Raspberry Gin Fizz

When I first introduced my summer drink quest last month, all there was were visions of me sipping happily away on my adult beverage, book in hand, sitting on my porch in the late afternoon soon.  Happy, content, with a cool breeze coming along and tying the whole picture together.  

Unfortunately, this weather, today and now, in a word, sucks.  I am an Arizona girl at heart (even if my license plate no longer has a cactus on it... but that's a sad story for another day) and even I find this heat punishing and unbearable.  Dreams of sipping a cold drink outside waft away like the heat waves rising up from the asphalt.  I wish I was exaggerating here, but the unhappy truth is that there will be more perspiration on you then there will be on the outside of your glass.  While this doesn't make for the end of the world, it also doesn't make for a dry tank top.  

Lucky for us though, berry happy gin has a way of making problems like this melt away.  As long as it is consumed ice cold, in a tall glass, safely in the vicinity of functioning AC and (if you are lucky enough) an overhead fan.  I stuck with the fresh, seasonal berry + liquor motif for round 2 of "Let's find Liz a good summer drink" with similarly happy results.  Here, beautiful raspberries are pureed with sugar, mingled with fresh squeezed lime juice and then the whole lot gets together with some gin and the happiness begins.  Top it off with a pour fizzy and you are in for some good summer drinking.

Raspberry Gin Fizz
Adapted from Bon Appetit, July 2012

In regards to my summer contest, blackberry mojitos are still on top, but just barely.  Maybe the fact that they were consumed on a porch pushed them just ahead of the competition.  The one thing that these gin fizzes really have going for them though (and the reason I will come back to them again, very, very soon), is that unlike the mojitos, these very easily are made in a batch.  I had a small pitcher of the raspberry, lime, gin in the fridge all weekend and was never a pour of some tonic away from a wonderful summer cocktail. It was a very good weekend.  

For 8 servings:

6 oz raspberries, well washed
1/2 c. sugar
2 c. gin
1 c. fresh lime juice (about 12 limes)
Mineral Water, club soda, tonic

In blender (or magic bullet) whir raspberries and sugar until pureed.  Let stand, shaking occasionally, until sugar is dissolved.  Meanwhile, juice limes into pitcher.  Set a fine-mesh sieve over pitcher and slowly pour raspberry puree through.  Discard seeds remaining in sieve.  Pour gin into pitcher and mix into all components are incorporated.

In tall glasses with ice, pour about 1/2 cup of gin mixture.  Top with whatever fizzy you like best.  Enjoy immediately, preferably in a tank top and flip flops.

Blackberry Mojitos

I get all jealous when I hear people waxing on poetically about the perfect summer drink that they sip relaxingly on lazy Sunday afternoons, on a porch, with their significant other.  For some reason, I want that.  And really, I don’t have anything that has been holding me back from this lazy summer nirvana.  I’ve got the porch, with a cute wrought iron table and chairs set, with French doors that open into my living room and kitchen, with my cute, little herb garden.  I’ve got the boy, and he’s cute too.  What I don’t have is the perfect drink.   So without further ado, may I introduce round one, contender numero uno in the “Let’s find Liz a good summer drink” contest: blackberry mojitos

And what a winner we have already. I was already in love with this drink just from muddling the sugar and mint leaves. The fragrance was delicious and all I could think about was making a sugar scrub out of it and then wanting to bathe in it. So very luck for me, I was able to refrain. And then it gets better. You add the blackberries, rum and lime, crush it up a bit and... really, all I can say is that there should be a mint blackberry lime jam, and I would probably want to bathe in that too. Sure, it might die my skin purple, but I'm thinking it just might be worth it. Alright, we've gotten on a weird tangent here, so let's just put our computers down, whip up a glassful of blackberry mojito and call it a wonderful, sun shine filled, summer day.

Blackberry Mojito
adapted from fork vs. spoon

For 1 serving:
1 Tbsp. Sugar
~10 mint leaves (I used a mix of spearmint & sweet mint)
6-8 blackberries
1 oz. rum (2 Tbsp.)
1/2 lime
3-4 oz. sparkling water

Add sugar and mint leaves to glass. Muddle together to release oils and fragrance from leaves. Add blackberries, rum and juice of lime half. Muddle again to create drink base. Add ice and top off with sparkling water.

Sit on porch, kick back and enjoy!