of basil, for garnish
• lime slices, for garnish

Directions: Muddle the basil and sugar together in a highball glass.  If you’re new to making cocktails at home, this is how you muddle: it means you’re going to drop the basil leaves into the glass, and add the sugar.  Using a muddler, or a wooden spoon, lightly bruise the basil leaves to release the herb’s essential oils to flavor the cocktail.  There’s no need to tear the leaves into pieces, when you’re muddling.  The slight rubbing and crushing of the basil leaves will impart enough of the essence.

Now, fill the glass with ice, add the vodka and lime juice and stir.  Finish with a splash of soda water.  Garnish the drink with a sprig of basil and lime slices.

Lime Basil Cocktails by the Pitcher

Serves: about 6  Prep:  10 min, plus chilling

Ingredients

• 2 bottles of vodka, chilled
• 4 1/2 cups lime juice
• 1 cup, loosely packed basil leaves
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup soda water
• ice cubes
• lime wedges, for garnish

Directions:  Place the basil leaves and sugar in a pitcher, and muddle together.  Add the vodka, lime juice and soda water and stir to combine.  If serving immediately, add ice to your pitcher to thoroughly chill the cocktail mixture.  Or when serving, add ice to the glasses and pour the lime basil cocktail over the top.  You can make this ahead of time, and store in the refrigerator until guests arrive.

We love the combination of basil with citrus juices in cocktails.  If you’re a fan too, try our amazing recipe for Basil Strawberry Lemonade With Vodka punch, or the straightforward but so delicious Vodka Lemonade.

Swamp Water Cocktail

Ingredients

Serves: 4

• 1.5 cups vodka
• 1 cup midori
• 2 cups sour mix (Lemon-x, or see sour mix recipe below)
• 2 cups pineapple juice
• 1 cup Sprite
• grenadine

Directions:  Mix all of the ingredients together in a large bowl.  Drizzle grenadine over the top, put in a bunch of straws and the plastic alligator.

For the sour mix, you can use Lemon-x, a brand available in some markets and chef supply stores.  It’s available in 1 gallon jugs for about $25.  You can also make your own sour mix, using the recipe below.  The proportions have been increased to make enough for the Swamp Water bowl above.

Sour Mix Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1 cup fresh lime juice
• 1 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 cup boiling water

Directions: Combine the boiling water and sugar, stir to dissolve the sugar.  Set the mixture aside to cool.  Mix the syrup with the fresh lemon and lime juice.  Chill until cold.  Use immediately, or you can cover and store in the refrigerator for about a week.

Note, this is not the recipe for a House of Blues drink called the Swamp Water Cocktail, which uses Blue Curacao.

This recipe originally published by Marie Claire.

If you haven’t tried the SKYY Infusions, they are a line of fruit infused vodkas that are 70% proof and made with all natural fruit juices.  The Skyy Pineapple Infusion is a bright, slightly sweet vodka that can be happily sipped by itself with a splash of sparkling water and ice.  It’s all the better used to flavor cocktails, and this Pineapple Sunrise will make your mouth sparkle.  We also absolutely love the Skyy Citrus Infusion used in this drink, either by itself or as a flavoring in mixed drinks.

Pineapple Sunrise Cocktail

Ingredients

Serves: 1  Prep: 5 min

• 1 oz SKYY Infusions Pineapple
• 1 oz SKYY Infusions Citrus
• 1 oz Triple Sec
• 1 oz pineapple juice
• Splash of honey
• Splash of grenadine
• orange slices, for garnish
• pineapple slices, for garnish

Directions:  Add ice to your cocktail shaker, then combine the pineapple and citrus vodka infusions, triple sec and pineapple juice.  Add the honey and grenadine, cover and shake.  Pour the mixture into a Collins glass.  Garnish with a slice of pineapple and orange.  Accessorize with a drink umbrella.

Pineapple Sunrise Cocktail By The Pitcher

To make this recipe for a crowd, you’ll need a pitcher and the following ingredients

Ingredients

Serves: 8 Prep: 5 min, plus chilling time

• 1 cup SKYY Infusions Pineapple
• 1 cup SKYY Infusions Citrus
• 1 cup Triple Sec
• 1 cup pineapple juice
• 1 tblsp honey
• 1 tblsp grenadine
• orange slices, for garnish
• pineapple slices, for garnish

Directions:  Combine the Pineapple and Citrus vodka infusions, triple sec and pineapple juice in a pitcher and stir.  Stir in the honey and grenadine.  Chill thoroughly before the party, and add a few orange and pineapple slices when you take out of the refrigerator.  Serve guests in Collins glasses, pouring the drink mixture over ice and adding garnish.

POG is a tropical style juice drink created by the Hawaiian Haleakala Dairy in the 1970′s.  It is a blend of passionfruit, orange and guava fruit juices, and using the first letter in each fruit, it’s been called P.O.G.  POG is still produced today in Hawaii and available in several sizes in local Hawaiian stores.

This version of POG uses Pineapple in place of Passionfruit, and is made into a delicious adult drink using Skyy Infusion Pineapple vodka.

Hawaiian Luau POG Punch

Ingredients

Serves: 2 – 4  Prep: 5 min

• 2 oz Skyy Infusion Pineapple vodka
• 2 oz freshly squeezed orange juice
• about 1/4 cup Guava Puree, thawed if necessary
• pineapple wedges, for garnish
• orchid flowers, for garnish

Directions: Combine the vodka, orange juice and thawed guava puree in a cocktail shaker with ice.  Shake vigorously, then strain into a scorpion bowl.  Garnish with an orchid flower and pineapple wedge.  Add straws and enjoy!

Guava puree can sometimes be hard to find, check your grocer’s freezer section in the frozen fruit area.  Many supermarkets are now stocking pureed fruit in their freezers, as making homemade ice cream, gelato, sorbet and exotic tropical cocktails has increased in popularity.  If you’re not finding guava puree at your neighborhood market, try a specialty grocery store, like a Mexican, Latin or Asian market.

We’ve also found a great selection of fruit purees online, however because they are frozen goods, your package must be shipped overnight, resulting in at least a $30 shipping charge.  Here’s the link to the selection by The Perfect Puree of Napa Valley.  The quality is amazing, and you can select 4 different puree flavors to ship for the same price.

This recipe courtesy of SKYY Vodka, and was created by mixologist Cody Robertson of Lingba in San Francisco, CA.

Lillet Basil Cocktail

Serves: 1  Prep: 5 min.

Ingredients

• 1 cup ice
• 1/2 cup Lillet Blanc (White Lillet)
• 1 oz gin
• 1 oz fresh orange juice
• 1/4 cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves, plus sprigs for garnish
• Splash of tonic water
• 1 cucumber spear, for garnish

Directions: Put ice, Lillet, gin, orange juice and basil in a cocktail shaker, and shake well.

Fill a rocks, or lowball, glass with ice, and strain the mixture into the glass.  Add a splash of tonic water.  Garnish the drink with a cucumber spear and sprig of basil.

To make a pitcher of Lillet Basil cocktails for your next get together, use this recipe:

Ingredients

• 4 cups Lillet Blanc (White Lillet)
• 1 cup gin
• 1 cup fresh orange juice
• 1 cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves
• 1/4 cup of tonic water
• cucumber slices, for garnish
• ice cubes

Directions: Combine Lillet, gin, orange juice, tonic water and basil in a pitcher and stir well.  Chill thoroughly in the refrigerator.  Before serving, add a few cucumber slices to the pitcher for garnish.  Serve over ice in chilled lowball glasses, have a few cucumber slices available for garnish.

Looking for more Lillet recipes, you might also like:

Orange & Lillet Cocktail

Vodka Lemonade

Ingredients

Serves: 8

• 1 cup of sugar
• 1 cup of boiling water, plus 5 cups
• 8 lemons, juiced
• Vodka
• Ice cubes
• Lemon wheels fro garnish

Directions:  To make the simple syrup for this recipe, combine the boiling water and sugar, stirring to dissolve the sugar in the water.  Let the simple syrup sit for a few minutes, so it can cool to room temperature.

I like my lemonade a touch on the lemony side, so I add some pulp and sometimes lemon zest to my lemonade.  Depending on the size and juiciness of your lemons, you may need less than 8.  I like to use about 1 1/4 cup of lemon juice for the proportions in this recipe.

In a pitcher, combine the syrup with 7 cups of water and the lemon juice.  Add vodka to the lemonade, you control how much to add to the mixture, add a bit then taste, and repeat as necessary.  Add ice and stir.  Serve in tall glasses, add lemon wheels for garnish.

We like this using Cook’s Brut Champagne, a soft, sweet champagne that is very smooth to drink, and can be found for about $6.00 for a 750ml bottle.  It’s perfect for this lemonade mimosa recipe, and is great as a brunch sparkler.

Make a few batches of this recipe, and keep it stocked in the refrigerator for replenishing the bar.  This brunch cocktail is so spectacular, your guests will be asking for more!

Lemonade Mimosas

Serves: 8  Prep: 10 min

Ingredients

• 1 cup of sugar
• 1/2 cup boiling water
• 7 1/2 cups of water
• Cook’s Brut Champagne
• Ice cubes
• Lemon wheels, thinly sliced (optional)

To make the simple syrup, combine the sugar and boiling water, stirring to dissolve the sugar.   In a pitcher, combine the simple sugar, water and lemon juice.  Add the champagne and ice cubes, stirring to combine.  Add a few thinly sliced lemon wheels to the pitcher, as garnish.

Serve to guests in flutes or chilled wine glasses.

Love lemonade drinks?  Try our Basil Strawberry Lemonade With Vodka cocktail recipe

When you add a pretty raspberry ice accent to this recipe, it transforms into the beautiful Mama Mimosa cocktail!  And finally, the Menning Mimosa builds on the Grand Mimosa recipe, and adds a bit of lemon juice and Prosecco, for a decidely exquisite twist on the classic cocktail.

With all three using the same base recipe, it’s easy to treat your guests to their choice of mimosa!

Select a dry or “brut” champagne for this recipe, and chill it thoroughly before the party.  Mimosas are best made individually, and served immediately to the guest.

Grand Mimosa Cocktail Recipe

Serves: 1

Ingredients

• Champagne
• 2 oz freshly squeeze orange juice, chilled
• 2 Tbl Grand Marnier
• Crushed ice (optional)

Directions: In a champagne flute, mix together the orange juice and the Grand Marnier.  Add a tiny bit of crushed ice, if you like, and then carefully pour the champagne.

The Menning Mimosa again uses this basic recipe, and adds lemon juice and Prosecco, an Italian dry white wine, with a fresh, light taste.

Menning Mimosa Cocktail Recipe

Serves: 1

Ingredients

• Champagne
• 2 oz freshly squeeze orange juice, chilled
• 2 Tbl freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 2 Tbl Grand Marnier
• Prosecco, chilled
• Mint leaf (optional)
• Crushed ice (optional)

Directions: In a champagne flute, mix together the orange and lemon juice, then add the Grand Marnier.  Add Champagne and crushed ice.  Top off with Prosecco and garnish with a mint leaf.  Serve immediately.

Mama Mimosa Cocktail Recipe

Serves: 1

Ingredients

• Champagne
• 2 oz freshly squeeze orange juice, chilled
• 2 Tbl Grand Marnier
• Raspberry ice (see directions below)
• Orange slice, for garnish

Directions: Add one or two cubes of raspberry ice to a wine glass.  Fill the wine glass slightly more than half full with champagne.  Add the orange juice and Grand Marnier and stir gently.  Garnish with an orange slice.  Serve immediately.

Raspberry Ice:  To make the raspberry ice cubes, crumble fresh raspberries into an ice cube tray, then fill with water.  Freeze to make ice cubes.

A Fauxmosa is a non-alcoholic version of the Mimosa, substituting 7-up for the Champagne, and leaving out the Grand Marnier liqueur in this version.