Cocktail Prep

Ok, so we spent a lot of time creating cocktails for the upcoming Red Pandora Tasting event. And we were all running around like mad the day before the event.

I have to say that although it was fun, it was a lot of work. Ok, I’ll be honest, we had a blast making the drinks, but getting the ingredients wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be. Our first drink the “SSWS” Consisted of:

Blood Orange Juice,
St. Germain (a liqueur made from Elderflower) Champaign


By the way people loved this drink!! And by the end of the day it showed

Always remember that if your using Champagne in a cocktail it does not have to be premium. But it shouldn’t be cheap. (No Andre’s people) Use something in the middle that’s crisp.

Getting the Liquor was easy, but try finding blood orange juice in the city, and you’ll find yourself running from specialty shop to specialty shop. Whole foods didn’t even have it. I finally found a fresh squeezed version of it from a little specialty grocery store called Piatto Pronto.


The owner was cool and had everything. If you haven’t tried Blood Orange Juice it pretty much taste like a super hi-bred version of regular orange juice but richer, more flavorful and complex with a great tartness and sweetness to it. It’s less acidic than regular orange or grapefruit juice. It's also very flavorful, and it should be at about $6 to $7 bucks a liter.


St. Germain is a beautiful aromatic, flavorful liqueur. That’s all I can really say about it. Trust me on this one. If someone is serving it in a bar have them use it in a cocktail for you

The next drink we created was a Pilsen Sour. The ingredients:

Fresh Squeeze Organic lemons
Aged Cognac
Organic Egg whites (this creates foam on the top of your drink)
Agave Nectar
Served shaken with ice until frothy

We got a rich cognac from our friends at Lush liquor store