4th of July Daiquiri Party: Blue Daiquiri No. 2

2015-07-052015-07-05 / Dani DeLuna / Leave a comment

The 4th of July Daiquiri Party is in full swing on Instagram! If you want to submit a photo and recipe, use the hashtag #4thofJulyDaiquiriParty!

Today’s Daiquiri is a Blue take on the classic Daiquiri No. 2 from the famous La Floridita Bar in Cuba. I love this Daiquiri, it’s supremely bright and refreshing with nice Orange flavours. I’m literally just subbing the Blue Curaçao for clear Curaçao, so there isn’t much variation here. The blue colour does make me want to get on a plane and go to a tropical island though!

Blue Daiquiri No. 2

2 oz Denizen Aged White Rum
Barspoon Senior Blue Curaçao
3/4 oz fresh Lime Juice
1/2 oz Simple Syrup
Barspoon fresh Orange Juice
Garnish: Orange wedge

Combine ingredients over ice and shake like a rocket! Strain into chilled coupe. Garnish with Orange wedge.

Cheers to all of us on this 4th of July Holiday weekend!

4th of July Daiquiri Party: Leggo My Mango

2015-07-04 / Dani DeLuna / Leave a comment

The 4th of July Daiquiri Party is totally raging on Instagram! It’s a rager y’all! If you have a Daiquiri that you’d like to post, use the hashtag #4thOfJulyDaiquiriParty.

Yesterday, I got a surprise package in the mail with a fabulous bottle of Patrón Citrónge Mango Liqueur in it! This liqueur is sweetly fragrant with notes of Mango, Citrus and even Peach. In the mouth it has a nice viscosity and is bursting with delicious Mango flavor. Supreme.

It was such perfect timing for the Daiquiri party too! The delicious flavours of the Patrón Citrónge Mango Liqueur led me to think about having Salt as a garnish. Other than that, it’s in the standard Daiquiri format.

Leggo My Mango

1/2 oz Patrón Citrónge Mango Liqueur
2 oz Denizen Aged White Rum
1/2 oz Simple Syrup
3/4 oz Lime Juice
Garnish: Pink Salt

Combine ingredients over ice and shake with a mad fury! Rim 1/2 of the Coupe with Pink Salt. Strain drink into coupe.

Cheers! Happy 4th America!

Thanks to M Booth for the Patrón Citrónge Mango Liqueur!

4th of July Daiquiri Party

2015-07-032015-07-03 / Dani DeLuna / 1 Comment

Happy 4th of July Weekend to everyone! I’ve been thinking about what I really want to drink/serve at my 4th of July party and honestly, I just want a Daiquiri! Daiquiri Prrrrrrrrrty!

If you want to join in the fun on Instagram and Twitter, use the hashtag #4thOfJulyDaiquiriParty.

That being said, “I just want a Daiquiri” means so many things to me, and there are many variations one can make by adding one or two ingredients to the Rum + Lime Juice + Sweetness formula. I mean, just by switching out the Rum itself or changing from refined sugar to turbinado sugar can have a profound effect on the flavours of the drink.

First, let’s start with the basics. Flor de Caña 7 Year is my all time fave aged molasses Rum. It is viscous as hell, creamy, with caramel smoothness for DAYYYYYYYS. It will make the best damn Daiquiri you’ve ever had. No lie.

Flor de Caña 7 Year Aged Rum Daiquiri

2 oz Flor de Caña 7 Year Rum
1 oz Lime Juice
3/4 oz Demerara Sugar Simple Syrup (1:1)
Garnish: Lime Wheel

Combine ingredients over ice and shake. Strain into coupe and garnish with Lime Wheel.

Now that we’ve got a nice basic Daiquiri down, we can get a little more creative. For this one, we’re going to use a funky Rum from Jamaica that has been aged in the UK: Smith & Cross Navy Strength Rum. Our sweetners are going to get more complex with the addition of Falernum and some of my patented (I wish! Soon!) DD Mix. The spice set will come from the funkiness of the Smith & Cross, DD Mix, and one dropper of Bittermen’s Elemakule Tiki Bitters. Highly recommend these bitter’s y’all!

DP Daiquiri

1 1/2 oz Smith & Cross Jamaican Rum
1/2 oz Velvet Falernum
1/4 oz DD Mix
1 oz Lime Juice
1 dropper Bittermen’s Elemakule Tiki Bitters
Garnish: hollowed out Lime half*

In tin combine ingredients over ice and short shake. Pour entire contents of shaker into mason jar. Garnish with one of the Lime halves you used when you juiced the Lime.

For this next one we’re going to go to the books and use a totally fabulous recipe from the 1970’s, Don’s Special Daiquiri. This variation was created to commemorate Don the Beachcomber and use his 1934 Daiquiri recipe while adding a couple of modifiers. I altered the recipe a tad because I felt it needed to be a bit more tart.

Don’s Special Daiquiri

1 oz Jamaican Rum (Smith & Cross)
3/4 oz Aged White Rum (Denizen Aged Rum)
3/4 oz Lime Juice
1/2 oz Passion Fruit Syrup
1/2 oz Honey Syrup
Garnish: Maraschino Cherry

Combine ingredients over ice and shake. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass, garnish with Maraschino Cherry.

Lastly, we’re going to use three different Spirits in a Daiquiri that I named after my family. It uses two kinds of Rum and one of my all time favourite infusions, Pineapple Plymouth Gin.

DeLuna Daiquiri

1 1/2 oz Denizen White Rum
1/2 oz Flor de Caña 7 Rum
1/4 oz Pineapple infused Plymouth Gin
1/2 oz Velvet Falernum
1/4 oz Cinnamon Bark Syrup
1 oz Lime Juice
Garnish: Pineapple Chunks

Combine ingredients in over ice and shake. Strain into coupe. Garnish with Pineapple.

Well, that’s it for this roundup. If you’re looking for more recipes, you could always try Or-zah Gabor or a classic Hemingway Daiquiri. Happy Independence Day USA!

DD’s Shrunken Skull

2015-06-282015-06-27 / Dani DeLuna / 1 Comment

As y’all probably know, I occasionally participate in Tiki Challenges on Instagram which are either put on by El_Nova_1 or another SoCal Tiki fanatic. Maybe it’s cause I love Tiki so much or maybe cause it makes me feel connected to California, either way, I love these recipes!

This week’s challenge is for a Shrunken Skull, a simple and brilliant Tiki cockail.

Shrunken Skull (Recipe from the 1950s)

1 oz Puerto Rican Rum
1 oz Demerara Rum
1 oz Lime Juice
1 oz Grenadine

Combine ingredients and shake over ice. Dirty pour into Skull mug. Garnishes are up to you. Flames are encouraged.

Well, as we all know, I only have so much space in my tiny apartment and therefore only keep so many rums. I had to make some substitutions but happily with substitutions come creativity, and so my Shrunken Skull is a little outside of the box. Still damn tasty though.

I decided to add the DD Mix because I wanted a little more depth and spice in my Shrunken Skull. I also don’t have any 151 Rum to flame with but I do have some fabulously fragrant Lemongrass & Ginger infused 151 Vodka. It works perfectly and makes the greatest smelling flame ever!

DD’s Shrunken Skull

1 oz Angostura Rum 7 Year
1 oz Denizen Aged White Rum
1 oz Lime Juice
3/4 oz Grenadine Syrup
1/4 oz DD Mix
Garnish: hallowed out Lime Half with flaming Lemongrass & Ginger infused 151 Vodka.

Combine ingredients with loads of ice and shake. Dirty pour into double Rocks glass. Pour Lemongrass & Ginger infused 151 Vodka into Lime half and set on top of ice in glass. Strike a match and light that shit up.

Tiki Cheers to all y’all. If you wanna participate in the challenge on Instagram, the hashtag is #ShrunkenSkullChallenge2015.

#TequilaSeason: Rickey Ricardo

2015-06-242015-06-23 / Dani DeLuna / 4 Comments

Heyyyyy, y’all! Hope everyone is having a really fabulous start to their summer! I am! I have been drinking a lot of long drinks and low proof cocktails lately cause it’s just too hot for a heavy stirred drink. Or even a heavy shaken drink, or really anything that isn’t light and airy.

Well, this Cocktail came about when I wanted to mix a combination of a Southside Rickey and East Side Cocktail together. In other words, I wanted Cucumber and Mint at the same time but I wanted it in a Collins glass with ice and Soda Water. But then it hit me (like it usually does), “Gurrrrrrrl, this would be supreme if you used Tequila instead of Gin!” Hot damn!

Crushing hard on this Mint bouquet.

Always keep in mind that Tequila & Cucumber are best friends, so there was literally no way this wasn’t going to be the bomb diggity. The name of the drink sort of came to me in a flash as well. “Gurrrrrrl, it’s a Rickey but it’s Tequila, so like, it should be called Rickey Ricardo!” My, my, this internal monologue is getting out of control!

Rickey Ricardo

2 oz Espolón Reposado Tequila
1 oz Lime Juice
3/4 oz Agave Nectar
3 Cucumber Wheels
Pinch of salt
Soda Water
Garnish: 3 scored Cucumber Wheels, Mint bouquet

Combine Lime Juice, Agave, Cucumber Wheels, Salt and muddle. Add Tequila, ice and short shake. Double strain into Collins glass over ice, garnish with scored Cucumber wheels, spank the Mint and garnish. Top with Soda Water.

Bonus: if you want to muddle some Mint into the drink, it just becomes that much more fabulous! I’d recommend 1 or 2 leaves for muddling. You want the Tequila/Cuke/Salt flavour to remain at the front, so easy on the mint.

1000 summery Cheers to everyone! May all your #TequilaSeason dreams come true

L.O.W. Punch on Liquor.com

2015-06-152015-06-14 / Dani DeLuna / Leave a comment

Recently, I was asked by Liquor.com to make a recipe for their Punch of July roundup. As you can see, I went full Red, White and Blue. I also went full #TequilaSeason cause y’all know how I feel about Tequila! Check out the recipe and more pretty photos on Liquor.com’s Drinkwire!

Rooftop Party with VitaFrute Coconut Colada!

2015-05-302015-05-29 / Dani DeLuna / Leave a comment

Here in Brooklyn, we don’t have houses with pools, sprawling country clubs with luxurious grounds, or even our own backyards. So where do we party in the summertime? We Rooftop Party! And you’d better believe we love nothing more than chillin’ on the roof with a cold cocktail.

I’d like to propose then that VitaFrute Coconut Colada is the perfect addition to all our Rooftop Parties. Y’all, this drink is summertime in a glass! Made with Organic VEEV Açai Spirit and natural fruit juices, these low calorie, low ABV, Ready-to-Drink Cocktails are super easy to make and totally refreshing.

Let’s start with VitaFrute Coconut Colada on ice.

What you need:

1 bottle of chilled VitaFrute Coconut Colada
1 Mason Jar
enough ice to fill your Mason Jar
Lime Wedge

Add ingredients to Mason Jar and stir for around 5 seconds. Garnish with Lime wedge. Feel the fabulousness, marvel at how easy it was to make! Yes!

Prrrrrty in a glass.

Next, let’s use this tasty VitaFrute Coconut Colada in a Daiquiri, cause this wouldn’t be a Home Bar Girl post if I didn’t try to put Coconut Colada in a Daiquiri. 🙂

VitaFrute Coconut Colada Daiquiri

2 oz chilled VitaFrute Coconut Colada
1 oz Aged Rum
1 oz Lime Juice
1/2 oz Simple Syrup
Garnish: Lime Wedge

Combine ingredients over ice and shake. Strain into chilled coupe and garnish with Lime wedge.

Lastly, I’ve used the VitaFrute Coconut Colada with more rum and spices cause the Pineapple and Coconut flavours are just begging to be used in punch. This recipe serves two.

VitaFrute Coconut Colada Spiced Punch

3 oz chilled VitaFrute Coconut Colada
1 1/2 oz Denizen Aged White Rum or other Aged White Rum
1/4 oz St Elizabeth Allspice Dram or 2 dashes of Pimento Bitters
3/4 oz Lime Juice
1/2 oz Ginger Syrup
Garnish: Lime Wedges

Combine ingredients over ice and shake. Strain into punch cups and garnish with Lime wedges.

Yummm, I wanna drink this punch like, right now. Hopefully you do too! Let’s get those summertime parties started!

Thanks to Veev for the tasty VitaFrute Coconut Colada and the Veev Mason Jars.

Golden Banana Grog with Giffard Banane

2015-05-262015-05-25 / Dani DeLuna / 1 Comment

Y’allllllllll, I’m back from vacation in the Berkshires and I am ready to talk about Giffard Banane du Bresil! A couple of weeks ago, I posted on Instagram that I had acquired this most magnificent of liqueurs from Duke’s Liquor Box. (If you’re ever in Greenpoint, Brooklyn you must go, they have the best stuff ever!) Then around 10 days ago, I posted two recipes called Blame it on the Monkeys No. 1 & 2, which included a recipe with Banane du Bresil. Now here we are and I feel like I haven’t quite addressed the incredibleness of this Liqueur.

To be frank, Banane du Bresil is Banana Bread in a bottle. Now that might sound hilarious, but this flavour has such a huge world of possibilities! “Banana Bread” would go well with Cognac, Bourbon, Rum, Cachaça, Añejo Tequila, loads of Amari/Aperitif/Digestif (Byrrh, Montenegro, Aperol), fortified wines (Carpano Antica, every type of Sherry), other Liqueurs (Domaine de Canton, Apricot, Falernum) and so many fruits that I can barely wrap my head around what to do with it.

This liqueur is literally everything.

Tasting Notes:

Nose: Banana Bread, Banana, baking spices, tropical notes like you’d get from Falernum
Tongue: Buttery Banana, Cognac, spices, nutty, Banana Bread, ginger
Finish: Banana Bread, short, wide finish with spices lingering for a while

Gooooooodness, it’s just so damn amazing.

What do we do when we get a new Liqueur that might possibly go with Rum? That’s right, we make a Daiquiri. I chose Denizen because it has Grassy, Banana notes and thought it would pair well with the Banane du Bresil.

Banane du Bresil Daiquiri

1 oz Giffard Banane du Bresil
2 oz Denizen Aged White Rum
1 oz Lime Juice

Shake over ice and strain into coupe.

To be honest, this definitely is my new fave Daiquiri and will probably be my go to til the end of the summer.

Now let’s get to this Golden Banana Grog. Again, I chose Denizen for its Banana, Grassy notes, and Smith & Cross for it’s funky, fruity notes. Banana & Orgeat are a natural match (didn’t even have to consult the Flavor Bible for this!) and Lime juice is the perfect acid to round out the drink. Hope you Enjoy!

These lil Banana slices are totally snoozin under the Tiki Umbrella.

Golden Banana Grog

1 oz Giffard Banane du Bresil
1 3/4 oz Denizen Aged White Rum (Sub any Trinidadian Aged White Rum)
1/2 oz Smith & Cross Navy Strength Jamaica Rum (Sub any funky Jamaican Rum)
1 1/4 oz Lime Juice
1/2 oz Orgeat
Club Soda
Garnish: 3 Banana slices & Umbrella

Combine ingredients over ice and short shake. Strain into Collins glass over ice. Top with Club Soda and garnish.

Yesssss. Luv it. Luv it forever.

Blame it on the Monkeys

2015-05-152015-05-14 / Dani DeLuna / 2 Comments

Have you ever had one of those days? One of those days where you feel like you’re living in a cartoon? A cartoon with Monkeys, ships made out of Lime halves, and paper sails? Maybe? Hmmm, never mind.

The inspiration for the next two Tiki drinks were literally these lil Monkeys I got from Zombie Hut in Brooklyn. Some friends and I went for a Tiki night back at the end of winter and we got these monkeys with our Scorpion Bowl. It was awesome. Now the Monkeys roam throughout my kitchen, scurrying up bottles of Giffard Banane and drinking all the Rum. They helped me make these cocktails, so they get at least some of the credit.

Blame-the-Monkeys-No-1-3

Blame the Monkeys No. 1

1 oz Giffard Banane du Bresil
1 oz Flor de Caña 7 Year Rum
1 oz Denizen Aged White Rum
1/2 oz Corralejo Añejo Tequila
1 oz Lime Juice
1/4 oz Orgeat
1/4 oz DD Mix
Garnish: hallowed out Lime half, Maraschino Cherry wrapped Orange peel Rose, Monkeys

Combine ingredients over ice and short shake. Strain into specialty glass over cracked, crushed or pebble ice, and garnish.

Blame the Monkeys No. 2

1 1/2 oz Flor de Caña 7
1/2 oz Bonal Aperitif
1/4 oz Velvet Falernum
1/2 oz Passion Fruit Syrup
1/2 oz Orgeat
1/2 oz Lime Juice
Garnish: Maraschino Cherry-speared Paper Sail, Monkeys

Combine ingredients over ice and short shake. Strain into specialty glass over cracked, crushed or pebble ice, and garnish.

Thank you lil Monkeys!

#TequilaSeason: Rothko 1961

2015-05-132015-05-13 / Dani DeLuna / Leave a comment

The heat has officially hit NYC and I am now drenched in sweat every time I leave my apt. We’re fully into #TequilaSeason and all of the refreshing cocktails that go along with it. Give me shaken fruity drinks on the rocks and give them to me fast!

Allow me to say a few words about this garnish: Several months ago, I thought the hallowed out lime half was sort of a lame garnish but then I realized something. People aren’t usually going to eat a Lime Wedge and whenever you’ve got a Lime half, you’ve already added Lime juice to the drink. Therefore, the Lime half is actually the best garnish cause it’s like a little bowl! A little bowl that delivers things you really want to eat with your drink! GIVE THE PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT! They want fruit!

Oh and as far as the name of this Cocktail goes, perhaps the most famous (or at least the most expensive) Rothko painting is called Orange, Red, Yellow and was painted in 1961. The thing about that painting though, the Yellow looks Green. So I was either going to name the drink Orange, Green, Yellow or Rothko 1961. The latter sounds better.

Bonus: This is the second drink that I’ve named after a Rothko painting. The first drink is Rothko 1957 with Bourbon, Fino Sherry and 18.21 Saffron Bitters.

Rothko-1961-3

Y’all know I have a love affair with Casa Noble Crystal Blanco Tequila cause of the Banana and Grassy notes. In this cocktail, those notes play so very well with the Orange Curaçao flavour & Grassy notes in CioCiaro and bitter Orange from Aperol. Let’s get crackin!

Rothko 1961

1 1/2 oz Casa Noble Blanco Tequila
1/2 oz Amaro CioCiaro
1/2 oz Aperol
1 oz Pineapple Juice
1/4 oz Lime Juice
Garnish: hallowed out Lime half, two salted Pineapple chunks

Combine ingredients over ice and short shake. Strain into double Rocks glass over ice and garnish. For the salted Pineapple, just sprinkle a few grains of salt onto each Pineapple chunk.

Refrescando, a bit bitter, grassy and totally fruity. Salud! Feel free to tag all of your #TequilaSeason drinks on Instagram!

Thanks to the Baddish Group for the Casa Noble Tequila and MBooth for the Aperol.

Home Bar Girl

Just a grrrrrl making fabulous cocktails

lime juice

4th of July Daiquiri Party: Blue Daiquiri No. 2

4th of July Daiquiri Party: Leggo My Mango

4th of July Daiquiri Party

DD’s Shrunken Skull

#TequilaSeason: Rickey Ricardo

L.O.W. Punch on Liquor.com

Rooftop Party with VitaFrute Coconut Colada!

Golden Banana Grog with Giffard Banane

Blame it on the Monkeys

#TequilaSeason: Rothko 1961

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