CANADA DAY

Even if you're reading this from elsewhere in the world, I hope you too have a day dedicated to gratitude for all of the amazing aspects of your country. Festivals, family picnics and fireworks are the standard celebration here but having this cocktail at your party won't hurt either.

I love having a small business in Canada and I'm so thankful for the opportunities it brings. One of which happened to be the super cool request to craft some uniquely Canadian cocktails for a current promotion at the LCBO.

This choice from the collection, The Loganberry cocktail is no coincidence. I'm from the area where these berries are grown, a huge fan of Forty Creek and I had been looking for an opportunity to use one of their whiskies with Campari. The Gruppo Campari recently purchased the Canadian company. 

Here we expand on the original recipe by adding the whites of a fresh egg or a 1/2 oz  of pasteurized egg whites and going insane with a Campari maple leaf stencil.
The version in the magazine is already crazy delicious  and also simple to make. This just shows you how to take a very easy, tasty drink and transform it into a show piece.













If you want to blow the minds of your guests tomorrow, you'll need an X-Acto blade knife and an atomizer. Carve out your image from a thin piece of clear plastic, I used a lid from a takeout container. Hold the stencil just over, but not touching, your foam. Fill your atomizer with Campari and mist from about six inches away to avoid any large droplets.



Have a safe and Happy Holiday, remember to always enjoy responsibly.





How do you celebrate your country's national holiday? Have a flag cocktail of your own? Tell us about it in the comments.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

This might feel like another "excuse to get drunk" type of holiday, but it's really a commemoration of the 1862 battle of Puebla (Thank you Wikipedia). Never heard of it? I'm sure it's a fascinating war saga but that hardly relates to our purpose here so lets just make some Margaritas!

We'll make two today. The first being the original, which was invented or came into vogue some time around 1938-1940. Like many older recipes it's hard to say just when and how they came to be. I like to think, much as today, these cocktails represent a trend and trying to figure out exactly who or what started the trend would be impossible.  What is clear is that when it came into fashion, the ingredients were just Tequila, Triple sec and lime. That's it.

I've clearly taken some liberties.
The 40 lbs of salt was just for the photo.

Margarita 1
1 1/2 oz Tequila
3/4 oz Triple sec
3/4 oz fresh lime juice



Method 
Pour all ingredients into a shaker, fill 3/4 with ice, shake vigorously for 30 seconds, strain into chilled coupette, (adding salt didn't come into fashion until much later)








A Great Margarita Needs Real Limes!
It might be a good moment to mention as well that the price of limes has not gone down, that basket of green-gold you see there will put you out a few bucks. Prices in Toronto right now range from $.33 to $1.00 each. Fresh lime juice is always best. Whether or not the lime crisis is a real thing the new prices most certainly are. This however, is about a celebration, so go ahead and splurge!


Our second version is something closer to what you might find in a cocktail bar today. In keeping with the original but rounding out the flavour, it's still a very firm drink.




Margarita 2
1 1/2 oz Tequila
3/4 oz dry Curacao
3/4 oz fresh lime juice
1/2 oz Agave nectar



Method
Pour all ingredients into a shaker, fill 3/4 with ice, shake vigorously for 30 seconds, strain into highball filled with cracked ice.
You already splurged on the limes so go ahead and use one for garnish.






Are you going to spend the big bucks for limes this summer?