Spring Cocktails and Mocktails

All winter long we have been sipping on hot dinks like cocoa, tea and the occasional spiced cider or hot toddy. Now that spring has arrived, time to get ready for something cool and refreshing! Here are a few of our favorite cocktail and mocktail recipes to help you celebrate spring!

March is the month of St Patrick’s Day, and this is the perfect excuse to drink cocktails, especially green cocktails. Here some fun and tasty recipes to enjoy this spring.  This March, at our restaurants, we are featuring the Frozen Grasshopper as our cocktail of the month. This cocktail is made with crème de menthe, crème de cacao and vanilla ice cream.

Frozen Grasshoper

• 3/4 oz green creme de menthe
• 3/4 oz white creme de cacao
• 2 cups vanilla ice cream

Mix all three ingredients together in a blender and blend until drink has the consistency of a good milk shake. Serve with a spoon and straw.

If you are not a big fan of drinking something green, you can still have a typical Irish cocktail by using Whiskey. Why not order up an Emerald Cocktail. Essentially a Manhattan made with Irish whiskey, and with orange bitters in place of Angostura, the Emerald is the kind of drink that doesn’t need a dose of green dye to be shamrock appropriate.

Emerald Cocktail

• 2 ounces Irish Whiskey
• 1 ounce sweet vermouth
• 2 dashes orange bitters

Pour all ingredients into a mixing glass and fill with cracked ice. Stir well for 30 seconds and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a piece of orange or lemon peel, or nothing at all.

If you prefer nonalcoholic cocktails, the trend this spring is to recreate famous alcoholic cocktails but without the alcohol. Serve up any of these mocktails, and we promise no one will be missing the liquor!

Sparkling Cucumber Limeade

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon lime zest
• 1 cup water
• ¼ cup fresh mint leaves
• 1 cup lime juice
• 1 medium English cucumber, halved and thinly sliced
• 2 cups sparkling water, chilled

Combine the sugar, lime zest and water in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer, stirring constantly, until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat and stir in the mint leaves. Let sit for 30 minutes.Strain the lime syrup through a fine mesh sieve. Combine the syrup with the lime juice and cucumber. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour. When ready to serve, add in the sparkling water. Serve over ice. (Source Via http://www.tasteandtellblog.com/sparkling-cucumber-limeade/) .

Sparkling Lavender Lemonade

• 1/4 cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1/8 cup of lavender simple syrup (bring 1/2 cup of sugar, 1/2 cup of water and 1 tbsp of dried lavender to a boil; let sugar dissolve and turn off heat; let steep for 10 minutes and then strain the liauid and let chill)
• 1 bottle of dry champagne (for a non-alcoholic version swap champagne for club soda or sparkling water)

Combine sumple syrup and lemon juice together and distribute evenly into two champgne glasses along with a little crushed ice. Top off with champagne and garnish with lemon slices and a few lavender springs. (Source Via http://www.tasteandtellblog.com/sparkling-cucumber-limeade/).

Virgin Ginger Mimosas

• 1/2 cup fresh orange juice
• 16 oz sparkling water
• 2 inch piece of fresh ginger, sliced
• 1 clementine, peeled and divided into sliced

Add the ice and orange juice, then top off with sparkling water. Garnish with fresh ginger and clementine slices. (Source Via http://www.insonnetskitchen.com/virgin-ginger-mimosas/).