Sunday is National Rum Day which is perfect for a hot August Sunday. To celebrate, we are featuring the Macuá, a long drink made with Flor de Caña 4 year old Rum, guava,orange and lime juices and a touch of simple syrup. What are the origins of the day? Not sure yet, but we have a few days to find out.

Macuá

1 ½ oz. Flor de Caña 4 year old
1 oz. guava juice
1 oz. orange juice
½ oz. lemon juice
1/3 oz. simple sugar

Fill ¾ of a cocktail shaker with ice and add Flor de Caña rum, guava juice, orange juice, lemon juice and simple sugar.
Shake well for 20-30 seconds, serve in a Tom Collins glass with ice and decorate with orange slice and cherry.

recipe & photo courtesy Flor de Caña Rum
past drink of the week cocktails

This Week’s Drink is brought to us by Guest Blogger Caitlin D. (@catincal)

I’m the kind of girl who giggles for no reason, loves twirly dresses and is the first to grab a karaoke microphone. Oh, and I love cocktails.

Watermelon Granita

I’m a huge fan of outdoor dinner parties in the summer and love matching a festive, seasonal drink to a traditional BBQ menu. One of my favorite bartenders, Esteban Ordonez, created the following recipe with DonQ rum that makes me want to sit in an Adirondack chair with grilled corn on the cob in one hand and this concoction in the other. While the drink is surely tasty with regular ice, the crushed ice really makes this drink perfect for the warm weather months. If you don’t have your 80’s style Snoopy Sno Cone machine handy (dotw actually had one of these as a child), a simple ice crusher, like thi Stainless Steel Retro Ice Crusher works great.

Watermelon Granita

1 oz. DonQ Cristal
1 oz. Fresh watermelon juice
1/2 oz. Grand Marnier
1/2 oz. Fresh lemon juice
1 dash of Yuzu esscence

Served over crushed ice, on a highball glass rimed with a citrus salt and a watermelon stick.

We don’t have a picture of this one, but we do have a video we took at Tales of the Cocktail of Esteban making a passion fruit rum slush (which is kinda like a granita) with liquid nitrogen. OK, so it may not be the same, but it is pretty cool anyway.

more Drink of the Week cocktails

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Sangria is designed for hot summer weather.

The Spanish wine punch is designed to cool and refresh. Just the word sangria makes me feel happy and relaxed.

But in addition to being delicious, it can also be quite cheap. It’s a great way to enjoy fresh fruit that’s a little past its prime but still good.

Savvy Housekeeping has a white wine sangria recipe that allows you to enjoy a summer cocktail treat while keeping an eye on expenses:

I punched the numbers this morning and discovered that this sangria only cost me $3.70 a pitcher, or $.62 a glass. Compare that to a bottle of white wine ($11 or so, or $2.20 a glass) or a margarita (roughly $4.50 a glass using decent tequila, I’m guessing).

A Frugal Cocktail (White Wine Sangria recipe @ Savvy Housekeeping)
Photo credit: Savvy Housekeeping

more cocktails…

• Paloma (drinkoftheweek.com)
• 4th of July Watermelon Cocktail (drinkoftheweek.com)
• The Bee’s Teas Gin Cocktail (drinkoftheweek.com)

To celebrate National Tequila Day, we are featuring one of my favorite tequila cocktails, Paloma. This cocktail is a tall, cool and not to sweet. Tequila, lime and grapefruit juice (or soda). So nice on a hot July day.

Paloma

2 oz. Tequila (blanco or reposado)
1 oz. Lime Juice
4 - 5 oz. Grapefruit Juice or Soda
pinch of salt

Build in a tall glass over ice. Start with the tequila, lime juice and salt and then fill with grapefruit juice. Garnish with a lime wedge.

past Drink of the Week cocktails

Born in Key West, although some say it was Los Angeles, she was both great as a shot and on the rocks. She had a great run, delighting sorority girls and frat boys on spring break for decades. However, her time has come and the Red Headed Slut has passed on. She was given a proper New Orleans burial least Saturday night, complete with a preacher and marching band. The funeral procession began at Harrah’s directly after the Spirit Awards at Tales of the Cocktail, with a full police escort we paraded up Canal Street and into the French Quarter ending up at Latrobe’s on Royal. Drink were served, of course, a nice Cucumber Cooler courtesy of Plymouth Gin, which were perfect in the New Orleans heat.

So we here at Drink of the Week, raise glass to an old friend.

Red Headed Slut

1 oz. Jaegermeister
1 oz. Peach Shnapps
2 oz. Cranberry Juice

Poor the Jaegar in a highball glass filled with ice, follow with Cranberry Juice. Top with Peach Schnapps and garnish with a cherry. Or split between 2 shot glasses.

Here’s a little video of the parade.

Tales of the Cocktail
past Drink of the Week Cocktails

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• 2009 Big Trends in Cocktail Service (drinkoftheweek.com)
• Tales of the Cocktail Kicks off (drinkoftheweek.com)

This week we feature the Creole Julep, a spin on the traditional Mint Julep and the official cocktail of this years Tales of the Cocktail.

The cocktail was created by Maksym Pazuniak, a mixologist at Rambla and Cure in New Orleans. This rum based Julep is made with Clement Creole Shrubb a unique rum based orange liqueur from Martinique. It gives this Julep a nice peppery kick with a hint of orange.

The Creole Julep

2 1/4 oz. Cruzan Single Barrel Estate Rum
1/2 oz. Clement Creole Shrubb
1/4 oz. Captain Morgan 100 Rum
2 dashes Fee Bros. Peach bitters
2 dashes Angostura bitters
8-10 mint leaves1 Demerara Sugar Cube

Put mint in glass with the sugar and muddle gently. Fill halfway with crushed ice, add the rums. Don’t stir. Fill rest of the way with crushed ice. Finally, add the bitters.

Created by Maksym Pazuniak, Rambla/Cure
Tales of the Cocktail
past Drink of the Week Cocktails

No 4th of July barbecue is complete without watermelon. I’d like to amend that statement to include watermelon cocktails!

This refreshing summer cocktail is the perfect accompaniment to whatever you’ll be throwing on the grill this Independence Day. Martha Stewart inspired this recipe, which I adapted from her watermelon and basil margaritas.

The watermelon is cool and refreshing, while the mint and basil balance the sweetness and give it a fresh, crisp herbal note. You can use all mint or all basil, if you prefer.

4th of July Watermelon Cocktail

7 1/2 pounds seedless watermelon, rind removed, fruit cut into 1-inch cubes
4 teaspoons superfine sugar
8 ounces silver tequila
12 basil leaves
12 mint leaves
2.5 ounces Cointreau
6 cups ice

Make watermelon ice cubes by putting 24 pieces of cubed watermelon on a baking sheet lined with wax paper. Freeze for one hour, covered.
Take the rest of the watermelon plus the sugar and puree until smooth. Strain into a bowl. Put the tequila, basil and mint in a pitcher and muddle. Then stir in Cointreau and watermelon puree. Pour mixture into cocktail shaker with ice and mix for each cocktail. Put watermelon ice cubes in a glass and pour cocktail in. Garnish with herb sprigs and enjoy!

Red, White and Blue Cocktail
More 4th of July Cocktails
More Summer Cocktails