drinks – Melodrama

Apple Pie Thanksgiving Cocktail

Published on November 21, 2017November 21, 2017 by KrysLeave a comment

Happy Thanksgiving, my darlings! We’re not doing much for Thanksgiving around here this year, but what we are doing is mixing up some delicious cocktails for the occasion.

This “Apple Pie Cocktail” is our current favorite. It’s an adaptation from one of my favorite vintage Patrick Duffy books and it’s a delight. It’s a refreshing cocktail with seasonal notes of fruit and apples. Be careful with this one! It goes down really smooth so pace yourself. Now go rummage through grandma’s liquor cabinet for that apple brandy and start mixing!

Here’s what you need:

1 ounce Bacardi Rum
1 ounce Italian Vermouth
4 dashes (about a teaspoon) Apple Brandy
4 dashes (about a teaspoon) Lemon Juice
2 dashes (about 1/2 teaspoon) Grenadine

Shake well with ice and strain into a glass. I garnished mine with a pie crust spiral.

To make the pie crust spiral, just take a strip of pie dough and wrap it around the handle to a metal spoon or something similar and bake for 10-15 minutes. Remove the spiral from the mold before it completely cools and is still somewhat pliable and then let cool completely.

Cheers and Happy Thanksgiving!

4th of July Red White and Blue Tropical Rum Cocktail

Published on July 3, 2017July 3, 2017 by Krys2 Comments

Tomorrow is the 4th of July and I don’t know about you, but I plan on laying poolside with a tropical umbrella drink in my hand. I like to be as festive as possible with my holidays so I decided to do a layered red, white, and blue cocktail based on my favorite tiki style drinks.

Here’s how you make it!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 oz Coconut Rum
1 1/2 oz Blue Curaçao Liqueur
3/4 oz grenadine
3/4 oz pineapple juice
Crushed Ice
Pineapple and cherries to garnish

First mix the pineapple juice and grenadine in a glass. Add crushed ice. Add blue curaçao (pour over an upside down spoon, it helps the liqueur land evenly and not too heavily). Add coconut rum in the same manner. Garnish.

When you’re ready to drink it, use a straw to mix it all up and enjoy!

Cocktail Hour with Shaker & Spoon Cocktail Subscription Club

Published on May 13, 2017May 13, 2017 by Krys1 Comment

In honor of today being World Cocktail Day I figured it would be the perfect time to tell you about Shaker & Spoon, a cocktail subscription club that I tried out this month! Shaker & Spoon sends you everything you need to make 3 different cocktail recipes (4 of each, 12 cocktails total). We’re talking syrups, bitters, garnishes, mixers, citrus—everything is included besides the alcohol. Each month is based on a different spirit, so you have the opportunity to try something new with each box. It also makes a great gift for the cocktail lovers in your life.

This month was the agave blanco box. Tequila! My favorite.It was stocked with produce, syrups, bitters, chiles, and even a little bottle of tajin to rim glasses.The easy to follow recipe cards give you all the info you need from instructions to what type of glass to use. The first recipe I tried was a refreshing cocktail made with cucumber, chili pepper, and limes.

The next one is a Mexican version of a moscow mule. It was made with a delicious Mexican spice syrup and ginger beer.

Last but not least, a spicy recipe featuring mole bitters, habanero shrub, and agave!

Thirsty yet? You can sign up now and receive $20 off any subscription with the discount code ‘melodrama’!

The next box is Sake (the Japanese fermented rice liquor) and Shaker & Spoon will be donating a portion of proceeds to the Helen David Relief Fund, which assists women in the bar industry who are fighting breast cancer. If you’d like to further support this great cause and will be in Las Vegas on May 19th, you can attend the annual For the Love Of Cocktails event! They will be raising money for the HDRF and showcasing 35 cocktails by bartenders from around the country.

Cheers, babies!

This post was sponsored by Shaker & Spoon but as always, all thoughts and content are my own.

Cadbury Creme Fizz Easter Cocktail

Published on April 14, 2017 by Krys1 Comment

Easter time is upon us and that means it’s Cadbury Egg season!

You know the ones! Those chocolate eggs filled with a sweet candy creme. They’re everywhere! My husband brought some home and instead of just sitting around eating them we decided to get creative at cocktail time.

I present you the Cadbury Creme Fizz!

This recipe makes two drinks:

4oz Vodka

2 tsp Heavy Cream

1 tsp Maraschino Cherry Syrup

Creme from two Cadbury Creme Eggs

Club soda

In a mason jar or cocktail shaker pour the vodka, heavy cream, cherry syrup, and Cadbury Egg Creme. Whisk vigorously to make sure the egg creme is well incorporated. Add ice, cover, and shake well until the outside is frosty. Strain into two coupes, top with club soda, and serve with a Cadbury Creme Egg.

That’s right! Garnish with your left over Cadbury Egg chocolate shells. It tastes so good when you eat the chocolate along with sipping the cocktail. Yum yum.

Enjoy!

Coquito Puerto Rican Holiday Drink Recipe

Published on December 22, 2016November 25, 2020 by Krys5 Comments

We all have traditional comfort foods and drinks that taste like the holidays to us. You know, the ones that you just can’t do without and look forward to having once a year, every year? One of ours is Coquito, a creamy Puerto Rican coconut and rum based drink.

Every family has their own recipe and preferred way of making it, some use egg yolks making it more of an eggnog-like drink, but the mainstays are always coconut cream and rum, and lots of it.

Here’s our favorite recipe given to us by my aunt. Thanks, Titi Pily!

COQUITO

1 (12 fluid ounce) can Evaporated Milk

1 (14 ounce) can Coconut Cream (unsweetened)

1 (13.5-ounce) can Coconut Milk

1 (14 ounce) can Sweetened Condensed Milk

1 cup White Rum

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

1/2 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon

4 Cinnamon Sticks

1 teaspoon Whole Cloves

1 2″ to 3″ piece of Fresh Ginger

2 cups Water

Directions

You’ll be making a sort of tea with the ginger, cinnamon, and cloves. First, peel the ginger and chop into large chunks. Place the ginger in a medium saucepan and muddle until all pieces are smashed. Then, add the cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, and water to the pan, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Once it reaches a boil, lower heat, and simmer until the water turns brown, about 20 minutes.

Once the tea is ready, strain into a large measuring cup, you should be left with about 1 to 1.5 cups of liquid.

Add evaporated milk, coconut cream, coconut milk, sweetened condensed milk, rum, vanilla extract, ground cinnamon and 1 cup of the tea to a blender (or a large bowl if using immersion blender) and blend on high for 1 to 2 minutes, until everything is well blended.

Pour the Coquito into glass bottles or mason jars and refrigerate until it’s cold. Once it’s ready to serve, shake the bottle or jars to make sure everything is well combined, pour into small serving glasses, and top with a light sprinkle of ground cinnamon.

Watermelon Rosemary Agua Fresca

Published on September 18, 2016September 18, 2016 by Krys2 Comments

Hello, friends. I’m going to give you a quick little recipe for something often I drink to avoid drinking actual water (because water sucks).

I love watermelon and usually have it in my refrigerator at all times if possible. Most of the time I’ll eat some and then use the rest to make agua de sandía (watermelon water). This has always been my favorite agua fresca (aside from horchata of course), and I’ve played around with a few variations, but this is one of my favorites for this time of year because it incorporates lemon and rosemary. I don’t like mine to be too sweet, but you can adjust the sugar to your taste depending on how naturally sweet your melon is.

Ingredients:

Half of a large ripe watermelon
Juice from half of a large lemon
1 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1 sprig rosemary
Ice

Inside of a large pitcher, muddle the sugar and sprig rosemary. In a blender, blend watermelon and water together. Pour watermelon mixture through a strainer into your pitcher (sometimes I skip this part if I’m feeling pulpy) and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Add ice and serve cold.

(Optional: Add a shot of tequila and sing Beyonce’s lyric “I’ve been drinkin…watermelonnnn”.)

Enjoy!

Elderflower Apple Cider Cocktail Recipe

Published on October 20, 2015October 20, 2015 by KrysLeave a comment

Autumn is here and it’s time to start knocking back the ciders! I love apple cider in any way possible, especially with liquor. Since it’s still an inferno here in California we’ve been drinking more refreshing versions of my favorite autumnal beverage, like this cocktail made with elderflower liqueur, vodka, and sparkling water.

Elderflower Apple Cider Cocktail
Makes one cocktail

1.5 oz apple cider
1.5 oz vodka
.75 oz St. Germain
Sparkling water

Shake cider, vodka, and St. Germain with ice. Strain into glass and top with sparkling water. Garnish with an apple slice.

Enjoyyyy!

3 Boozy Low-Calorie Zevia® Granita Cocktail Recipes

Published on September 2, 2015September 2, 2015 by KrysLeave a comment

As you’ve probably guessed by looking at my gallery of recipes, we cook and bake a lot at Casa Melo. And because of that sometimes my pants don’t fit. We’ve been having a lot of fun in the “test kitchen” lately, so it’s about that time of the year where I take a little break from sugar. One of the hardest things for me to give up is fizzy drinks and cocktails, but now I figured out a way so I don’t have to.

I’ve partnered with Zevia® to bring you 3 low calorie and delicious granita cocktails made with their new colorless, non-GMO, naturally sweetened sodas. They’re basically snow cone cocktails!

Making a granita is easy, but you need to be prepared to walk back and forth to the freezer every 20 minutes for a couple of hours.

First you need a flat-bottomed dish, like a Pyrex baking pan. Empty your Zevia soda flavor of choice into the pan and let freeze for 20 minutes. Then stir with a fork, scraping down the sides and bottom of the pan. Repeat this every 20 minutes until you have a snow-like consistency.

Once that is done, you can assemble your cocktail. Start with combining your ingredients in a glass and then pile in the icy granita. Once the granita hits the alcohol, it’ll start to melt creating a slushy beverage much like an adult Slurpee. Basically what my dreams are made of.

Here are my 3 favorite tried and true Zevia Granita Cocktail recipes.

Lemon Lime Twist Zevia with Tequila
Prepared Lemon Lime Twist Zevia granita (2 cans)
1 1/2 oz shot of silver tequila
Juice of half of a lime
Lime to garnish

Mix tequila and lime juice in an 8 oz glass. Then fill glass with prepared Zevia granita. Garnish with lime wedge. Serve with a spoon and straw.

Ginger Root Beer Zevia and Whiskey
Prepared Ginger Root Beer Zevia granita (2 cans)
1 1/2 oz whiskey
2 dashes Angostura bitters

Mix whiskey and bitters into an 8 oz cocktail glass. Then fill with prepared Ginger Root Beer granita. Garnish with a maraschino cherry. Serve with a spoon and straw.

Strawberry Zevia and Aperol
Prepared Strawberry Zevia granita (2 cans)
1 oz Aperol
3 dashes Angostura bitters
Juice of half a lime

Mix Aperol, bitters, and lime into a glass. Then fill glass with prepared Strawberry Zevia granita. Garnish with a wedge of lime and a cherry.

That’s it. Easy peasy. Now go make some granitas with your favorite Zevia flavors and mix them with your favorite booze to see what flavor combos you can come up with.

Oh! And make sure you’re following @melodramablog and @ZeviaLife on Instagram for your chance to win $500.

This post was sponsored and made possible by Zevia®.

White Grapefruit Palomas Cocktail Recipe

Published on July 31, 2015August 4, 2015 by Krys2 Comments

Last weekend hubs and I took a mini vacay to Palm Springs and stayed at The Parker. If you’re not familiar with The Parker, it has these crazy secret garden-like gounds that have tons of citrus trees. The groundskeepers there let me pick a few grapefruits to take home, so naturally I made cocktails with them.

One of my favorite cocktails to make with grapefruits is the Paloma. Palomas are basically like margaritas made with grapefruits instead of limes or lemons. They’re made with tequila so they get your buzzed really quick and grapefruit tastes really refreshing with the right amount of bitterness. The recipe I use is easy to remember because it’s all pretty much equal parts.

Makes 2 cocktails

1/2 cup of freshly squeezed grapefruit juice (1 large grapefruit)

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice (1 standard lime)

2 teaspoons simple syrup or sugar

1/2 cup white tequila

1/2 cup club soda

Combine juices and sugar and mix well. Add tequila. Fill glass with ice and top with club soda. Serve with a wedge of lime or grapefruit and a salted glass rim.

Cheers!

Pineapple Lime Tequila Cooler Cocktail Recipe

Published on June 8, 2015November 29, 2016 by KrysLeave a comment

Summer doesn’t officially start for a couple more weeks, but it sure feels like it’s here already. As I write this I am sweaty and parched because it’s currently 85 degrees and there’s not a cloud in the sky. With weather like this it’s very important to stay hydrated. I secretly hate water so I made a tropical and refreshing alcoholic drink instead. It’s low calorie too (if you care about that sort of thing).

Here’s how to you make this quick and easy summer cocktail.

(Makes 1 cocktail)
2 slices of pineapple
Juice of half a lime
2 ounces Patròn Silver
Lime flavored sparkling water, like La Croix

Muddle pineapple in a tall glass. Add lime juice and tequila and mix. Add crushed ice. Fill glass with sparkling water. Garnish with lime, pineapple, and a cherry.

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Directions

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