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Easy 3 Ingredient Quarantine Cocktails

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While we’re all stuck at home it’s nice to have a few easy cocktail ideas up your sleeve. I’m sharing three of my favorite easy 3 ingredient quarantine cocktails. These are the three cocktails I drink the most of so I made sure I had all ingredients on hand to make these classic staples. Classic cocktails are great for at-home mixing because most of them are simple as well as delicious. My three must-have cocktails for quarantine is an Aperol Spritz, a margarita and a negroni. Shall we make some drinks? It’s been a while.

Quarantine Cocktails

Aperol Spritz, serves 1

2 oz. Aperol

3 oz. prosecco

1 oz. soda water

orange wheel, for garnish

Firstly, add all ingredients into a wine glass filled with ice and stir. Garnish with an orange wheel. Suns out spritz out!

Margarita, serves 1

1 1/2 oz. tequila

1 oz. triple sec (like Cointreau or Combier)

3/4 oz. fresh lime juice.

lime wheel, for garnish

salt, for rimming (optional)

You can either serve this up or down but I prefer my margaritas up with salt. Salt is also optional here. Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker with ice. Then shake and strain into a salt-rimmed glass. Or not. Finally, garnish with a lime wheel. Or not. You don’t have to be fancy with garnishes. You’re home so you can take it easy. If you feel like being more adventurous try this hibiscus margarita recipe that I made!

Negroni, serves 1

1 oz. gin

1 oz. sweet vermouth

1 oz. Campari

orange twist, for garnish.

Add all ingredients to a double rocks glass with ice. Stir and express the orange twist on top of the drink. Lastly, place the twist in the drink. Sip and enjoy! If you’re into tequila like I am you should try a Rosita instead.

Most people with a decently stocked bar should have these items on hand. These quarantine cocktails are easy and quick to make and there’s something for everyone. If you’re in the mood for something light and refreshing, obviously an Aperol Spritz. Do you want something that’s crisp and sour? Well then, have a margarita! Or would you rather have something bitter and boozy? Then a negroni should do the trick.

I hope you’re all staying home and above all else staying safe. In the meantime, fix yourself a drink. After all, it’s almost the weekend, if that means anything anymore. I’ve linked all my favorite product picks to Drizy just in case you needed to get anything delivered to make some cocktails. Cheers, everyone! xo

Watermelon Hibiscus Paloma

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Popping in here real quick to bring you the perfect cocktail for your holiday weekend! I’ve been juicing watermelon a lot and drinking it after my runs and making simple drinks with it in the evenings. Had to put a twist on one of my favorite cocktails and share this Watermelon Hibiscus Paloma with you. Can’t thank my friends over at Exotica Tequila enough for letting me come up with delicious things with one of my favorite spirits!

I can’t believe it’s Labor Day weekend already. Where has the time gone? I was just getting into the swing of summer and now POOF it’s gone. Just like that. There’s nothing more satisfying and refreshing than watermelon juice on a hot day. I’m sure going to miss seeing this fruits presence in the produce aisles. So I had to squeeze it into one lady recipe before I say goodbye to it for a few long, hard and cold months.

Watermelon Hibiscus Paloma, serves 1

2 oz. Exotico Tequila

1 oz. watermelon juice

1/2 oz. lime juice

1/2 oz. hibiscus syrup*

Grapefruit soda

Salt, for rim

*Hibiscus syrup

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

1/2 cup dried hibiscus flowers

Combine sugar, water and hibiscus flowers in a small saucepan. Simmer until all sugar has dissolved and the syrup is a very dark red/pink, about 10 minutes.

First, juice your limes and watermelon. I used my slow juicer to juice the watermelon but if you don’t have one, you can also blend is and strain the juice.

Then prepare your glass by rimming it with salt. Add all tequila, watermelon juice, lime juice and hibiscus syrup to a cocktail shaker. Shake with ice and strain into your salt rim glass. Top with your favorite grapefruit soda and lastly garnish with a slice of watermelon.

Couldn’t think of a better way to send summer off than with a Paloma. This Watermelon Hibiscus Paloma is refreshing, sweet and citrusy. Hibiscus adds so much depth and floral flavors with a hint of tartness. Salt adds a savory element that compliments the watermelon and hibiscus perfectly.

I can’t wait to make and enjoy a few more of these this weekend. I hope you decide to make this Watermelon Hibiscus Paloma as well. If you do please comment below and tell me how you’re enjoying your holiday weekend. Cheers to another summer! xo

Sparkling Rosé Paloma

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Sparkling Rosé Paloma

It’s always rosé season in this house! So excited to team up with 90+ Cellars for this post to share my Sparkling Rosé Paloma recipe with you.

If you haven’t heard of 90+ Cellars, it’s a really cool wine brand that curates a portfolio of wines from all over the globe. They love great wine and their mission is to make drinking great wine easier and more affordable for everyone. They do this by buying wine at a discount from acclaimed wineries and vineyards — then they are able to sell great wine at a reduced price under their label. Thus bringing better wine to more people at a lower price. It’s a pretty brilliant concept!

I’ve used their Sparkling Rosé in this recipe which is lovely in a glass on its own but also works marvelously in cocktails. 90+ Cellars Sparkling Rosé is made with Pinot Noir grapes from Northern Italy. It is pale pink in color, dry, fruity, and has charming effervescence. It’s notes of strawberry, passionfruit, and rose petals make it perfect for complimenting spirits and adding a delightful flavor to cocktails.

Sparkling Rosé Paloma

Sparkling Rosé Paloma, serves 1

1 1/2 oz. blanco tequila

1 oz. fresh grapefruit juice

1/2 oz. fresh lime juice

1/2 oz. simple syrup (1:1)

top with 90+ Cellars Sparkling Rosé

sprigs of thyme, for shaking with and garnish

grapefruit wedges, for garnish

ancho chile salt, for rimming

Sparkling Rosé Paloma

First, make your ancho chile salt by combining equal parts salt and ancho chile powder. I also sprinkled in some crushed red pepper for extra texture. Rim the edge of your serving glass by running a lime wedge around it and then dipping it into a bowl of your prepared ancho chile salt.

Sparkling Rosé Paloma

Next, add tequila, grapefruit juice, lime juice, simple syrup and thyme to a cocktail shaker. Add ice, shake, and then strain into your salted glass filled with ice. Top with 90+ Cellars Sparkling Rosé and garnish with a sprig of thyme and grapefruit wedge.

Sparkling Rosé Paloma

Have I ever told you how much I love Palomas? I do. I do.

They’re citrusy and oh so refreshing. They’re like little fizzy effervescent grapefruit margaritas. Then I went ahead and added rosé to it and made it 100,000,000x better.

Sparkling Rosé Paloma

Sparkling Rosé Paloma

Traditionally a Paloma is made with tequila, lime, and grapefruit soda. I like to make mine with the fresh juice of lime and grapefruit and then I use club soda to add the carbonated element. Here I simply swapped out soda for 90+ Cellars Sparkling Rosé and it truly came out amazing! This Sparkling Rosé Paloma is fruity, juicy, fresh, clean, fizzy and herbaceous. Did I mention delicious? Why yes it is!

Sparkling Rosé Paloma

Sparkling Rosé Paloma

I hope you’ll be enjoying one this weekend. You can check out 90+ Cellars website here to view and purchase their entire wine collection online. Cheers everyone! xo

Sparkling Rosé Paloma

Hibiscus Gin-Gin Mule

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With all the recipe developing for menus and blog posts, my refrigerator becomes a graveyard for fruit, herbs and miscellaneous syrups. I try my best to eat and repurpose most of it for cooking, smoothie bowls, or other recipes throughout the week but sometimes there’s a little waste. I’m implementing a new rule that if I make it, I have to use it! I made syrups for posts on A Beautiful Mess and Palm Springs Style last week and was wondering what my next cocktail would be on my own blog. Fresh ginger and hibiscus, does that work? You bet it does!

One of the first cocktails that came to mind was one that I learned when I worked behind the bar at Flatiron Lounge, the Gin-Gin Mule. It was created by Audrey Saunders of Pegu Club in 2000 and was a milestone drink of the 21st-century cocktail renaissance. It has inspired countless spin-offs and heavily influenced the use of fresh ginger and homemade ingredients in cocktails. It’s a drink that I still find myself making for people at Dutch Kills when they request a bartenders choice, “I’ll have something with gin that’s refreshing”, I pretty much immediately make a Gin-Gin Mule.

This cocktail is essentially a fusion of two classics, the Mojito (rum, lime, sugar, mint) and a Gin Buck (gin, lime, fresh ginger, soda). I’ve replaced the call for simple syrup in this recipe with hibiscus syrup. You can find out how to make ginger syrup here and my hibiscus syrup here.


Hibiscus Gin-Gin Mule, serves 1

2 oz. Gin

1 oz. Lime Juice

1/2 oz. Hibiscus Syrup

1/2 oz. Ginger Syrup

Mint

Club Soda

Add lime juice, hibiscus syrup, ginger syrup, and mint to your shaker and muddle. Lightly tapping the mint is sufficient. When muddling a good rule to follow in the words of Sasha Petraske is “bruise don’t abuse”. Add gin, ice, and then shake. Strain into a highball glass over ice and top with club soda. Garnish with a mint sprig and ginger candy.

I’ve always loved this cocktail but the hibiscus syrup adds a tart, fruity, and floral element that makes this drink even more perfect for summer (if that’s even possible). The sweet floral element of the hibiscus blends perfectly with the spiciness of the ginger and freshness of the mint. More than 10 years later and this cocktail is so good it still influences how I develop cocktails. Some of the most delicious drinks are so perfect just because they’re simple. Less IS more. What’s your favorite modern classic? Do you ever put your own spin on it? Tell me about it in the comments below.