Fresh Harvest Cocktail

Posted: 11:14 am, November 3, 2011 by Jon

I’m always on the hunt for unique cocktail recipes to try with the liquor I have at home. A great way to do the cocktail recipe research is to check out the official websites of the liquors you want to use. Last night, I wanted to make something representative of Fall and I think I found a good one. I started out looking at the Domaine de Canton (ginger liqueur) website and found several great looking recipes. The catch was to find something appropriate for the season and a recipe that I had all the ingredients for. Luckily, I buy a lot of booze and had gone shopping earlier in the week for fresh fruit. Let’s get started!

Fresh Harvest Ingredients (from DomainedeCanton.com):

1 Part Domaine de Canton
½ Part Lillet Blanc
½ Part Apple Juice
Orange Slice, Ground Cinnamon*, and Brown Sugar* (Bar spoon amount*)

Method: Muddle orange slice, ground cinnamon, and brown sugar and build in all other ingredients. Shake and strain into a coupe glass. Garnish with ground cinnamon (I used fresh cranberries that look great floating and don’t add anymore flavor to the drink. The amount of ginger I used in the cocktail was enough for me).

I first got all the ingredients out. Then I started to get the proportions ready. Next, I sliced the orange, which was delicious by the way. I definitely enjoyed eating the rest of it.

On to the fun part! I love muddling. Muddling for cocktails adds so much texture and flavor to any cocktail that it’s a great way to spice most cocktails up. I muddled until I had a nice brown-looking paste. Kind of like mud, so maybe it’s not so nice…looking that is.

Finally, I was ready to shake and pour. Obviously the shaker and the actual pour aren’t pictured here (I didn’t have an extra hand to help out with that photo), but I used plenty of ice and shook everything hard until the shaker got uncomfortably cold. Some people at home and even a few bartenders don’t shake cocktails nearly as hard as they should be shaken. You want the cocktail to be nice and cold when served, so shake it almost violently. Do not rock it back and forth unless the cocktail recipe calls for it.

While I had some reservations about the appearance of this cocktail, mostly because of the muddy-muddle, I was pleasantly surprised when I poured it into the Coupe glass (or cocktail glass) and saw the fresh orange pulp. Not only does the pulp taste great, but it looks great. To finish off the cocktail, I floated 3 fresh cranberries for a garnish to add to the “Fresh Harvest” motif. The drink is definitely a fall cocktail and could even be a dessert martini; it almost has an apple pie taste to it from the sugar, cinnamon and apple juice. It could be a nice way to end your Thanksgiving feast!