Bae? Boo? Blue? Booze for All!
Cupid's on the loose, and that little bugger has a sick sense of humor. I tend to opine that he's got two sets of arrows: one to induce the warm & fuzzies and the other to prevent them. No matter which quiver that chubby cherub reached into for your arrow, I've got Valentine's Day elixir for you.
For All the Single Ladies!
Basil Hayden's Cherry Spice
This is for the bada$$ woman who digs whiskey and happily celebrates her very own spicy brand of wit. Maybe you're warmhearted. Perhaps you're hot-headed. Either way, you love you (and so do I). Toast yourself (and the fact that February is National Cherry Month.)
Ingredients:
3/4 parts Heering Cherry Liqueur
1 dash Aromatic Bitters
2 parts Milk Stout Beer
Fresh Nutmeg
Preparation:
Combine Basil Hayden’s Bourbon, cherry liquor, and bitters in a mixing glass. Add ice and shake. Roll in the milk stout beer. Strain into an Old Fashioned glass. Garnish
Sauza Inner Goddess
If you're a fan of the 50 Shades of Grey book series, you'll love this cocktail created to celebrate today's opening of the first silver screen installment of the trilogy. If you're not into ubiquitous lit, you should still pour a little libation to celebrate the goddess within you (whether she be Lilith, Athena, Venus or...).
Ingredients:
2 parts Sauza® Blue Silver 100% Agave Tequila
1 part Cruzan® Guava Rum
2 parts fresh lemon sour
1 part mango juice
1 barspoon red pepper jelly
1 lime wedge (for garnish)
Preparation:
Shake all ingredients vigorously with ice and strain into a chilled cocktailglass. Garnish with a lime wedge.
Bestie Brunch Toasts
The Sparkling Rose
You binge on the Golden Girls and SATC. You've made it through thick and thin. And you both happen to be single today. Give each other roses. Sparkling ones. In a champagne flute. With a kick.
Ingredients:
.25 parts Simple Syrup
.5 parts Fresh Lemon Juice
.75 parts Watermelon Juice
2 parts Sparkling Rosé Wine
Garnish: 1 Lemon Twist
Method:
Combine all ingredients, except sparkling wine, in a cocktailshaker and add ice. Shake, strain, and pour into a champagne flute. Garnish with a lemon twist.
Pink Sunrise
Even at your darkest hour, your bestie has been there to help you see the sun, right? Today's no cause for single women to have gloomy dispositions. Instead, celebrate all types of love, especially BFF love. Sip a few of these bubbly treats and then go find one of those necklace sets with the best/ friend pendant. We're adults now, so get a classy one, why don't ya.
Ingredients:
1 raw sugar cube
2 parts chilled champagne
Grapefruit twist
Method:
Build like a classic champagne cocktail: Add sugar cube to the bottom of a coupe glass and soak sugar just through with Boston bitters. Pour Lillet Rose over sugar cube and top with champagne. Garnish with grapefruit twist.
Edinburgh Rose
Be honest, you and your best friend(s) used to drink Wild Irish Rose in college, right? And I bet you've got a few crazy stories as a result, but you'd never tell what they are. You two (and maybe your crew) keep each other's secrets Fort Knox-secure. Well, I'm hoping the days of plastic-bottle booze are gone, but you can sip a different type of rose today and remember the wild times.
Ingredients:
1 oz Hendrick’s Gin (Note: Hendrick’s is infused with rose petals, adding another rose-centric layer to this one!)
4-6 fresh raspberries
1 oz lychee juice
½ oz organic raspberry
Rose Cordial
Champagne
Method:
Shake it all with LOVE and double strain into a flute. Top up with champagne. Garnish with a raspberry.
Drunk in Love (or Like)
The Birds and the Bees
You and your honey know don't need a lesson in love, sex and magic, but maybe you'd like a little extra fuel for your engines.
Ingredients:
1/2 part honey flavored vodka
2 parts plain almond milk
1/2 part fresh lemon juice
1/2 part fresh, organic egg whites
1/4 part honey syrup (half honey, half water)
1 bar spoon rose water
Glass: coupe or martini
Garnish: 1 edible rose petal
Method:
Combine all ingredients in a mixing tin and dry shake to emulsify the egg whites. Add ice and hard shake until frothy and chilled. Fine strain into a chilled coupe or martini glass and garnish with a single, edible rose peta1 pt Solerno Blood Orange Liqueur
Milagro Select Barrel Reserve Anejo
You and your amor enjoy the finer things: good cigars, fine wine, high thread counts. Maybe this year, dine in and enjoy each other in supreme comfort. Have some dark chocolate, light that cigar you've saved for a special occasion and savor the rich flavor of a good tequila.
Scorchin' Winter Warmer
Things are going to heat up tonight, anyway. Get a head start with a toasty beverage.
Ingredients:
.5oz Stirrings ginger liqueur
3 dashes angostura bitters
Method:
Add to mug and top with warm apple cider
Do you have a go-to drink on Valentine's day? What about on a regular day when you're in the mood for love? Sound off in the comments.