The Solstice

The Solstice - A Tipsy Vixen creation

2 oz VeeV Acai Spirit
1.5 oz Jacques Cardin VSOP Cognac
1/2 oz homemade ginger syrup (instructions below)
1/2 oz lemon juice
2 dashes Regan's Orange Bitters



Dayaaaaaaaaamn! Sometimes a girl just can't catch a break... I was supposed to spend the summer solstice whooping it up all Celtic-like with my extended Chicago family, but as luck would have it, instead this girl was bored out of her mind at work. Booooooo!

Not to be subdued so easily, I went home and tied one on anyway with my other VeeV concoction. It isn't that I didn't like this drink; quite the contrary! The gals and I both agreed that the Ringwald was just more appropriate for the contest at hand. That said, I was really proud of this one too, and knew I could still roll it out to celebrate the upcoming holiday for which it's named.

Maybe it was a little nerdy of me, but when I saw the pretty yellow color, and tasted the warm citrusy blend of the cognac, ginger and fruits, the 15 year-old fluffy-bunny pagan still hiding somewhere in my psyche got all excited and glommed onto the whole solar thing. The rest of me decided that it was also a very summery drink in it's own right, and decided to indulge her.

For this one, I tried my hand at making ginger syrup: the experiment was successful for the drink at hand, but unfortunately the syrup starts to lose it's spiciness rather quickly and therefore it's potency in cocktails. I'll have to continue exparmentin'! as grandad would say, to solve that problem...

Anyway, you can make up a few ounces of ginger syrup rather easily like this:

Mash up about 6 ounces of fresh ginger root.
Heat about 1/2 a cup of water in a saucepan over medium-low heat, and completely dissolve 1 cup of sugar. Add the ginger and let it simmer very gently for about 20 minutes. Strain, cool, and bottle in a sterilized container.

Feel free to mix up a Solstice, and share your comments or suggestions below!

The Ringwald

A Tipsy Vixen creation

1 oz VeeV Açai Spirit
1 oz Broker's London Dry Gin
1/2 oz lemon juice
1/2 oz Flora syrup
12 drops of Bittermens Burlesque bitters


Cast your vote once daily here until June 3rd!



I was only 8 years old when Pretty In Pink was released, but I was already well familiar with Molly Ringwald; for whatever reason, my mother couldn't stand her and wasn't shy about discussing it, so naturally I thought she was the bee knees! To me, she seemed so grown-up, the epitome of cool and sophistication. There was something quirky and approachable about her that boys liked, and she was so very much the Average-Girl's girl; she wasn't the conventional beauty, but you wanted to be her, or at the very least be her friend. And then there's that oh-so-famous dress...




I started out this VeeV cocktail contest very much inspired by a Mojito variation served last summer at 676 Restaurant and Bar, called the Eco-Mojito. It was made with muddled mint and limes as you might expect, but with VeeV spirit instead of rum, topped with club soda and accompanied by cucumber. It was delicious. But the more I sniffed and sampled the VeeV, the more I was attracted to fruitier and more floral avenues. I played around a bit with some cognac and citrus, and came up with a rather tasty combination (I'll get into that one later this week,) but the favorite among some friends of mine was this little pink concoction.

If you remember from last week, I very quickly became obsessed with the floral angle, perhaps spurred on by the Mixology Monday challenge earlier this month: when I discovered the Bittermens Burlesque bitters contained both hibiscus and Açai, I was hell-bent. I ordered a bottle immediately from The Boston Shaker, and set to work making homemade syrups to experiment with. My favorite to make was the Flora syrup, which is essentially hibiscus with a little cinnamon and licorice for zing. I used Tea Forte Flora tea to make it, simply steeping 2 tea bags in 1 cup of boiling hot water. After removing the tea bags, I added 2 cups of white granulated sugar, and heated until sugar dissolved completely (perhaps it goes without saying, but let the syrup cool completely before you go dumping it into your mixing tin with ice, mmm'kay? Oh, and Captain Obvious also says to store it in the fridge.)

Ask just about any cocktail enthusiast, or bartender worth their salt, and they'll tell you that fresh squeezed citrus juice is essential in a drink. They aren't wrong! I suppose bottled juice is fine for everyday consumption (I keep it on hand at home for those moments when I don't have fresh lemons or limes, which is a lot, not going to lie) but it really, honestly, TRULY does make a difference to squeeze fresh lemon and lime juices for your cocktails. It's really quick if you get yourself one of those little hand-press types (kind of like a garlic press I guess,) and set aside a couple of small bottles to strain into and store them in.

I like to recycle and re-purpose the glass bottles from condiments like vinegars, chili oil, and grenadine because they're just the right size to store a few at a time in the fridge without hogging a ton of space, and they hold just enough juice/syrup to use for a few cocktails at a time. Less waste all around! But seriously, squeeze fresh for this; you won't regret it....

I enlisted my good friends Jennifer and Caroline to taste test with me (check out their respective blogs Thin Invisible Steel and Numinous Wilds) and they thought that the Ringwald tastes a bit like pink lemonade with lavender. I'd have to agree, and am really happy with the way that both the fruity and the floral flavors I was enjoying in the VeeV really come forward in the drink, but aren't too sweet or cloying. In fact; Caroline, who hates gin with a vehement passion, enjoyed the drink and was able to appreciate the floral and botanical notes of the gin in a way she hadn't been able to before.

Ultimately, I'm really pleased with the results of this adventure. I think that The Ringwald, while being a little bit of an oddball also manages to be approachable and delightfully sweet and snappy. A bit like it's namesake :)

The Competitive Spirit

I've been out of commission for a few days with a tummy bug that has not only kept me home from work, but has also kept me from all of my cocktailian experiments (boo.) Monday sort of passed in a blur, as I spent all of my time either lying miserably in bed or, well.... I'll leave that to the imagination. Or, preferable to all, not.

Imagine my dismay then, upon stirring late finally from my seclusion, to discover that I had completely and utterly missed the boat on this week's Mixology Monday. If you are unfamiliar, this is a monthly event conceived by Paul Clarke over at The Cocktail Chronicles and you can find more information about the specifics here.

This month, Dave of The Barman Cometh hosted, challenging participants to "feature a cocktail that highlights a floral flavor profile or includes a floral derived ingredient, whether home-made or off the shelf." I was really bummed when I read the challenge, because I am all about using flowers in food and drink (one of these days, I am going to tackle that marigold custard....) Imagine my delight this morning, when I opened today's eLetter from Ardent Spirits with the details for the VeeV Garden-to-Glass Cocktail Challenge.

The challenge:

VeeV is inviting any Tom, Dick, Harry, & Jane, with the inclination, to create a cocktail using VeeV, fresh seasonal herbs, and fruits. The deadline for submissions is midnight on Monday May, 23.

Whaaaaaat!?! I think I all but squealed out loud (okay, I totally did.) Agonized at the thought of waiting for the next Mixology Monday, I was ecstatic to hear of another such challenge with which I could not only get my blog rolling and get my feet wet with, but one that I am *gasp!* familiar with! I work in a pretty nice restaurant and while I am just a humble hostess, I'm a pretty nosy gal and make it my business to know how the stuff we serve is made. It shouldn't come as any surprise that I tend to ask the most questions about the cocktails we serve in the bar... Last summer, on our list of roof-top cocktails (all made with herbs literally grown right on our roof,) there was a twist on the Mojito made with (suprise!) Veev Acai Spirit, house mint, and cucumber. It was wildy popular, and for good reason, I thought.

The Prize?

Three entries with the highest votes win a 3-day trip to Tales of the Cocktail in New Orleans.

Hell yeah! I've been dying to visit NoLa for ages: the Carousel Bar, the Sazarac was born there, and oh, there's that whole French Quarter thing. Like I need motivation...

So, on the mend finally, and inspired both by this week's MxMo challenge and the successful cocktail I'm already so familiar with, I'm excited to start playing around in the liquor cabinet again.

I've got a couple bottles of bitters on order, which should be arriving on Friday. I've got to pickup some Veev- something I've been meaning to have on hand at home, anyway- and some fresh goodies for my trials. Stay tuned over the next few days for a blogging blitz while I try my hand at some new techniques, and try tweaking some old recipes :)