3 BEST Cocktails this Spring

The seasons have finally changed and it's gotten warm here in LA and hopefully it's getting warm or will be warm soon enough by where you are. To gear up for this nice spring weather and the changing of the seasons, today we are changing our cocktail menu and doing three spring cocktails that we think you're really gonna like. Today's episode is sponsored by ourselves. If I've said it once, I've said it a hundred times, one of the most important things about cocktails is their presentation. And your garnish game can really make or break that presentation. So Marius and I decided that we wanted to start making some dehydrated fruit to garnish cocktails. Not only are they beautiful to look at, they're pretty long-lasting and they're functional garnishes in that they have aroma that you can add to your cocktail without unbalancing the cocktail but just adding a little je ne sais quoi to it. So obviously we're doing limes, we're doing lemons, we're doing oranges, we're doing blood oranges and we're doing dragon fruit. All of our citrus are organic, they're sourced locally and this is a really good way to help the channel. The garnishes are made in small batches, they're essentially made to order and although we're starting with, you know, the usual suspects, the really simple lemon, lime, orange, blood orange, we hope to expand into some less common, harder to get fruits and then on top of that, we'll have some seasonal offerings, guys. So if you guys have any suggestions for things you'd like to see, definitely let us know. So head to the shop and no coupon code needed because they're amazingly priced and it helps the channel. The Gin Rocket was created by Portland area bartender Kate Bolton and you can find it in Maggie Hoffman's The One Bottle Cocktail book which you can find via the link below. In here, we're going to do a quarter cup of arugula. Or rocket. Or rocket, that's why it's called the Gin Rocket. And then we're going to do some fennel as well and you can just take some of the fronds and stuff, put it in here, put that and just make a salad out of it. Then we're going to do, oh, didn't get the simple syrup. Definitely going to need that and I need this as well. Oh, very juicy. So we're going to do three quarters of an ounce of lime juice, three quarters of an ounce of one-to-one simple syrup, and then of course some gin. The superpower of this drink, which is basically an east side variation, is the pairing of the different botanical elements with the botanical elements of the gin. So we got these nice fresh fennel, we got the nice fresh rocket that we're going to be adding into all of the botanicals of the gin and it's going to be, I can already tell, it's just going to be amazing. So we're going to give this some muddle. Give it a shake. Since we don't want little pieces of everything shredded into our drink, we're going to fine strain. Look at that color though. Gosh, that is amazing. I'm going to finish this off with a lime flag. So I'm actually going to cut this straight in the middle and get the thickest part of the lime here. I mean, look at this. It's like I cannot cut in a straight line, dude. I cannot do it. I'm about to just go get the mandolin. That's the best I can do and it's passable though. I'll accept it. Then we're just going to pin this like so. Make a little flag out of it and put it on top. I like. Oh man, that is fresh. You know what's nice? You get the pepperiness from the arugula and you get those anise notes that come out of the fennel. Deal with it in a minute. And you get those anise notes that come out of the fennel coupled with all of the angelica root, the juniper. It just makes for a nice, vibrant, fresh cocktail. Of course, you got the lime balanced out by the simple syrup. The simple syrup is one-to-one so you retain the tartness of the lime but you get that nice balance. What's nice is that it is, you know, somewhat complex in the botanicals. Very refreshing. Definitely worth your time. There it is, guys. The Gin Rocket. I'm excited about this next cocktail because it utilizes a homemade ginger liqueur and some carrot juice. For some reason, carrot juice just screams spring to me. Maybe it's of Easter and then, you know, Easter bunny. I don't know. The Two Charlies was created by bartender Zach Overstreet in Chicago for the bar Scofflaw. And that's all I got to say about that. Let's make it. All right. So first things first, I'm going to grab this. We're going to do... Actually, the original recipe called for like an eight-to-one ratio. I'm just doing a 20% saline solution here. Five drops. Three quarters of an ounce of the ginger liqueur with the recipe below. Usually, I would make this for you in the video but it's all just a lot of pouring stuff in there. You don't really need to know. The recipe is below and it is the recipe from the Scofflaw. And it is very easy to make. So if you want a little ginger liqueur in your life, just do this. And then we're going to do three quarters of an ounce of carrot juice, an ounce and a quarter of vodka, which I can't imagine this wouldn't be just like amazingly good with gin too. Should have done this first. Let's not forget the citrus. Three quarters of an ounce of fresh lemon juice. I'm going to shake. And no garnish. Let's taste it. It's nice and tart. I think carrot just gets a bad rap in general. I think not a lot of people really like to drink carrot juice and it seems like somewhat of a turnoff when you put it into a drink. But when paired with ginger and lemon, it is fantastically good. It is not a super, super flavorful ingredient. So it's not going to overpower the cocktail in any way. You get a lot of the ginger right up front. The vodka is just providing that alcohol base and really nothing more. And it's all about the juxtaposition of the carrot, the ginger and the lemon, all of which are flavor buddies and tastes really good. I highly recommend this. You don't really see bright orange cocktails very often. It is very, very good. It is going to hit the spot. And if you want to add a little botanical element, I could see this going very well with some gin. So there it is, guys, the two Charlies. The Brazilian mule was like, I don't know, created by a Brazilian bartender. It's just the Brazilian style of making a mule. I'm going to trigger you guys a little bit in this video because, A, I'm not going to use a copper mug. I want you guys to be able to see the difference in the mule. And then also it has a foam that I made 24 hours in advance. You really only need to make it six hours in advance. Recipe is below. It's super easy. You make it with an Issy Whipper, but it is a fantastic drink. It's definitely worth doing, especially if you have an Issy Whipper or you are willing to buy one. The directions for this is to build it in the glass, and that's mainly what I do with my mules. But when I do a mule, I don't put any simple syrup in it. This mule has simple syrup in it, so I'm going to shake it. I'm going to put it in a Collins glass and I'm going to shake it. Sorry, not sorry. Okay. First things first, we're going to take that out because apparently I don't feel right unless I take my shaker out and prep it. As always, I'm going to squeeze some limes first. Now this drink calls for four fifths of an ounce, which is just a hair under one ounce. But is that because it's like maybe exactly 20? No. Oh, no. Yeah. Four fifths of an ounce. What is that? I was going to say in mils, but that would be one ounce. One ounce is 30 mils, so four fifths of an ounce would be like, what, 28 mils or something? Weird. Or 25 mils. I don't know what that would be in milliliters, but I'm going to have to figure it out because we're going to have to put it in the recipe below. So I guess we'll do what's called a, I don't know, scant one ounce. I'm just going to throw that in there like so. And we're going to do the same thing with simple syrup. Again, four fifths of an ounce of simple syrup or just a scant one ounce, whatever you want to call it. Three dashes of Angostura bitters. And then we're going to do an ounce and a half of any vodka of your choice. I'm using Ragus today because it's good and I like it. We have made a ginger phone instead of ginger beer. The ginger foam has citrus in it. It has a little bit of lemon lime soda and it has eggs and it is, and of course, fresh ginger juice. It is freaking delicious. Recipe is below. When you make this, you want to make sure that you refrigerate it at least six hours before you serve it. And I made a huge batch of it, so might have to have a cocktail night to use it up. All right, here we go. Ready? Oh, overdid it. The Brazilian mule. So for this type of drink, I like to just like sip through the foam because it's part of the drink. It's like a two-part drink here. So, oh my God, that is so good. It's the best Moscow meal I think I've maybe ever had. And what's crazy is that there's a ton of citrus in the foam. So we put lime juice in there. There's lemon lime soda in there and it has this really vibrant flavor. We put a two to one simple syrup in there as well. So it's got sugar that's balancing it out, but it gives you this really nice sharp citrusiness along with a little bit of sugar. And then the ginger spice that just goes so well with the cocktail. It pairs perfectly with the cocktail itself. It might be the best Moscow mule I've ever had. Cheers to the Brazilians.