Mixed Drink Tasting and Specialty Drinks. Yum!

chrispygal · May 2011

So tomorrow afternoon we are hosting a cookout for our bridal party. We want them to get to know each other better and we are going to be doing a mixed drink tasting to sample possible signature drinks. I can't wait! I've got about 8 recipes to try out - I've got 2 blue drinks, 2 purple drinks, a spiced pear mojito, and then just a few other drinks that I thought sounded yummy.

I go back and forth between just offering one specialty drink or doing a few. Having one can be cool in a way because the bartenders could have trays of them ready when the ceremony is over and people don't have to wait for a drink. But if we have a few, that gives people options. I was thinking of having four and calling them: Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, and Something Blue. If I can't come up with a "blue" drink I like, I'm also thinking about having three and calling them: Love Potion #9, Love Potion #4, and Love Potion #11 (our wedding date). I know I always like a drink menu when I go out because it's fun to try something new. That's the draw of having multiple drinks.

So.....what do you guys think? One drink or multiple drinks? What are you all doing for specialty drinks, or are you skipping the whole "trend"?

plato79 · May 2011

Sounds like so much fun! Have fun tomorrow!

As for the drinks, I like the idea of having a few specialty drinks. That sounds like fun and I, too, like to peruse a drink menu when I go out. My friend had a martini bar at her wedding with 4 flavors and I really enjoyed that! Instead of doing a blue colored drink, maybe do a blueberry flavored vodka drink? Or you could use bombay sapphire if you like that (I'm not a huge fan). I'm not sure how it would come out, but some of my new favorite cocktails include gin (generally tanqueray) and elderflower liquor (which is my favorite thing EVER). My other idea for a "blue" drink would be to my stand-by cocktail which is just champagne and St. Germaine (the elderflower liquor) and a twist of lime...then have the bartender pop in a couple of blueberries. It's a nice nod to Maine w/the berries, IMO. Hope that gives you some inspiration!

I'm not doing specialty drinks because it's unfortunately not in the budget.

jessicabessica · May 2011

I love those ideas for naming the cocktails! Plato's suggestion about the blueberries is good. I like rum swizzles if you decide to do the love potions. Champagne cocktails are also good, maybe a blueberry bellini (that and other recipes here)? If you're not doing an open bar and want to have some liquor options, I think having at least one vodka drink and one rum drink is good.

I'm not sure what we're doing yet. We were thinking about having a drink with blueberry vodka as our sig, but we haven't picked anything out yet. We bought a bottle of Cold River blueberry vodka, which is pricey, but local to where our wedding will be, so it would be cool to have, but we haven't had any great experiments. I didn't like it mixed in lemonade, and FI has been drinking it in hot chocolate (which he likes, but not a July cocktail). We really like Firefly sweet tea vodka and lemonade, so we might do that if we abandon the blueberry vodka idea. We're also having an open bar, so I'm not that concerned--if we have a sig cocktail, great, if not, fine, too.

chrispygal · May 2011

GREAT suggestions ladies! Plato, I loooooooove Edelflower Liquor too and one of the drinks we are sampling has this. FI likes Don Julio Silver on the rocks with a splash of the St Germaine so it will definitely be there. I think the blueberry bellini sounds good too! We are supplying our own alcohol so we are having a full open bar but ovbiously can't stock every type of alochol. We will be covering the basics though - vodka, rum, scotch, and tequila.

plato79 · May 2011

I've never had St. Germain in Don Julio - I might have to try this since Don Julio is my fav tequila!

I like the idea of blueberry bellinis too! Yum.

fickrj5 · May 2011

I love the idea of the "something" names. I agree you could do a blueberry martini or something. For your old you could do a classic that everyone knows like rum and coke or gin and tonic or something like that. Sounds like a lot of fun, have a great time!

chrispygal · May 2011

That's exactly what we were thinking! Even something more old school like a Gimlet or Sidecar. It might be a nice way to put in a non-girly drink into the mix becuase you know all my options will be fruity. Haha!

jessicabessica · May 2011

What are you thinking for the Something Borrowed? A cocktail from another country?

chrispygal · May 2011

I hadn't thought about it that way Jessica - neat idea! I was actually thinking of "borrowing" a drink I had at a friend's party. That's the spiced pear mojito.

plato79 · May 2011

These are all such great ideas. I think these are the best "somethings" anyone ever came up with! Lol!

p.s. can I steal the idea and when people ask me what mine are, I'll just point to empty glasses. hahahaha.

jessicabessica · May 2011

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_maine_mixed-drink-tasting-specialty-drinks-yum?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:98Discussion:b4d1bf6c-e0b1-4b9d-8c2e-3d513216bae1Post:336fa355-33cc-4800-9cf2-dc38b7b96c32">Re: Mixed Drink Tasting and Specialty Drinks. Yum!</a>:
[QUOTE]I hadn't thought about it that way Jessica - neat idea! I was actually thinking of "borrowing" a drink I had at a friend's party. That's the spiced pear mojito.
Posted by chrispygal[/QUOTE]

<div>Oh, that's a great idea. The international drink was the only thing I could come up with. Can you post your recipe for the mojito? It sounds awesome. </div>

jelenybeany · May 2011

yes please i would love the recipe for the mojito too!

chrispygal · May 2011

Sure! It's two parts pear vodka, 2 parts apple juice (I like to use the Simply Apple - it's a bit more cider-like), 1 part cinnamon simple syrup, 1 part lime juice, and mint leaves. You essentially shake in a shaker, serve over ice and garnish with the mint leaves. Very easy to make, but very tasty with the apple cider and cinnamon simple syrup.

If you've never made simple syrup before you essentially bring equal parts sugar and water to a boil and stir while the sugar dissolves. To make the cinnamon flavor, you just add a couple of cinnamon sticks to this process.

Redsx15Fan · May 2011

Chrispy Girl,
How'd your get together go? What did you decide to make and what were peoples thoughts? I am interested to hear.

I love your idea, so I am going to borrow it and have a cook out the weekend of my 100 days left! YAY! How exciting! Thank you for the idea.

chrispygal · May 2011

The cookout went great! Thank you for asking! It was so nice for us to see everyone getting along so well and interacting. The drinks were a huge hit too! The clear winner was the Spiced Pear Mojito. It has a lot of flavor and it's perfect for September. The other big hit was the Canteloupe Martini. Those two are definites for that day. There was also a blue cosmo that was ok. We think if we play around with the amount of vodka in it, it would be good. So overall, the party was a big success!

Redsxfan, please do steal my idea! It was a lot of fun! Yay!

Mixed Drink Tasting and Specialty Drinks. Yum!

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