Boozed + Infused

Infusing liqueurs at home with inspiring and seasonal ingredients

Category Archives: Cocktail


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Chocolate Infused Cherry Cocktail

My love of cherries has been no secret. The pale beauties in this drink come from the preserved cherries we made last summer. They feature the Queen Anne or Royal Anne cherries. The flavor of the Royal Anne cherry is very delicate. They might just be my favorite cherry.

We preserved the Royal Anne cherries in a variety of sugary/boozy mixtures. One of which was a simple syrup with Creme de Cacao. It gave just a hint of chocolate flavor to the sweet cherries.

I like chocolate martinis, but typically the clear variety. I much prefer it to the thick, creamy, syrupy versions. My chocolate martini consists of equal parts vanilla vodka and white creme de cacao. So for this drink, we added a hint of cherry.

Chocolate Infused Cherry Cocktail

1 oz Vanilla Vodka

1 oz White Creme de Cacao

1 oz Cherry Bourbon or Cherry Brandy

Creme de Cacao infused preserved cherries (or brandied cherries)

Shake all ingredients with ice, and pour into chilled or frosted martini glasses. Garnish with Creme de Cacao infused cherries.

Of course this would be delicious with brandied cherries instead of the Creme de Cacao cherries. And any cherry brandy or cherry liqueur would work well in place of the cherry bourbon. This gives a nice light mix of cherry and chocolate without either flavor overpowering.

Cheers!


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Hibiscus Sidecar

I couldn’t wait any longer to share one of the delicious hibiscus cocktails with you…

Who loves Sidecars? I do! I do! Thanks to a friend for introducing these to me some years ago, I have delighted in them for quite a while. So the addition of hibiscus brandy in this cocktail was only logical. As I mentioned in the last post, citrus goes great with hibiscus…

Hibiscus Sidecar (serves two)

3 oz. Hibiscus Brandy

1 1/2 oz. Triple Sec

1 oz. Fresh Squeezed Lemon Juice

garnish of your choice

Combine all liquid in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake vigorously… strain into chilled glasses. Garnish of your choice (preferably citrus – we used a mandarin orange slice).

Delicious. Please give this a try…

Cheers!


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Cherry Bomb!

If you haven’t yet made the Cherry Bourbon, you will want to for this cocktail!

Cherry Bomb Cocktail (makes 2)

3 oz Cherry Bourbon

1 oz Cherry Juice (you can find in the health food/organic section of the grocery store – called Just Black Cherry)

1 oz fresh squeezed Lemon Juice

1 oz Creme de Cacao

Brandied Cherry – for garnish

Combine all but the brandied cherry in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake vigorously and strain into chilled cocktail glasses. Garnish with brandied cherry.

I really don’t mean to call every cocktail my “new favorite”. But seriously, this is SO good! If you have even remotely considered making the cherry bourbon recipe, I would highly recommend it.

Cheers!

Related Posts:

Cherry Bourbon (with dried cherries)

Fresh Cherry Bourbon


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Cranberry Crush! New Favorite Champagne Cocktail

Remember the Cranberry-Orange Cordial we posted a few weeks ago…

We have now tried several cocktails with this elixir and we have a new favorite Champagne Cocktail!

Cranberry Crush

2 oz Cranberry-Orange Cordial (Liqueur)

4 oz champagne

long orange twist

Ok, so maybe you haven’t made that cranberry-orange liqueur? I would suggest substituting 1 oz Fresh Pressed (not from concentrate, 100% pure juice) Cranberry Juice and 1 oz Cointreau instead of the cranberry-orange cordial.

Enjoy!! This is a keeper!


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Raspberry Bliss

This cocktail takes advantage of the raspberry vodka liqueur that we infused last summer. Knowing how delicious the raspberry liqueur turns out, we made a lot of it! There is even some to share…

Raspberry Bliss Cocktail (makes 1)

2 oz Raspberry Vodka (home infused)

1 oz Citrus Vodka

1 oz Cointreau or Triple Sec

1 tablespoon fresh squeezed lemon juice

Serve in a chilled martini glass with garnish of your choice.

If you don’t have raspberry liqueur sitting around, you could probably try making some with frozen berries or a store-bought liqueur. And next summer when raspberries are in season you should infuse as many of them as you can!


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Cucumber Basil Martini

Cucumber Basil Martini (makes 2)

5 oz. Cucumber Infused Vodka

3-4 basil leaves

lime wedge

cucumber, coarse salt, pepper, lime zest for garnish

Muddle the basil with ice in your cocktail shaker. Add the cucumber vodka, a squeeze of lime, and shake it up. Run the edge of the lime wedge around the rim of the cocktail glasses, and dip into a salt/pepper mixture. Pour liquid into glasses, and garnish with a cucumber slice and lime zest if desired.

This cocktail was tasty and refreshing. I have a bit of a “salt-tooth” and loved the salt and pepper on the rim. That could easily be omitted if you don’t love salt as much as I do.

Cheers!


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Raspberry Caipirinha

Some years back, a friend introduced me to the Caipirinha. What a lovely and refreshing drink. Sweet, tart, and all the flavors balance so perfectly.

Last summer, I infused a bottle of cachaça with about a pound and a half of fresh raspberries, and a little sugar to heighten the raspberry flavor. I realize that raspberries are not in season right now, but you could infuse cachaça with another fruit or even frozen berries.

When I make this drink, it brings me back to the warmth of summer, despite the cold rain and snow we’ve been getting in the Pacific Northwest this week.

Raspberry Caipirinha (makes one drink)

1 lime, halved and sliced

1 Tablespoon Turbinado Sugar

3 oz Raspberry Infused Cachaça

Club Soda

Crushed Ice

Place the lime and sugar in the bottom of a pint glass or large tumbler and muddle well. Fill the glass to the top with crushed ice. Add raspberry infused cachaça, and top with club soda (just a splash). Serve with a straw so you can stir it and mix the lime and sugar into the drink.

If you don’t have any infused cachaça, substitute plain cachaça. The only thing I’d alter is to add a little more sugar.

You may have noticed that I didn’t bother to strain or filter this liqueur. Simple reason there… I’m greedy. Although I will make this drink for others in my home, it is too good to bottle for gifts. You’ll have to make your own…

Cheers!


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Kentucky Apricot

Last summer I picked up a bunch of apricots at a farm stand in Central Washington. They turned out to be a little bland, but I decided to try making an apricot-vanilla liqueur. So with a pound or two of apricots, some sugar, half a split vanilla bean, and a bottle of vodka, I let the mixture infuse for two months. It still wasn’t a strong enough apricot flavor for my taste, so I added a half pound of chopped, dried apricots, and let it infuse another three weeks. It was very tangy and had a very strong apricot flavor.  This cocktail recipe uses that apricot-vanilla liqueur.

Kentucky Apricot

1 1/2 oz Apricot Liqueur

1 1/2 oz Kentucky Bourbon

3-4 dashes cranberry bitters (or other tart/fruity bitters) we used our house made bitters

long lemon twist

Shake with ice, strain and serve with lemon twist.

What I really like about having all of our house-made liqueurs is being able to experiment with new cocktail flavors.  I am certainly no mixologist. But I do have fun trying new cocktails and mixing up something new! My cold Friday evening just got a little warmer…

Cheers!


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Champagne Cocktail Taste Test

While we love a good champagne cocktail, we wanted a twist on the traditional favorite. With our bounty of fruit liqueurs from this year, we decided to do a taste test and see what we should serve at our holiday party.

The line up: Raspberry Liqueur, Royal Anne Cherry Brandy, Honey & Saffron Liqueur, and Apricot Vanilla

We took 1 oz liqueur, 4 oz Extra Dry Champagne, and tasted away

And the winner is…

Royal Anne Cherry Brandy

Try your favorite liqueur with champagne and a brandied cherry for garnish (and an added festive flair). If you don’t have home infused liqueurs in your pantry, check out your local liqueur store. Here in Portland, Oregon we are very lucky to have local fruit liqueurs made by Clear Creek Distillery.

Please enjoy and ring in the New Year with a new favorite…


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Bit-o-Honey

Do yourself a favor, and make the Honey & Saffron Liqueur highlighted on Eat Boutique. (Maggie Battista adapts a recipe from June Lawson’s “Snowflakes and Schnapps”.)

I made this Honey and Saffron liqueur a few months ago and have been very happy with it. We used it in a Champagne Cocktail taste test (more on that later) but most recently trialed a new cocktail that we’re calling (for now) the Bit-o-Honey.

Bit o Honey Recipe (makes 2 cocktails)

3 1/2 oz Martin Miller Gin

1 1/2 oz Honey Saffron Liqueur

1/2 oz Dry Vermouth

* lemon twist
Combine all liquid ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice, and shake vigorously. Strain into chilled martini glasses, and add a lemon twist.

If you don’t have Martin Miller gin, you can likely substitute whatever gin you have. But if you can find it, give it a try. It has a much cleaner, lighter taste than most gins. The juniper flavor is almost absent with a very light floral scent.

We tried this cocktail last night and couldn’t resist having a second…

Enjoy!