When it’s a sunny spring day and the scent of ripe strawberries is in the air, you can’t help but think all’s right with the world…and that you really want a drink, because hey, you’re only human.
This is the perfect drink for that kind of day, when the sunset burns shades of orange into the sky and you’re dreaming about that long, hot summer that’s just around the corner. It’s like strawberries and cream in a glass and is a sophisticated way to kick off a garden party.
Serves two.
INGREDIENTS
5-10 ripe strawberries, hulled and halved
5 large mint leaves
2 teaspoons caster sugar
30ml strawberry-vanilla infused vodka*
Moscato
*The 52 Cocktails crew was lucky enough to receive a delicious homemade strawberry-vanilla vodka from a fan, who wouldn’t reveal the recipe but hinted they’d let a lot of cut strawberries, sliced vanilla pods and sugar infuse in some vodka for several months before straining the mix and presenting it to us. It’s fantastic and we reckon you could make it, too. And maybe give us a sample, hint, hint. If you don’t want to make your own infused vodka but you do want to try this recipe, substitute 15ml vanilla vodka and 15ml strawberry vodka and let us know how you go.
GLASS
Champagne flute
METHOD
Place the strawberries, mint and sugar in the glass part of a Boston shaker, like so:
Muddle them together, then add the vodka and half-fill the glass with ice. Pop the metal part of the shaker on top, flip the whole thing over and shake like mad. Of course, if you don’t have a Boston shaker you can use a cobbler instead.
Strain through a sieve into a clean glass. If you really, really don’t like having ‘bits’ in your drink, strain it again. Pour the mixture into two Champagne flutes. It will look like this:
Top with chilled moscato and serve.
DEGREE OF DIFFICULTY
Straining the mixture is the hardest part. And that’s pretty easy!
RECIPE BY
This one’s by 52 Cocktails….with a little help from our friends.