Happy Hour Tuesday Valentine’s Day Special: Blushing Sparkler

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Today is the sweetest day of the year, the day when if you have a husband/wife or a boyfriend/girlfriend, or simply a friend that cares about you, you might get a box of chocolate that symbolizes the three words that everyone longs to hear: I love you. It’s time to celebrate!
Rometti Limoncello has found for you a special recipe for such a special day, Blushing Sparkler.

Sweet and sour, definitively fruity and bubbly, Blushing Sparkler is perfectly in theme with Valentine’s Day, and – open your ears my friends!- if you choose a zero calorie flavored sparkling water, you might feel less guilty for all that chocolate that you will have eaten before the end of the day! Not to mention that a flavor such as Pink Grapefruit or Raspberries is simply perfect for such a romantic day!

Ingredients:
1 oz whipped vodka
4 oz Cascade Ice Pink Grapefruit
1/4 oz Rometti Limoncello
ice
Lemon wedge to garnish

In a cocktail shaker filled with ice pour vodka, sparkling water, and Rometti Limoncello. Shake well and pour in a chilled glass. Garnish with lemon wedges.

~Enjoy!

Recipe courtesy of Cascade Ice Sparkling Water

Happy Hour Tuesday: Charlie Chaplin

Happy Hour Tuesday!

This week we found an excellent, fruity drink that takes us back to the 1920s, and it’s from the 1920s’ irreplaceable actor with mustaches, hat and cane, that it takes the name after. Ladies and Gentlemen, may I introduce you to Charlie Chaplin!

Charlie Chaplin – the drink, not the person!- was made prior to 1920’s and it became the Wastorf-Astoria signature of those years when silent movies started to break out. The original drink is made by equal parts of apricot brandy, sloe gin and lemon juice, however to add some zesty flavor and a  little kick, we substituted the 1 oz lemon juice with 1/4 oz Rometti Limoncello and 3/4 lemon juice.

Almost as sweet as the slapstick acrobat that made generations laugh for decades, Charlie Chaplin is a blend of fruity, earthy and citrusy notes, delightful as after dinner.

Ingredients:
1 oz gin
1 oz apricot brandy
1/4 oz Rometti Limoncello
3/4 oz fresh lemon juice

Shake all the ingredients with ice. Strain into a cocktail glass, garnish with a sliver of lemon zest and serve.

~Enjoy!

Happy Hour Tuesday: Limoncello Renaissance

Happy Hour Late Tuesday this week…

as Italian, I am very familiar with bitters: if you spent some time in Europe or if you are a passionate in the field, you probably know of Amaro Montenegro, Aperol, Averna, Campari, and a whole bunch of other bitters used for mixers or by themselves as digestifs. Interestingly, bitters were not born as liquor, how they are mainly know nowadays. It appears as the earliest bitters were instead used in the ancient times (back to the Egyptians and all the way through Middle Ages and American colonization) for medical purposes. Apothecaries would often stock bitters to cure, thanks to their herbal infusion, stomach sicknesses, and moreover they were used in mixers of preventive medicinal cocktails with tonic water.

From ancient remedies to difestifs, bitter have become today a synonimus of ammazzacaffe’ (Italian for “coffee killer”: yes because after a festive meal a coffee is not enough to help your stomach processing all the food!) , amaros, or even more commonly, simple liquor.

Among all the different types of bitters I ever tasted and heard of, there is one kind that I have to admit sounds new to me: the Peach Bitter. Introduced by the Bitter Truth, a German spirits company, back in 2006, Peach Bitters are “a contemporary interpretation of a classic style of bitters“. More delicate and fruity than what I am used to, this bitter is perfect for flavoring cocktails of all kinds, from martinis to tonics to gimlets.

So we tried it and found out that its bittersweet taste works perfectly with the zesty, sweet flavor of Limoncello in a cocktail called Renaissance, a mix of Cognac, Vermouth, Limoncello and of course Peach Bitter. It will warm you up on a winter night, but thanks to its delicate notes it will fast forward you to the awakening of Spring.

Ingredients:
8 Parts Cognac
5 Parts Vermouth, Sweet
1 Part Rometti Limoncello
2 Dashes Peach Bitters
1 Peel Lemon

Fill a mixing glass with ice cubes. Add all ingredients. Stir and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with lemon.

Enjoy!

Recipe from http://www.absoloutedrinks.com
You can find more information on Peach Bitters at: http://the-bitter-truth.com/bitter/peach-bitters/