If you are celebrating Easter with a holiday brunch it just got a little better thanks to the inclusion one of these tasty cocktail options. These delicious selections will be perfect from spring all the way into summer. A few spirit selections were sent for editorial consideration.
Pick up a bottle of American made Zodiac Vodka from Eastern Idaho. Produced near the Snake River, the potato based vodka benefits from the crystal clear waters of the river with the distillery sitting at the top of the Snake River aquifer. Made through a four column, continuous distillation process, and filtered through a proprietary birch charcoal filtration process, the completely neutral, clean and clear spirit is the ideal base for light spring and summer cocktails.
Sunday Sunrise
2 oz. Pineapple juice
1 oz. Zodiac Vodka
1 oz. Cointreau
0.5 oz. Grenadine
Top with sparkling wine, like the Aria Brut
Preparation: Mix pineapple juice, Zodiac and Cointreau in a shaker with ice. Strain into a martini glass and fill with sparkling wine. Top with grenadine and garnish with an orange twist.
Beefy Bloody Mary
I am always looking for ways to enhance my favorite brunch cocktail, the classic Bloody Mary. This one, with a splash of beef broth, takes the spicy, savory cocktail to the next level.
2 ounces Zodiac Vodka
¼ teaspoon grated horseradish
½ tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon beef broth
Splash hot sauce
Pinch each celery salt and black pepper
6 ounces tomato juice
Juice of ½ lime
Preparation: Add all ingredients to an ice filled shaker and shake to combine, pour into a tall glass and garnish with a lime.
Round Pond Vineyards and Winery, known for their earthy Rutherford Cabernet and their mineralic, citrus filled and incredibly balanced Sauvignon Blanc also makes olive oils and syrups from olives and fruit grown on their Napa Valley estate. The oils are incredible, very green, spicy and fresh, but the syrups are a great surprise as they make the perfect sweet addition to springtime cocktails. Round Pond Blood Orange, Meyer Lemon and Pomegranate syrups, made from freshly squeezed juice left over when the winery makes their Blood Orange and Meyer Lemon olive oil with the rinds of the fruit, meld with gin, vodka, tequila, even bourbon. The syrups are available via their website, pick up a few to make it all the way through summer and well into the fall.
Sunset Sipper
2 ounces Bombay Sapphire East Gin
1 ounce Blood Orange Citrus Syrup
sprig of fresh rosemary
Squeeze of lime
Club Soda
Preparation: Add rosemary and lime to a shaker and muddle together. Add the gin and syrup with ice and shake until cold. Strain into a rocks glass filled with ice and top with club soda.
Pomegranate Cosmopolitan
1.5 oz Zodiac Vodka
1 oz Cointreau
0.5 oz Fresh lime juice
1 ounce Pomegranate syrup
Ice
Preparation: In a cocktail shaker, add 1/4 full of ice. Pour in Vodka, Cointreau, fresh lime juice, and syrup . Shake well, then strain into martini glass. Garnish with twisted lemon peel.
Meyer Lemon Margarita
2 ounces Milagro Reposado Tequila
1 ounce Cointreau
1 ounce Meyer Lemon Citrus syrup
Squeeze of lime
Preparation: Add all ingredients to an ice filled rocks glass. Stir and enjoy.
We love our ruby red grapefruit here in Texas, even more so when combined into vodka. This twist on cocktail usually made with tequila, combines both grapefruit filled Deep Eddy Vodka and orange filled Cointreau for a citrus packed punch of flavor.
Cointreau Palomita
1 ½ ounces Cointreau
1 ounce Deep Eddy Ruby Red Vodka
2 ounces ruby red grapefruit juice
4 ounces club soda
Squeeze of fresh lime
Preparation: Add all ingredients to a tall glass filled with ice and stir. Garnish with a grapefruit twist.
If rum is more to your liking, give Caliche Rum a try. The spirit’s roots date back to 1865 when the Serrallés family began producing the premium spirit in Puerto Rico. Now led by the 6th generation, Caliche is a clean, smooth and balanced rum aged in American oak, giving the slightest hint of toasted toffee flavors to the rum, making it a perfect pairing with ginger.
Cali Ginger
2 oz Caliche Rum
¼ Agave Nectar
¾ Fresh Lemon Juice
Top with Ginger Beer
Preparation: Combine all ingredients in a shaker filled with ice until well chilled. Strain into an ice filled highball glass and top with ginger beer.
