SUPER SIPPERS LIII

The Super Bowl is always a big event in our house. Its pretty much the makings for a perfect party, and we love the fun of harassing friends and family who take it too seriously. Its a great time to indulge in all the food we’ve been avoiding (or at least tried to…) during the month of the January. And to whoever created the ridiculous concept “Dryjanuary”, please have a drink this Sunday. Maybe two…

The Bowl is the perfect time to pair team against team, and city against city. In that spirit we have a few ideas for your Super Bowl Sips and Guzzles.

GO GOLD! GO BLUE!

We’ve created Margaritas in RAMS’ GOLD (Pineapple), and PATS’ BLUE (Pomegranate/Blueberry). Margaritas are such a versatile pairing for any food. Literally. And they’re not too foofie for the testosterone junkies, just enough mixology for the foodies, and you can limit the calories by controlling the sweetener.

We often make Margaritas in our house in both frozen and ‘rocks’ form. If you choose to make these on Sunday, chances are you’ll be making a bunch of them. A ‘rocks’ version can be mixed before people arrive, making for a little less prep at drink time. I wouldn’t hesitate making these a couple hours before serving, as long as you can keep it all cold. We always list recipes in parts so you can multiply them to feed your team.

PINEAPPLE MARGARITAS in RAMS’ GOLD
per serving:
3 parts pineapple juice
1 part silver tequila
1/2 part Triple Sec (or Agave syrup)
Juice of one Lime
Salt-frosted glasses*
Mix all of the ingredients in a pitcher. BOOM! Done!
Serve with ice in individually salt-frosted glasses*, with some fresh fruit for garnish.

POMEGRANATE/BLUEBERRY MARGARITAS in PATRIOT’S BLUE
per serving:
3 parts pomegranate/blueberry juice (we use Pom Wonderful, available nationally)
1 part silver tequila
1/2 part Triple Sec (or Agave Syrup)
Juice of one lime
Salt-frosted glasses*
Same plan as above- mix all the ingredients in a pitcher and you’re good to go.
Serve with ice in individually salt-frosted glasses*. Adding some fresh fruit looks great, and offers a nice aroma.

*SALT-FROSTED GLASSES*
Margarita served in the traditional glasses are great, but they’re awful to balance while you’re walking around a party. You can salt the rim of any glass by rubbing a quarter piece of any citrus around the rim, then dipping the glass into a pile of kosher salt.

BEER VS BEER!
This Super Bowl is a coast vs coast rivalry. Where does this rivalry exist in the beer world… IPAs! This week I have my own Super Bowl of IPAs…SAM ADAM’S NEW ENGLAND IPA vs. LAGUNITAS WEST COAST IPA.

Four Quarters, just like the big game-

1st Quarter: Color.
They both pour with impressive heads and leave beautiful lace on the glass. Lagunitas is a warm copper color, whereas Sams has the expected golden haze of a NEIPA. They are both pretty impressive, but Sam scores a field goal in this color quarter.

2nd Quarter: Aromas.
Lagunitas has a piney smell. Sams offers a citrusy mango aroma. I’d say its an amazing half. Both teams scored a touchdown. This makes our score 10 to 7 in favor of Sam.

3rd Quarter: Taste.
Lagunitas has a grapefruit bitterness of hops with the pine undertones that make an IPA great. The citrus notes of Sams eventually gets lost the more you drink it. I’m missing the grassy notes you expect of a well-balanced NEIPA. I give a touchdown to Lagunitas. Our score is 10 to 14 with Lagunitas taking the lead.

4th Quarter: Finish.
Lagunitas brings caramel. Sams gives you a light piney finish. This not what I have come to expect from an NEIPA. I’ll give a field goal to Lagunitas.

Final Score: 10 to 17, with Lagunitas taking the win, but these are both great beers. Have your own taste test on Sunday. Don’t stick to my choices. Both of these are available nationally, but see what you can find locally. Pick two craft beers that represent these styles, or regions. Make a game of it, and let people score them. Offer a prize- a six-pack of the winning beer?

Or keep score yourself- buy equal amounts of two beers and see which type is left on the field. Let us know by posting a comment on this blog post!

SUPER SIZED SIPPER!
Make enough for your whole team.

We’re fairly sure everyone remembers JUNGLE JUICE from college (not high school, Mom. nope. no way. not me...). The recipe for my peeps was any booze we could get our hands on mixed with Hawaiian Punch and a seemingly infinite variety of fruit juice and fresh fruit. I even remember one party of the waterpolo team where we bought a new giant, plastic garbage bin and filled it entirely.

Now as a much more sophisticated adult…. I’ve figured out that the basic difference between the Jungle Juice of my youth and Sangria of my adulthood, is pretty much a red solo cup. Maybe wine. Maybe a few decades. But the concept is the same. Get some wine- red or white. Add your favorite fruit-flavored vodka and fruit juice. Dump in a bunch of fresh fruit, and you’ve got a reasonably priced way to make a delicious and personalized party drink for a lot of people.

We’re going to offer a recipe, but please know we blend Sangria ‘to taste’ every time and with every season. Following this form, I can’t really think of way you could mess it up. The only issue to think about is how much sweetness you’d like in the final sip. You balance sweetness by choosing either a drier or sweeter wine, and balancing that with fruit juice. If you choose a dry red, balance it with sweeter fruit juice, for example. Taste as you go, and make Sangria/Jungle Juice your own.

BASIC RECIPE:
1 bottle wine- red or white
2 cups fruit-flavored vodka
3 cups fruit juice, three different flavors
Lots of fruit- two kinds of citrus, apples, pears, berries, and pineapple are our faves
MIX! And keep it cold, or serve with ice.

SAMPLE RECIPE: This is the recipe we used for the batch pictured above.
1 bottle (750 ml) Merlot
2 cups cranberry vodka
1 cup cranberry juice
1 cup pomegranate juice
1 cup white grape juice
Blood oranges, gala apples, limes, cara cara oranges, frozen raspberries

Remember- you can’t mess this up if you choose flavors you love!

Enjoy these ideas for a great Super Bowl LIII party. We’d love to hear what works for you. You can leave us messages on this post, or our social media on Face Book and Instagram.

Fresh Citrus Margarita fights those winter time blues

Happy New Year, everyone!

After all our holiday entertaining we have eaten and sipped our way through dozens of cuisines, bottles and kegs. In addition to a few extra pounds….we also find ourselves with an abundance of lemons and limes .

One of my favorite sips is a mixed citrus margarita. This bongs so many bells- it’s relatively light; it uses extra citrus fruits; you can customize your favorite citrus flavors; it can be made blended or served on the rocks; and its a killer start to nearly any meal.

Pile any citrus fruits you have on hand. To our heap of lemons and limes we added clementines (Halo, halo…). If we had a grapefruit it would have joined the party. Choose citrus flavors you love. Then juice them. I’m convinced we own every kitchen gadget and small appliance known to man, but we do not own a juicer. We use the pointy kind that looks like a mini-UFO, and a lot of elbow and wrist grease.

Add some tequila, triple sec, and wham! If you’d like it blended, add ice and use your blender to the slushee consistency you like. If you’re a rocks person, mix it all in a shaker and serve over ice. Salt rimmed glasses perfectly compliment the tangy sweetness of the cocktail. That’s it.

The pic above is made in the rocks style. And as we’re big advocates of garnishes that feature ingredients used in a cocktail, the answer was obvious. We munched on tortilla chips and homemade guacamole which is an ideal pairing. But the citrus in these sippers would pair well with nearly any munchie- it cuts the richness of buffalo wings or a cheese pizza like a boss. Make up a batch of these and we promise this month will feel less January-ish, if even for a few hours.

Glasses up for a wonderful 2019. We wish you your best year, yet!

FRESH CITRUS MARGARITA

2 parts silver tequila
1 part triple sec
1 part fresh citrus juice (limes, lemons, clementines, oranges, blood oranges, grapefruit- combo of your faves)
Salt-rimmed glasses
Citrus slices for garnish

ON THE ROCKS: Add tequila, triple sec and fresh juice to a shaker with a few cubes of ice. Shake the hell out of it, at least until the shaker is ice cold. Pour into salt-rimmed glasses full of ice, and garnish with fresh citrus slices.

BLENDED: Add tequila, triple sec and fresh juice in a blender with a healthy amount of ice. Pulse to your desired consistency. Serve in salt-rimmed glasses and garnish with fresh citrus slices.

SALT-RIMMED GLASSES: Use a quarter of a lime and rub it around the rim of a glass. Dip the glass into a bowl of kosher salt. Done….!

Meredith's Cherry Margaritas

We're excited to share the first delicious drink recipe submitted by one of our followers! Thank you, Meredith for inspiring this post. If you have a drink you'd like to share with us, please email through the link below, or post on our social profiles.

Our household is fairly obsessed with summer cherries, and this recipe is a great way to enjoy them.  Its entirely possible to make the magic syrup with frozen cherries, but after straining the sugared cherries I realized there are several uses for the cherry mash- top a scoop of vanilla ice cream, spread it on some toast, mix it into a scoop of greek yogurt, top a grilled brie...

This recipe gives you all the salty citrus you expect in a margarita, and the addition of fresh cherry syrup offers a fresh approach we found delicious.  

MEREDITH'S CHERRY MARGARITAS

2 servings

5 oz cherry syrup*
4 oz fresh lime juice
3 oz silver tequila
2 oz orange liqueur
salt to rim the glass
fresh cherries and lime to garnish
*Cherry Syrup:
2 cups fresh cherries, pitted (frozen works, too)
2 cups water
1 cup sugar

1. Make the syrup by combining cherries, water and sugar in a small pot and stir until sugar is dissolved.  Mash cherries with a potato masher and bring to a boil. Take off heat, strain and cool before using.
2. Prepare two glasses by rimming with lime and salt (optional) and filling with ice.
3. Combine syrup, lime juice, tequila and orange liqueur in a small pitcher and stir.  Divide evenly between prepared glasses.  Garnish with cherries and lime.