Tag: Watermelon

Introducing My *Summer Crush* – a Tantalizing Late Summer Cocktail!

It’s Labor Day!  The official End of Summer!  But, are you ready for summer to end?  Because I. Am. Not!  With Covid restrictions and travel bans, it feels like this summer never even got off the ground.

Luckily for us there is still a ton of great summer produce at your local Farmers Market – perfect for cocktail making!

This week at my Market I picked up some beautiful sunflowers, amazing tomatoes, and the stars of this cocktail – a new jar of Honey (local honey is amazing! If you haven’t given it a try yet, you need to!) and a perfect Watermelon! 

This cocktail combines some of my favorite summer flavors – it is perfect for sipping in the shade on a hot July day or enjoying with friends while watching a mid-September sunset.  You will need fresh juiced watermelon, blackberries, honey, lime juice, Club Soda, and the vodka of your choice.  I used one of my favorites, Ohio’s own Buckeye Vodka.  This is super simple and absolutely delicious – I hope you enjoy!

  • *Summer Crush*
  • 1.5 oz Buckeye Vodka
  • .5 oz Lime Juice
  • .75 oz Blackberry-Honey Simple Syrup*
  • 3-4 oz Watermelon Juice*
  • 2 oz Club Soda

In a 16 oz Mason Jar, fill with ice and combine Buckeye Vodka, Watermelon Juice, Lime Juice, and Blackberry-Honey Simple.  Place the lid on the jar and shake to combine.  Top with Club Soda and garnish with blackberries, mint leaves, lime wheel, or whatever you have on hand. 

I love making cocktails in mason jars, you can build the drink and serve in the same glass – no extra dirty dishes!  Plus, if you have guests coming you can prebuild the cocktail then ice and garnish just as your company arrives! 

And you know that I am all about versatility!  This drink is delicious with vodka – but also amazing with your favorite tequila (maybe add a salt rim, for a little extra oomph) and also delicious with rum!  Remember, recipes are just guidelines, tweak to make the final product your very own masterpiece!

*Blackberry-Honey Simple Syrup – In a pot over medium heat combine 6 oz Blackberries with 6 oz of local Honey and 6 oz of water, stirring occasionally to help honey dissolve.  It should come to a low simmer for about 10 minutes.  Remove from heat and allow to cool 15 minutes.  Pour through a fine mesh strainer into a sealable container and refrigerate until ready to use.  (This is also amazing in ice tea or over ice cream!)

*Watermelon Juice – Load up your blender with chunks of de-rinded watermelon, and pulse until it is liquified.  Pour through a fine sieve into a pitcher and refrigerate.

RUM- It’s Not Just for Pirates!

RUM!!!!

August 16 is National Rum Day…. As if we needed an excuse to indulge in some delicious Rum drinks!  For years my go-to vacation drink was a Captain and Coke.  To this day it is still my fallback plan if I ever freeze up at a bar.  When I was 19 years old Bacardi had a low-proof Lime flavor and Diet Coke had just released a Lime flavor- it was a match made in heaven for my little underaged heart.

Over the years I’ve had a lot of fun with rum.  And Bacardi relaunched a high-proof version Lime Rum, so for National Rum Day I wanted to use it to make the BEST cocktail to close out your summer with!

It’s slightly labor intensive, but oh so worth it!  It would be very easy to triple or quadruple the recipe to make a Punch for a pool party. 

  • Watermelon Crawl-
  • 1.5 ounces Bacardi Lime
  • 5 ounces Watermelon Juice
  • A drizzle of Blackberry Nectar
  • Garnish with a slice of Lime or Blackberry or Watermelon slice (or all three!) and enjoy!

Watermelon Juice- Select the best looking Watermelon you can find- Black Diamond varieties are my favorite, but are not always available.  To save yourself a little bit of work, pick a seedless.  Once you found your perfect melon, cut it off the rind and into chunks (watch out for seeds!) and cram the chunks into a blender.  Put the lid on the blender and pulse a few times.  It won’t take long at all.  When it looks like a liquid stop pulsing.  Then pour it through a fine mesh strainer to remover any pulp and wayward seeds. 

Now let’s talk Mojitos.  What a classic cocktail!  A few years ago they came flooding back into popularity, even though they never really did go out of style.  I mean, who doesn’t love that crisp lime flavor balanced with sweet mint?  The only thing I REALLY don’t like about Mojitos is when the mint is muddled in the glass leaving a murky, swampy looking drink.  Plus who wants to worry about a stray piece of mint getting caught in your teeth?  So I prefer to make my Mojitos with a Mint Simple Syrup… yes, ok this adds a few more steps to the recipe.  BUT, you can make a large batch of the syrup and use it in other things- Iced Tea, Desserts, Other Cocktails, that sort of thing.  Plus when you make your own Simple Syrup YOU get to decide just how sweet you make it.  Ok, here we go!

  • Mojito-
    •  1.5 ounces Bacardi Silver
  • 1.5 ounces Mint Syrup (or more for a sweeter drink)
  • Splash of Lime Juice (Fresh juice or Roses Lime both work, just a matter of preference)
  • Build and Serve Over Ice, Stir to Combine and Top with Club Soda.  Garnish with a Slice of Lime and Sprig of Mint

I hope you enjoy these cocktails and National Rum Day!  What are some of your favorite Rum Drinks?

  • Mint Simple Syrup-
  • 2 Cups Water. If you like your tap water, go ahead and use that. If you don’t like your tap water please use your favorite bottled water.
  • 1 Cup Pure Can Sugar. A traditional simple service has a 1:1 water to sugar ratio. I prefer a less sweet cocktail, but feel free to increase the sugar ratio if you like a sweeter drink.
  • Bring to a Boil to dissolve the sugar and add 5-6 sprigs of Mint and remover from heat.
  • Let the Mint steep for 20-30 minutes and then strain into a container, and store in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.