Cool Cocktail Ideas for Hot Summer Days – We’ve got another burst of hot weather on the horizon apparently, and I can’t think of a better way to cool down than with a delicious cocktail. I’d never considered using a dessert wine for summer cocktails, but a recent visit to review a restaurant in Kew (Hawthorn if you were wondering – review to come very soon) started me thinking: At Hawthorn, I was offered a white port spritz – delicious and very refreshing.
So, inspired by the idea of using a sweet wine for summer cocktails, I was delighted to discover that Brown Brothers Orange Muscat & Flora (a delicious Australian sweet wine) was already on the case!
With its brilliant gold colour, zesty citrus note and a hint of honey and spice, it’s already one of my favourite ‘stickies’.
Brown Brothers Orange Muscat & Flora is a surprisingly inexpensive wine – £8.50 for a 37.5cl bottle in Tesco and it’s as versatile as it is delicious. It’s fabulous with blue cheese or summer desserts, as well as being such a refreshing cocktail ingredient.
So here are a few ideas for you to try:
Orange Muscat & Flora & Fizz
Glass: Chilled Glass Champagne Flute 8-10oz
25ml Orange Muscat & Flora
100-125ml Pre-Chilled Regular or Lime Soda in Day Time or 100-125ml Champagne
(No ice)
Method:
- Add Orange Muscat & Flora
- Add Preferred Fizz
- Drop Sugar Cube seasoned with drops of aromatic bitters
Garnish Options:
– Orange Twist
– Sugar Cubed angostura bitters
High Ball
Glass: Tall Glass or Wine Glass 14oz
50ml Orange Muscat & Flora
25ml Fresh pink grapefruit juice squeeze
15ml Campari
Soda roughly 100ml (Use glass rim as gauge)
Cubed ice
Method:
- Build Ingredients into a glass with cubed ice
- Topped a highly charged soda a few inches from top
- Light Stir and Swizzle with a long bar spoon add more ice & straw
Garnish Options:
– Pink G Twist
– Rosemary
– Tall Straw
Use one, or a combination.
Prima Vera Fix
Glass: Tall Glass 12oz or Wine Glass or Copa 16oz
15ml sugar
4 lime wedges
50ml – 75ml Orange Muscat & Flora
125ml soda or tonic
cubed ice
Method:
- Add bar spoon of caster sugar or 15 ml sugar syrup
- Add 2 squeezed lime wedges
- 3/4 fill glass with ice
- Add 2 squeezed lime wedges
- Add tonic or soda an inch from the top of the glass
- Stir room bottom, Add more ice
Garnish Options:
– Lime Wedge
– Sprig mint
– Tall Straw
The Seasoned Gastronome