Tag Archives: cherry

Celebrate National Mojito Day With These Summertime Favorites

Cocktails / July 10, 2017 / No Comments.

Happy (Almost) National Mojito Day! If you aren’t planning on guzzling down what is the deliciousness of a mojito tomorrow, have no fear DIA is here. After all, it’s the only day a year that drinking mojitos truly counts…

LOL, who are we kidding?! National Day or not- mojitos always count and are always worth it.

Since National Mojito Day tomorrow, it can’t hurt to be prepared with these delicious summer finds. Thus, how to jazz up your mojito game:

Blackberry Mint Mojito

What You’ll Need:
– 2 oz. blackberry juice (1 pint blackberries + 1/2 cup water)
– 6 mint leaves
– Juice from 1/2 a lime
– 2 oz. rum
– Soda water
How To Make:
-In a blender, combine the blackberries and water. Blend until pureed. Strain the juice thru a fine mesh sieve and discard all the seeds.
– In a glass, add the mint leaves, juice from half a lime and the lime rind, and a splash of the soda water. Gently muddle to release the flavor from the mint leaves. Fill the glass with ice and add the rum, blackberry juice, and top with soda water. Stir to combine. Garnish with lime wedge, mint sprig and blackberries.

Passion Fruit Mango Mojito

What You’ll Need:
– 1 oz. lime juice
– 2 oz. passion fruit (pulp + seeds)
– 3 oz. club soda
– 1 oz. white rum or light rum
– 6 mint leaves
– 2 tbsp. sugar
– Handful of crushed ice
– Extra lime + mint for garnish
How To Make:
– Muddle mint leaves with sugar and lime juice in a tall glass.
– Stir in passion fruit, club soda, and rum.
– Add crushed ice, and garnish with a lime wedge and mint sprig. Serve immediately.

Cucumber Kiwi Mojito

What You’ll Need:
– 1 lime, juice
– 1 tbsp. sugar
– 2 ripe kiwis, peeled + sliced
– 1/2 cucumber, peeled + sliced
– 1/4 cup fresh mint leaves
– 1 lime, sliced
– 2 oz. rum
– Club soda + ice
How To Make:
– Add the lime juice and sugar into a cocktail shaker. Swirl around and allow to dissolve for a minute.
-Throw in the kiwi and cucumber slices into a cocktail shaker along with the mint. Muddle with a spoon until completely broken down. Add the rum and fill with ice. Cover and shake vigorously for few seconds until chilled. Strain into two glasses (filled with ice) and top each with club soda. Garnish with mint, kiwi slice and lime slice.

Cherry Mojito

What You’ll Need:
– 2 cups pitted cherries
– 8 mint leaves
– 1/4 cup sugar
– 1/4 cup lime juice
– Zest from 1 lime
– 4 cups ice
– 1 cup rum
– 2 cups club soda
How To Make:
– In a blender add the cherries, mint leaves, lime zest, lime juice, sugar and 2 cups of the ice. Blend well until it’s all slushy.
– To the blender, add the remaining ice, rum and club soda. Stir well and serve.

Strawberry Pineapple Mojito

What You’ll Need:
– 1 tbsp. sugar
– 6 mint leaves
– 1/4 lime
– 2 strawberries, hulled + sliced
– 2 oz. pineapple juice
– 2 oz. Malibu Coconut Rum
– 2 oz. 7UP
– Ice
How To Make:
– In a glass or mason jar, muddle together the sugar, mint leaves, lime, and strawberries.
– Add in the pineapple juice, rum, and 7UP. Stir together and top with crushed ice. Enjoy!

Three Words: Boozy Ice Cream

Cocktails / July 6, 2017 / No Comments.

Now that it’s summer, it’s inevitable that you’re often going to crave a refreshing drink and a delicious frozen treat. Well, we here at DIA say embrace your cravings! Listen to your gut! Don’t keep yourself from enjoying the finer things in life! Treat. Yo. Self!

If we’ve convinced you to indulge, these Delish boozy ice cream recipes are unarguably the best ways to do so. Here are some of the sweetest ways to get yo drink on. Sometimes you can have it all.

How to Make: Piña Colada Nice Cream
Ingredients:
4 15 oz. cans cream of coconut, plus coconut water
3 cups chopped pineapple, plus more for garnish
1/4 cup Malibu Rum
Toasted sweetened coconut, for garnish
Directions:
Flip over cans of cream of coconut and chill in the fridge at least 3 hours, ideally over night. When ready to whip, turn right-side-up and open.
Spoon coconut cream into a large bowl and use a hand mixer to beat until creamy. Set aside.
In a blender, blend pineapple with rum and the reserved coconut water from one can.
Fold pineapple mixture into whipped coconut cream until combined, then transfer to a 9″x5″ baking dish.
Garnish with more pineapple and toasted coconut. Freeze until firm, 4 hours, then serve!

How to Make: Mudslide Ice Cream
Ingredients:
2 cups heavy cream
1 14.5 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup chopped chocolate
1/4 cup hot fudge sauce, plus more for serving
2 tbsp. Kahlúa
2 tbsp. Baileys Irish Cream
Directions:
In a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat heavy cream until stiff peaks form, 5 minutes.
Fold in sweetened condensed milk until fully combined, then fold in chocolate, fudge sauce, Kahlúa, and Baileys.
Transfer mixture to a 9″x5″ loaf pan and add one more chocolate swirl on top. Freeze for 5 hours. When ready to serve, let soften 10 minutes. Serve with warm hot fudge.

How to Make: Rosé Sorbet
Ingredients:
2 cups rosé, divided
1 1/4 cup sugar
3 cups frozen raspberries
1/2 cup fresh raspberries
Mint, for serving
Directions:
In a small sauce pan over medium heat, combine 1 cup rosé and sugar. Bring to a boil, whisking constantly until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.
In a blender. combine frozen raspberries and 1/2 cup roseé syrup. Process until smooth. Taste the mixture, adding more rosé syrup if desired. Pour into a loaf pan, cover with plastic wrap and freeze until firm, about an hour.
To make floats, scoop small portions into champagne flutes and top with more rosé. Add fresh raspberries and a sprig of mint to each glass.

How to Make: Cherry Amaretto Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups pitted and halved fresh cherries
3/4 cup milk
1 3/4 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
2 tbsp. Amaretto liqueur
1/3 cup pitted and chopped fresh cherries
1/3 cup dark chocolate chips or chunks
Directions:
Combine the 1½ cups cherries, milk, 1 cup of cream, sugar and salt in a medium saucepan. Heat over medium heat until the mixture begins to steam, then reduce heat to low and allow to sit for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and, using a blender or immersion blender, puree the mixture until smooth. Pour the mixture into a large bowl, preferably one with a pour spout, and stir in remaining cream. Chill until completely cold.
When ready to churn, stir in Amaretto. Freeze in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s directions. When the ice cream has finished churning, place in an airtight container and fold in the remaining cherries and chocolate chips. Place is the freezer until completely frozen.

Top 10 Cocktail Garnishes, Ranked

Cocktails / April 26, 2017 / 3 Comments.

We’re about to get to the important business of ranking cocktail garnishes. But first, a few ground rules.

Rule #1: We’re talking about edible cocktail garnishes. We can debate the relative merits of cocktail umbrellas and those little plastic animals/choking hazards in your scorpion bowl another day.

Rule #2: If it’s on your spice rack, it doesn’t count. Sorry, salt and cinnamon rims.

Rule #3: No novelty garnishes. Because it’s clearly unfair to make fruit and vegetables compete against cheeseburgers.

Now let’s do this.

10. Celery
I guess you can stir your drink with it? Other than that, it tastes bad and it physically gets in the way of drinking the Bloody Mary you desperately need. Awful garnish.

9. Orange
Orange slices are for children’s soccer games, not cocktails.

8. Onion
I don’t understand why cocktail onions exist, but I’m willing to learn.

7. Lemon
Lemons, perhaps the most common drink garnish, are way overrated. Have you ever been truly excited there was a lemon in your drink? No.

6. Pineapple
A pineapple garnish means you’re at a tiki bar with some big, colorful, tropical drink in front of you. Nice work.

5. Cucumber
A wheel of cucumber on the rim of your drink instantly makes you 46% more classy. It’s science.

4. Cherry
Maraschino cherries are delicious. It’s like a free dessert with your drink.

3. Mint
What makes mojitos and mint juleps so great? Booze, yeah, but also mint. It gives the drink a unique flavor and it looks all cool and leafy.

2. Olive
We salute you, person who decided to plunk some olives in a glass of booze and call it a martini.

1. Lime
Coronas, cosmos, margaritas, mojitos, vodka-sodas, gin-and-tonics, rum-and-cokes… Lime makes so many drinks better, which is why we’re crowning it America’s Top Garnish.

National Moscow Mule Day

Cocktails / March 3, 2017 / No Comments.

Just about everything seems to have a national day- ice cream, popcorn, margaritas- you name it. Except for the Moscow Mule. Invented in 1941 by Smirnoff, the Moscow Mule has been making a comeback in recent years.

To celebrate the cocktail’s resurgence, Smirnoff vodka has dubbed March 3, 2017 as the first official National Moscow Mule Day! Now everybody has the chance to raise a copper mug and toast this delicious drink. March 3 (or 3-3) is the chosen day for a specific reason. Three people were involved in the cocktail’s creation, three ingredients are used in the Original Mule and when turned counterclockwise the numbers became an M-M.

With the weather finally warming up, it’s the perfect time to celebrate with a classic Moscow Mule (easily made with 1.5 oz. Smirnoff vodka, 4 oz. of ginger beer and a lime wedge) or with one of the fun twists below:

1) Strawberry Moscow Mule Float (courtesy of Megan Marlowe from Strawberry Blondie Kitchen)

1.5 oz. Smirnoff No. 21 vodka
Juice from 1 lime
4 oz. ginger beer
Scoop of strawberry sorbet

Into the bottom of a copper mug, add vodka, lime juice and ice. Top with ginger beer and a scoop of sorbet.

2) Cherry Lime Moscow Mule (courtesy of Kendra Darr of Simply Darrling)

3 oz. Smirnoff No. 21 vodka
1 bottle of Cherry Ginger Beer
5 oz. Cherry Limeade
Cherries and sliced lime for garnish

In a cocktail shaker, mix ice, Smirnoff No. 21, Cherry Ginger Beer and Cherry Limeade. Stir until combined and strain into copper mug over ice. Garnish with cherries and sliced limes.

3) Sunrise Over Moscow Mule (courtesy of Jay and Leah from The Gastronom)

Cocktail:

1.5 oz. Smirnoff No. 21 vodka
2 oz. Fresh squeezed orange juice
.5 oz. Fresh squeezed lime juice
4 oz. ginger beer

Fill copper mug with crushed ice. Add vodka, orange juice and lime juice into the mug. Stir and top with ginger beer. Garnish with candied ginger.

Ice Pops:

1.5 oz. Smirnoff No. 21 vodka
4 oz. orange juice
.5 oz. simple syrup
.5 oz. lime juice
4 oz. ginger beer

Add all ingredients into a bowl and whisk to mix completely. Pour mixture into ice pop molds and place into freezer. After about 90 minutes, insert sticks into the molds. Allow ice pops to freeze overnight.

Cocktail Corner: Beloved Root Beer

Cocktail Corner / August 6, 2015 / No Comments.

Who doesn’t love an ice-cold root beer? That refreshing, sweet taste is a summer craving that can’t be ignored or left unfulfilled. But why settle for just a classic can of soda when you can spice it up to fit your needs? Specifically, your booze needs. This National Root Beer Float day, we’re putting a spin on things and spiking our soda a couple of different ways. Of course, there is always the traditional tipsy root beer float, but we think these recipes have the potential to make your day (or night) a little more interesting. Check it out:

Black & Brown: (1 serving)

Guinness Stout
root beer

Fill a glass half full with root beer and top off with Guinness.

Recipe found on bartenderapp.com

Bailey Float: (1 serving)

1 oz. Bailey’s Irish Cream
10 oz. root beer
ice

In a glass filled with ice, add baileys and root beer. Slowly stir together.

Recipe found on bartenderapp.com

Slacker’s Slammer: (1 serving)

1 oz. Vodka
1 oz. root beer schnapps
1 glass root beer
1 scoop ice cream (vanilla)

Pour vodka into a glass, then add 1 oz. of root beer schnapps. Top off with root beer and scoop of ice cream.

Recipe found on bartenderapp.com

Black Cow: (1 serving)

2 scoops vanilla ice cream
10 oz. root beer
1 Tbsp. Chocolate syrup
whipped cream
Maraschino Cherry

In a large glass, pour root beer over ice cream and chocolate syrup. Garnish with whipped cream and a cherry.

Recipe found on bartenderapp.com

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We’re Cheering for Cherries

Cocktails / September 24, 2014 / No Comments.

Here at DIA, we love fruit, but we love dessert even more. Combine the two and you’ll easily have us under a sweetness spell. That’s why today, we want to transform one of the best desserts into an array of alcohol indulgences. Treat yourself to a cherry flavored cocktail in honor of national cherries jubilee day. One sip of any of these concoctions and your taste buds will be cheering for more. There’s nothing more delicious than flambéed cherries combined with a vanilla ice cream—still, these cocktails are a close second.

Cherries Jubilee Champagne Cocktail (1 serving)

1 oz. frozen cherries, approximately 6 cherries
1.5 oz. bourbon
1/4 oz. lemon juice
1/2 dash bitters
Champagne to top

Add the cherries and bourbon in a tumbler. Muddle the cherries, making sure they are thoroughly crushed and infused with the bourbon. Pour in the lemon juice and shake. Add the contents into a champagne flute and top with champagne and a dash of bitters. Drink up.

Very Cherry Martini (1 serving)

2 oz. cherry vodka
5 oz. sparkling cherry juice
1 Tbsp. tart cherry juice
Sugar for rim

In a chilled martini glass, rim the edge with sugar. Next, add vodka, sparkling cherry juice and tart cherry juice to the glass. Stir carefully.

Cherry Almond Cream Cocktail (1 serving)

3/4 oz. cherry brandy
3/4 oz. amaretto
half and half
ice
cherries for garnish

Fill a tumbler with ice and add liqueurs. Add the half and half to an empty glass; fill it 2/3 of the way. Shake the tumbler and add alcohol to the half and half. Stir and enjoy.

Cherry Sidecar (1 serving)

2 oz. cherry brandy
1 oz. fresh lemon juice
1 oz. triple sec or cointreau
sugar for rim
cherry for garnish

Fill a tumbler 3/4 of the way with ice. Pour in the lemon juice, triple sec/cointreau, and cherry brandy. Cover and shake for about 30 seconds until the outside of the tumbler is cold and frosted. Strain into a martini glass and garnish.

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The Ice Cream Man Won’t Have These Drinks

Our Stories / July 20, 2014 / 1 Comment.

In the world of food and drink, there are truly only a few things that can make us question our loyalty to alcohol: ice cream is one of those things. Ice cream is probably the most important thing ever invented in the world (who needs electricity or the wheel?), which is why we are thrilled to let you know that today is National Ice Cream Day!

Our goal is to have ice cream for every meal today, so we wanted to make sure we found some good alcoholic ice cream drink options to have during happy hour (also, breakfast, lunch, and dinner). Make one of these drink recipes today and celebrate the beautiful combination of booze and ice cream.

TGI Friday’s Barnamint Baileys Milkshake

You could hit up your local TGI Friday’s and pay someone else to make this Barnamint Baileys Milkshake for you…or you could make a double batch at home right now, drink the whole blender full, and no one will ever know…

Add the following ingredients to your blender: 1 large shot of Bailey’s, 1 small shot of creme de menthe, 1/2 shot cream, 1/2 shot milk, 2 scoops of vanilla ice cream, half a scoop of crushed ice and 3 Oreo cookies.
Blend for about 30 seconds until you get your ideal milkshake texture.
Pour into a glass and garnish with an Oreo.

The White Russian Float

Not every ice cream cocktail requires a blender. Get back to basics with a White Russian Float and question why you never thought to make this before today.

Add a few scoops of coffee ice cream to a tall glass, then pour in a shot of vodka and top it all off with cream soda.
Add two straws and share it with your significant other, because that is what makes floats adorable.

Ice Cream Sundae Martini

The only thing better than an ice cream cone is an ice cream sundae…and the only thing better than an ice cream sundae is an ice cream sundae with booze. Period.

Line the rim of a martini glass with chocolate syrup and then dip the rim in rainbow sprinkles. Drizzle chocolate syrup around the sides of the glass.
Combine 2 oz. half and half, 1 1/2 oz. Epic Whipped Cream Vodka, and 1/2 oz. simple syrup in a shaker. Add ice and shake until the liquid is chilled.
Pour through the strainer into the martini glass. Garnish with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, another drizzle of chocolate syrup, and a maraschino cherry.

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We All Scream for Ice Cream Soda Floats

Cocktails / June 20, 2014 / No Comments.

In honor of National Ice Cream Soda Day, we want to share a few boozy beverages with you to celebrate your inner child. Whether you prefer chocolate or vanilla, each of these delicious drinks will make you want to embrace this season’s hot weather with open arms. So fix yourself a float with your favorite scoop of ice cream and start feeling like a kid again.

Dark Chocolate Bourbon Cherry Soda (1 serving)

1/2 pint chocolate ice cream
2 oz. bourbon
1 bottle cherry soda

Fill a glass with the chocolate ice cream. Pour in bourbon and cherry soda. Enjoy.

Blackberry Gin Fizz Float (1 serving)

1/4 pint blackberries
1/2 tbsp. granulated sugar
1/4 tbsp. water
1/8 cup chopped mint leaves
2 oz. gin
about 1/8 cup lime juice
6 oz. ginger ale
ice
scoop of vanilla ice cream

Heat blackberries, sugar and water in a small saucepan over medium heat. While they heat, crush the berries with a spoon until their consistency becomes thick, around 10 minutes. Using a coffee filter/strainer, strain the heated combination into a container and refrigerate for 10 minutes. After it has cooled, fill a cocktail shaker with the berry puree, mint leaves, gin, lime juice and ice. Shake until the entire beverage is chilled. Strain into a tall glass and mix in ginger ale. Finally, top off with the vanilla ice cream.

Bourbon Ginger Beer Float (1 serving)

1/2 scoop of vanilla ice cream
1/2 oz. bourbon/whiskey
Ginger beer

In a chilled beer mug, scoop in the ice cream. Add bourbon or whiskey and top off with ginger beer. Serve right away.

Kahlua Root Beer Float (1 serving)

1 1/2 oz. Kahlua
3/4 oz. vanilla vodka
orange juice (splash of)
1 scoop of vanilla ice cream

Over ice, shake together the Kahlua, vodka and orange juice. Pour in the root beer and top off with vanilla ice cream.

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Free Stuff People Sent Us That We May Or May Not Like. Round XLIX.

Our Stories / January 23, 2014 / No Comments.

Effen Vodka. No we’re not being rude, that’s their actual name. For those of you who don’t speak fluent Dutch (we don’t either), Effen actually means “smooth” in the native language. Here’s what we thought after sipping on their Black Cherry flavor.

The first thing we (and everyone) noticed about Effen was their sleek, stylish bottle. Clad with a black label and simple text, the bottle looks like something that belongs on a nightclub shelf or a fancy bar cart. Designed by mixologists and bartenders, Effen’s bottle has a polymer sleeve that keeps the vodka cool and easy to grip for anyone making a drink. That’s bottle genius right there.

So we swooned over the bottle, but what about the actual vodka? When we first opened Effen, the smell of cherries was subtle but strong enough to intrigue. We were pleasantly surprised that there wasn’t any hint of artificial sugar, unexpected when you’re tasting a fruit flavored spirit.

We tried the vodka on the rocks first. At first sip, it’s all cherries with hints of vanilla and tart fruit. When you’re dealing with cherry flavors, it’s either reminiscent of cough syrup or refreshingly tasty. Effen Black Cherry is definitely the latter. It’s smooth, flavorful and has us craving Dirty Shirleys. We added a bit of seltzer water to mix things up and the flavor only got better.

Effen Black Cherry is a winner in our book. We would recommend it to any cherry lover for their cosmos, sangria or any of their favorite cherry cocktails. Effen typically runs for $25 a bottle and they have a few other flavors we’re eager to try: Cucumber, Raspberry and Salted Caramel. Add it to your bar cart, it’s worth the price.