Summer Cocktails at e11even
What better way to cool off during the warm summer months than with a cool and refreshing summer cocktail? Whether you are grilling in the back yard, throwing a summer party or just hanging out, these delightful cocktail recipes are sure to refresh as well as impress. Here's a few of my favourite summer cocktails you need to try!
Anyone who knows me, knows I'm in the process of moving downtown. So unfortunatly this year I don't have my own space to throw my annual summer party. So we headed down to e11even this past week for lunch and a few cocktails, and I can tell you we weren't disappointed.
We decided to pair our drinks with the food we ordered for the ultimate experience.
We started off with a crab cake mustard remoulade and paired that with a Marrakesh. The lime juice from the drink really paired well with the crab. For our entree's we ordered the Atlantic salmon (again went really well with the Marrakesh) and the filet mignon.
I like to pair a red wine when indulging in red meat, so for our second drink we decided to order a red wine sangria. The flavour of this drink complimented the tenderness of the steak so well.
I'm Italian so we finish with a salad instead of starting with one, so we decided to end our lunch with the emerald kale salad. This light refreshing dressing topped with crispy walnuts was the perfect way to end our lunch, and it was paired with another Marrakesh so how could you go wrong?
To end our incredible lunch, we finished off with a couple of tequila sunrises. I was on the quest to try the perfect summer cocktail and I truly believe this is the one. Besides the fact that it probably looks the most summery out of all the cocktails (and is known to mimic the look of a sunset), it also has tequila in it, so win win!
Now that it's officially July, and the summer festivities are just beginning, I hope this blog post has inspired you to try your own take at summer cocktails, or just go out for them! However, with drinks and food this good, I think I may have started a new summer tradition.
If you're wanting to recreate these drinks at home, here's how!
Watermelon-Tequila
Watermelon is definitely one of my favourite summer fruits, so when I found out there was a cocktail inspired with one of my favourite fruits (and tequila), I had to check it out.
Ingredients
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup granulated sugar
8 cups diced seedless watermelon (1 pound)
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1 3/4 cups blueberries
3/4 cup lightly packed fresh mint leaves, plus 8 sprigs for garnish
1 1/4 cups silver tequila
Ice
The Marrakesh
Ingredients
1 1/4 oz Tanqueray Malacca gin
1/4 oz green chartreuse
1/2 oz house-made apricot brandy
3/4 oz cardamom syrup
1/2 oz lemon juice
3 medium sized mint leaves- Dry
3 segments of clementines- Dry
1 sprig of lemon-thyme-Dry
A heading bar spoon of pomegranate seeds-Dry
Method: Muddle all dry ingredients, add wet ingredients. Shake over ice and double strain into tea pot. Fill rocks glass with ice on the side, and garnish with a skewed clementine segment, mint bush and a few pomegranate seeds. Poured cable side from the tea pot.
Red Wine Sangria
The term sangria dates back to the 18th century. It is generally believed to have been taken from the Spanish sangre (blood), in reference to the red color of the drink.
Sangrias are such a fun and easy drink to make! When I host a summer party, the first thing I do (the day before) is cut up fresh fruit, and infuse them with a couple cinnamon sticks (my little secret) and let it refrigerate overnight. When your guests arrival, all you have to do is pour it!
Ingredients
2 bottles red Spanish table wine
1 cup brandy
1/2 cup triple sec
1 cup orange juice
1 cup pomegranate juice
1/2 cup simple syrup, or more to taste (equal parts sugar and water, heated until sugar dissolves, cooled)
Orange slices
Apple slices
Blackberries
Pomegranate seeds
