I Made Mulled White Wine with the Cooking Gift Set Co. Brewing Kit and It’s a Game Changer

2016-12-052016-12-05 / Dani DeLuna / Leave a comment

Wooooo y’all, I’m super pumped to be writing this post! A couple of weeks ago, Cooking Gift Set Co. hit me up and asked if I wanted to give their Mulled Wine Brewing Kit a whirl and I was like, “HELL YES!” You know I love infusing spirits and making syrups and to have a product with allllll my fave spices in a kit was music to my Home Bar Grrrrl ears!

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In addition to good looking and perfectly sized packaging (I mean, look at this amazing packaging!) the Cooking Gift Set Co. Mulled Wine Brewing Kit comes with detailed recipes! Oh how I love a very specific recipe!

The recipes include Festive Red, Spiced Cider, Gløgg, Glühwein, and Lush White…

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…LUSH WHITE. Hold up a sec! “Lush White? MULLED WHITE WINE?” Yes y’all, MULLED WHITE WINE. Game changer.

Their recommendation was to use a Dry Chardonnay or Viognier but I wanted to try it with Chenin Blanc cause lately I’ve been on a Chenin Blanc kick. Typically Chenin Blanc is big bodied for white wines, kind of fruity, dry, and really pleasant.

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I read the Lush White recipe which suggested the use of dried orange peel, cloves, star anise, and crystalized ginger. I toasted the spices for a minute or two on low heat…

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…put the spices in one of the satchels from the Mulled Wine Brewing Kit, added 1 bottle of Chenin Blanc, 1 cup of water, 1/4 cup sugar, and a couple of lemon peels.

Then let it simmer, not boil, for around 20 mins (as per the instructions). After that I turned the heat off, covered the pot and let it sit for around 30 mins. (The instructions said to let it sit for 5 minutes but y’all know I can’t let something sit for less than 30.)

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Voila, I had just made the delicious Lush White Mulled Wine. And I’m talking SUPER DELICIOUS. The spices are so so nice, the balance is excellent with star anise coming through first followed by an undercurrent of earthiness from the orange peel, cloves, and ginger.

So, now what? What to do with Mulled White Wine?

Gurrrrrrl, first of all, you should just pour some in a mug with a cinnamon stick and “wooooo” yourself to paradise! Then maybe put on your fave winter movie and chill out on the couch.

But wait, there’s more! You may be thinking, “I know what this Mulled White Wine needs. It needs some Brandy.” Congratulations, you’ve literally just made Fortified Wine. Wine + Sweetness + Herbes/Spices + Fortification (aka some kind of spirit) = Fortified Wine. America, get on that shit.

Lush White Fortified Wine

6 parts Lush White Mulled Wine
1-2 parts Brandy, Cognac, Calvados, Apple Brandy, or Pear Brandy

When serving, I’d encourage freshly grated Nutmeg as a garnish.

If for some reason you didn’t drink all of your Lush White Mulled Wine and part of the bottle made it to the fridge, you can use the wine as a cocktail ingredient.

There were a lot of possibilities when trying to come up with a Cocktail worthy of the Lush White but my first and best thought was, “Gurrrrl, put it with Aged Rhum Agricole and Creole Shrubb.” Done.

Nöel in the Antilles

3 oz Lush White Mulled Wine
3/4 oz Rhum JM VO Agricole (or the Aged Agricole of your choice)
1 barspoon Hamilton Petite Shrubb (or the Creole Shrubb of your choice)
Garnish: Star Anise

Combine ingredients over ice and stirrrrrrrrrrrr. Strain into chilled coupe and garnish.

Holiday Cheers to y’all and if you want to order a Cooking Gift Set Co. Mulled Wine Brewing Kit, use the code HomeBarGirl and get 20% off if you order by Christmas Day! AMAZING RIGHT?

Cocktail Crate Mixers are Perfect for your Labor Day Soirée

2016-09-022016-09-02 / Dani DeLuna / Leave a comment

Cocktail-Crate-Labor-Day-2016-1

Hey y’all, pumped today to talk about one of the best things to happen to home bartenders who like to throw parties: Cocktail Crate. If you’ve been reading Home Bar Girl for a while, you’ll know that I’m awfully fond of these well crafted mixers. But let’s get real real, not only are these bottles mad tasty, they make throwing a party really easy!

Cocktail Crate sent me their Grapefruit Daiquiri & Ginger Bee for some Labor Day celebrations. I decided to make two cocktails per mixer so, here we go!

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We’ll start with the Ginger Bee. Made with Honey, Ginger, and a bit of Clove this mixer is sweet, gingery spicy, flavorful, and goes really well with all sorts of aged spirits.

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I decided to go with a Whisky cocktail for the first one. Since I’ve been obsessed with my bottle of Grand MacNish Blended Scotch lately, I used it in a split base with Rye. Feel free to use whatever Whisky or Whiskies you want!

Ginger Bee Whiskey Cocktail

1 1/2 oz Cocktail Crate Ginger Bee
1 1/2 oz James E Pepper 1776 Rye
1/2 oz Grand MacNish Blended Scotch Whisky
Garnish: Lemon studded with Cloves

Combine ingredients over ice and short shake. Strain into double rocks glass over ice and garnish.

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Now for this second one, I made literally the same drink but added my fave Summer Ale, Bell’s Brewery Oberon, as a float. Super tasty stuff! Perfect for a BBQ.

Ginger Brewmaster

1 1/2 oz Cocktail Crate Ginger Bee
1 1/2 oz James E Pepper 1776 Rye
1/2 oz Grand MacNish Blended Scotch Whisky
Bell’s Brewery Oberon Summer Ale float

Combine ingredients over ice and short shake. Strain into Collins glass over ice and top with your fave Summer Ale.

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Next up we’ve got the Grapefruit Daiquiri: sweet and refreshing with Lime, Grapefruit, and a bit of Jasmine Tea!

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So, duh, I made a Daiquiri but I used my new fave Rhum, Neisson Blanc 105 proof and it was uhhhhhmazing.

Grapefruit Daiquiri

1 1/2 oz Cocktail Crate Grapefruit Daiquiri*
1 1/2 oz Neisson Blanc 105 (or your fave White Rum)
Garnish: Grapefruit peel rose

Combine ingredients over ice and shake it like a rocket. Double strain into chilled coupe and garnish.

*If I were you, I’d start with Equal parts Rum and mixer and taste. You may need to adjust the cocktail based on how sweet you want it.

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For the second one, I decided to swap out the Rhum for Gin Lane 1751 London Dry Gin and added a lil Ginger Beer for extra funnnnnn. Again, perfect for BBQ times.

Grapefruit Buck

1 1/2 oz Cocktail Crate Grapefruit Daiquiri
2 oz Gin Lane 1751 London Dry Gin (or your fave London Dry Gin)
Fever Tree Ginger Beer float
Garnish: Grapefruit Rose, Tiki Umbrella

Combine ingredients over ice and short shake. Strain into Collins glass over ice, top with Ginger Beer and garnish.

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Excellent. May your Labor Day festivities be tons of fun, tasty, and easy breezy with Cocktail Crate Craft Mixers! Cheers!

DD’s Cider Punch

2015-10-262015-10-26 / Dani DeLuna / 1 Comment

It’s that spoooooky time of year! The time for sizzling dishes, ghoulish wishes, and festive gatherings. Seriously, if you’re throwing any kind of Halloween/Dia De Los Muertos/Harvest/I Love Autumn party, you can’t go wrong with Hot Apple Cider Punch!

I created this Punch last Friday for a party my illustrious girlfriend was attending that night. Being deep into Apple season, we decided go to with Apple Cider as the base and Rum as the main spirit. Let’s jump into the recipe.

You’ll need spices. I recommend getting Mulling Spices that contain Allspice, Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Star Anise, Cloves, Black Peppercorn, and Orange peel.

You’ll need spiced liqueurs. I wanted to pump up the Allspice, so I included some St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram. Then I wanted to add the luxurious sensuality of Bénédictine D.O.M. which has notes of honey, citrus, saffron, cardamom, ginger, and is super silky.

You’ll need Lemon Sherbet. You’re so shocked right? Unheard of that I would use Lemon Sherbet in a recipe.

Why Lemon Sherbet in Apple Cider? 1. It’s my fave ingredient right now. 2. Lemon gives the Punch some brightness and bite.

You’ll need a big pot, ceramic dutch oven, or Crockpot. Simmer baby, simmmmmer.

Everyone got their stuff ready? Awesome. (Note, the Lemon Sherbet isn’t in the photo cause I used it all!)

DD’s Cider Punch (serves 12*)

70 oz Apple Cider**
2 oz Lemon Sherbet
Mulling spices
16 oz Plantation Barbados 5 Year Rum
4 oz Hamilton 151 Demerara Rum
6 oz Allspice Dram
6 oz Bénédictine D.O.M.
Garnish: Clove studded Apple slices
Glassware: Mugs

Combine Cider, Mulling spices and Sherbet in pot and heat until liquid begins to simmer, stirring occasionally. Turn heat to looooooow and simmer for around 40 mins, or until the Mulling Spices have done their thing. “Nice spice, man.”
Turn the heat down to the lowest possible setting. Add Liqueurs, Spirits and heat until the Punch is hot enough to drink but nowhere near simmering/boiling. You don’t want to cook the Alcohol out of the Punch, just warm the Punch back up.
Serve in Mugs with Clove studded Apple slices.

*This recipe will yeilds ~104 oz Punch (evaporation could occur), which means 12 of your friends can have ~8 oz of Punch each, that is unless they’re big drinkers…

**I started with 64 oz Cider, and thought the Punch was awesome. My girlfriend thought it might be too strong for her friends and asked that I dilute a bit. I added 6 more oz of Apple Cider for a total of 70 oz of Cider. Then it was perfect. Remember, always ask your customers what they like most.

Oh and y’all, these two Rums together, WOOOOOOOOO-eeeeeee. Killer combo! Both Plantation Barbados 5 and Hamilton Demerara 151 are in what I would call the “Smooth” category yet both have real depth of flavour without being too overpowering. If you’re using different Rums, I recommend staying in this category.

Cheers to you and all your holiday Party Punches!

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