Firefly Palmer

This is a non-non-alcoholic version of the famous Arnold Palmer mocktail. For the lemonade, I like to use "Simply Lemonade", which can be found (refrigerated) near the orange juice at your grocery. Feel free to double or triple the recipe as your thirst requires! :p

Ingredients

• 3/4 oz. vodka
• 1/4 oz. Firefly Sweet Tea Vodka
• 3 oz. lemonade

Preparation

1. Combine all ingredients in an Old Fashioned glass.
2. Add a couple of ice cubes. Stir and serve.

Sangria

All righty, then. Here's what I'm going with as a sangria recipe tonight:

Ingredients

• 1/4 c. sugar
• 1/2 c. water
• 750 ml. red Italian wine
• 1/2 c. brandy
• 1/2 c. triple sec
• 1/4 c. lemon juice
• 1/4 c. lime juice
• 1/3 c. orange juice
• 2 lemon rinds
• 2 lime rinds
• Lemon-lime soda, or soda water

Preparation

1. Combine sugar and water in a Pyrex container. Heat at high in a microwave for 5 minutes. Set aside to cool.
2. Combine all remaining ingredients except the soda in a sealable pitcher. Place in refrigerator.
3. When sugar water has cooled, add it to the pitcher. Refrigerate wine mixture overnight.
4. To serve, pour 1 part soda to about 4 parts wine in a large glass. Add ice.

I'm winging it here, folks, but I think the results will be at least drinkable. Also, kudos to this recipe on AllRecipes.com upon which this experimental recipe was based. Dudes and dudettes... 1/4 cup triple sec? Gutsiest move I ever saw, man. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Whiskey Sour

You'd think a basic cocktail recipe like this could be stated in as little as a sentence, but I believe this one actually deserves a little discussion.

I wanted to make my own sweet-and-sour mix rather than buy a pre-made concoction. The first Google hit was a recipe by Emeril Lagasse. I decided to look no further. How could I go wrong by starting out trying a recipe with such a fine pedigree?

Emeril's recipe for the sweet-and-sour mix was very simple: 1 oz. lemon juice, 1 oz. sugar, 2 oz. water. But wait... is that one ounce of sugar by weight? Should I interpret it as "one fluid ounce of sugar"? So, confusion right from the get-go. I decided to use weight measurements for all the ingredients. Using a kitchen scale, I measured out 8 ounces of water. To this I added 4 ounces of sugar and brought the mixture to a boil in the microwave. I let the simple syrup cool and then I added 4 ounces by weight of bottled lemon juice.

Emeril's mix gave me a very nice whiskey sour, but I've since nosed around for different sweet-and-sour mix recipes. Turns out these pretty much go all over the map. Proportions of sugar and water vary widely, and many recipes call for freshly juiced lemons, limes, and/or oranges. My kitchen lacks a juicing machine so I hopped onto Amazon and ordered a Hamilton Beach 67650 Big Mouth Pro Juice Extractor. It will arrive tomorrow, so I'll be able to experiment with different recipes this weekend.

So, here's my current recipe, subject to improvement.

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Sweet-and-Sour Mix

Ingredients

• 8 ounces (by weight) water
• 4 ounces (by weight) sugar
• 4 ounces (by weight) lemon juice

Procedure

1. Combine water and sugar. Stir, and heat in a microwave on high for 5 minutes.
2. Stir heated mixture well to completely dissolve the sugar. Let cool.
3. Add lemon juice and store in the refrigerator in a sealed jar.

Note: Be sure to stir the mixture immediately after removing it from the microwave. I've been guilty of becoming distracted and letting the mixture cool without stirring. The sugar hardens into lumps and you have to re-boil it.

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Whiskey Sour

Ingredients

• 1-1/2 oz. moderately-priced bourbon (such as Rebel Yell)
• 2 oz. sweet-and-sour mix
• 3 ice cubes, crushed
• 1 maraschino cherry

Procedure

1. Combine bourbon, sweet-and-sour mix, and crushed ice in an Old Fashion glass.
2. Garnish with a maraschino cherry

Note: I'm not a fan of using expensive whiskey in mixed drinks, but I draw the line at cheap Canadian or other blended whiskeys. 

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Frozen Strawberry Daiquiri

Ingredients

• 8 frozen strawberries
• 9 ice cubes
• 2 oz. lemon juice
• 1 oz. lemon-lime soft drink
• 2 T. sugar
• 2 oz. light rum

Preparation

1. Place all ingredients in a blender.
2. Blend until smooth.

Yield: 1 very large or 2 modest-sized frozen daiquiris

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If you prefer to use fresh strawberries, trim and core them and freeze them. Otherwise the drink may not be "frozen" enough.