{friday cocktail: doc daneeka royale}

The new Death & Co Cocktail book just strolled into our place and claimed its spot as my all time favorite cocktail book.  It's not only filled with tons of inspiring cocktail recipes, but also intriguing behind the scenes stories at the NYC bar, chapters dedicated to understanding how to truly craft the perfect cocktail including building your bar and troubleshooting, and even an entire 5 or 6 pages dedicated to cocktail garnishes.  Most of these cocktails require a little shopping to get the right ingredients so the first cocktail I decided to try out of the book was based solely on having all the ingredients on hand (doesn't hurt that it's a sparkling cocktail as well!).  I love how this recipe is a take on one of my favorite champagne cocktails, a French 75, but with more emphasis on the gin.  This light and refreshing recipe is a great drink to greet guests with upon arrival at your place.

And if you don't order this book for yourself ASAP then you are doing it wrong....

Cheers!

{friday cocktail: poppy negroni}

I was looking to stock our bar with a few of the essentials that didn't make it through the move- specifically all the fixings to make a Negroni.  Downtown Los Angeles is pretty sparse on specialty liquor stores, but there is a pretty good selection at Artisan House which is right by us.  In spite of their variety they don't carry Campari, but they did inform me they carry an organic substitute called Grand Poppy and after reading a few reviews of the product I decided to give it a try.  While the bright red color of a classic Negroni is more subdued in this recipe, the flavor is definitely still there with a bit more of an herbal/floral note as well as a sweeter finish to the drink.

 {yarai mixing glass from here}

{a dried orange wheel instead of the classic fresh orange slice or peel}

Cheers!

{friday cocktail: gin & jam}

All of my life I have been a die-hard strawberry jam type of person up until I made a mistake at the grocery store while living in Paris and accidentally picked up a jar of raspberry preserves instead (I blame it on the translation because "frambroise" and "fraise" is easy to confuse thank you very much.)  Ever since I can't get enough of the tart jam- especially with a fresh baguette and creamy brie cheese - so when I saw this simple cocktail recipe I knew I would love it.  This recipe a lovely mixture of tangy tart and a little bit of sweet from the simple syrup to cut it- it reminds me of one of my favorite recipes.  It would be the perfect drink to greet your guests with at your next dinner party!

{you might remember these garnish options from a friendly little competition we 

were having last week on instagram}

Cheers!

{friday cocktail: garden rosé}

Rosemary is one of my favorite cocktail ingredients because of it's versatility.  It works just as perfectly in cozy winter drinks like this as it does in more refreshing light recipes like today's cocktail.  We celebrated officially signing our lease on a place in DTLA earlier this week alongside a bottle of sparkling rosé and I since I would never let a drop of champagne go to waste I decided to use the last of the bottle in a cocktail (natch).  This cocktail has a gorgeous color and a light fizz from the rosé, but all the flavor comes from the herbal rosemary and tart lemon mixed with a little honey for balance.

Cheers!

{friday cocktail: la flora fizz}

With three more bottles of ginger beer taking up real estate in our fridge after last week's cocktail, I've been inspired to find other uses for the tasty soda.  Today's recipe is based off of a Floradora cocktail which I am almost positive I have ordered and enjoyed at a bar, but I cannot for the life me remember which one (hey- when you are drinking cocktails some memory loss is to be expected right?!).  To save time I chose to simply muddle the raspberries rather than make raspberry syrup and add in ginger beer in the place of soda water and ginger syrup.  This light and refreshing cocktail delivers a slightly sweet yet tart flavor alongside the gentle fizz of the ginger beer perfect for sipping on a patio while gossiping.

{high ball glass ice cubes from here}

Cheers!

{friday cocktail: a trio of sugar rimmed recipes}

At first when Fresh Origins offered to send me over a pack of their crystal cocktail rimmers I didn't exactly jump at the idea since sugared glasses remind me of bad cocktail bars, but then when I took closer look at the intriguing flavor line-up they have I couldn't resist!  I enjoy the chance to add flavor elements to otherwise simple cocktails through the use of bitters and I figured these herbal/floral sugar crystals in flavors like fennel and cilantro could serve a similar purpose.  

For this Friday's cocktail post, I whipped up three different drinks using the rose petal, fennel and basil crystals.  Of course I love how all of these turned out, but the refreshing Garden Tonic using the basil crystals was by far my favorite.  You could easily substitute champagne in the place of the tonic for this one if you wanna get a bit more fancy with it.

Cheers!

{friday cocktail: blushing kiss}

With warmer temperatures and early blossoms starting to show on the trees around here it is really starting to feel like spring came early.  In the spirit of the changing weather I searched around for a perfect simple cocktail for today's recipe.  This one from Baker's Royale seemed like the perfect fit- I added in muddled basil for an herbal component rather than garnishing the drink with thyme.  The cocktail is light and sweetened solely by the St. Germain which makes for a lovely floral drink to welcome in a new season!

Cheers!

{friday cocktail: his & hers negroni}

About 10 years ago, Chris and I traveled all around Europe for 6 weeks one summer while we were in college.  Back then was the first time I ever tasted Campari when it was served to me in a Campari Soda on the blazing hot streets of Italy.  I absolutely hated it's bitter taste and steered clear of it up until our recent trip in Florence were I decided to give it a second try with a Negroni.  Much to my surprise I didn't hate it at all- in fact I enjoyed the taste of this bitter yet sweet cocktail so much that I might go as far as to say it's my new favorite drink!

Once we got back to Paris, we picked up the fixings for a Negroni so I could try mixing one up for myself. While researching what the exact proportions are for the recipe we discovered that there isn't really one perfect way to mix up this drink, but rather to tailor the proportions to your taste.  While I like the balance of equal parts of all ingredients, Chris prefers his to have a drier flavor, but both of us agree that this drink is best served over ice.   I thought it might be helpful to provide both recipes and you can decide for yourself what you prefer!

Cheers!

{friday cocktail: fusion 75}

We just spent 4 wonderful days in the beautiful city of Florence soaking up all the charming city has to offer- especially the delicious pasta, pizza and gelato!  After a fun evening at a pizza making class, we headed to Fusion Bar in the Gallery Art Hotel to grab an after dinner cocktail.  We had intended to have a single nightcap, but ended up staying for 3 (plus a few more mini drinks the amazingly attentive bartender whipped up for us just to try for free!).  It's no surprise around here that I love a good champagne cocktail, so my first choice off the menu was the Fusion 75 which is the bar's take on a classic French 75, but they have added muddled lemongrass and sub the lemon juice for lime. It is served in it's own personal ice bucket (as pictured above) which seemed sort of gimmicky to me at first, but was really kind of great since my drink stayed perfectly cold for the duration of time I was sipping it!  For more cocktail inspiration, you can check out their entire cocktail menu right here.

Cheers!

{friday cocktail: la vie en rouge}

Today's cocktail could not be more perfect for Valentine's Friday with it's deep red color that comes from Lillet Rouge, a delicious and slightly sweet fortified wine.  I have tried both the Lillet Rose & Lillet Blanc from bottles I located in specialty stores in the US, but I had yet to try their original, Lillet Rouge.  What better place to sample a bottle than in Paris where you can find this spirit in most local grocery stores!  I adapted today's recipe based on this cocktail, but added in honey syrup and subbed orange juice based on availability.  I also upped the amount of gin because that just felt right to me.  Hope you enjoy this or another tasty cocktail with a loved one this evening!

Cheers!

{friday cocktail: rose etoile}

On a recent trip to Le Grand Epicerie in Paris, I picked up a little tasting trio of flavored liqueurs including rose, pear & violette, but have yet to use them in a cocktail.  With Valentine's approaching next week, I figured a recipe using the rose liqueur would be about as perfect as you can get.  Loosely based on this recipe, I created a champagne cocktail with a base of gin and lemon then added a splash of the rose liqueur.  Since real vanilla beans are disturbingly cheap here in France, I also made up a tiny batch of vanilla simple syrup to give the cocktail that extra sweetness.

Cheers!

{friday cocktail: le sanguinello}

This Friday's cocktail is French inspired update on The Type-O cocktail which is one of my favorite seasonal recipes using blood orange.  Subbing gin for vodka, eliminating the simple syrup and adding in the very parisian St. Germain makes this recipe into a slightly more flavorful yet tart version of the original.  The best part is the striking hot pink color that comes from the blood orange mixed with lemon juice.

Cheers!