I don’t collect wine labels. But I am guilty of snapping photos of them with my cell at the liquor store, much to the chagrin of anyone accompanying me. There’s just so, so much good design and inspiration on those little stickers that I can’t resist!
The label on the back of Oxford Landing’s wine bottles is brilliant. Tear the little tab off of it as either a reminder of wine you liked and want to buy again or as a keepsake for the occasion. Smart design at work, my friends.
Another thing in honor of spring finally deciding to stick around for good: Sangria! It just begs to be sipped outside on a warm evening.
Ingredients: – 2 bottles + 2 cups of inexpensive red wine (ex. Charles Shaw from Trader Joe’s) – 5 cans Pellegrino Limonata – 2 1/2 cups Dark Rum – 1 cup Cointreau (or Triple Sec) – 1/2 cup Apple Schnapps – 4 tsp sugar – Ice – Chopped fruit (apples, oranges, lemons – use what’s in season) – Cinnamon Sticks
Fill a large pitcher or punch bowl 2/3 full with ice. Add wine and Pellegrino Limonata. Add in liquors, fruit, sugar, and cinnamon sticks. Stir vigorously with a wooden spoon. Test taste. If not sweet enough add another tablespoon of sugar. If it tastes too much like liquor add more Pellegrino Limonata. If it is too sweet add more wine.
In honor of all the storminess going on nationwide at the moment. The Dark & Stormy is really just the addition of dark rum to already tasty ginger beer.
Ingredients: – Juice of 4 Limes – 1 Cup Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice – 1 Large piece of Ginger, juiced – ½ Cup Agave Nectar – 4 Cups Sparkling Mineral Water – 1/8th Tsp. Ground Clove – 1/8th Tsp. Ground Cardamom – Dark & Stormy (optional): Organic Dark Rum
There are a couple of ways you can juice the ginger – either in a juicer, or you can grate it on a microplane and then squeeze the juice out of the pulp using cheesecloth or a strainer. Mix all of the ingredients together in a pitcher and serve over ice. If you feel like a real drink, add some dark rum for a Dark & Stormy.
With less than a week to go before St. Patrick’s Day there’s no way I could only share one Irish-themed cocktail with you Design Crushers! So without further ado, I give you the On the Rocks: St. Patty’s Day edition.
Ingredients: – equal part dark Irish beer – equal part hard cider – shot of blackcurrant syrup
Fill pint glass with equal amounts of dark Irish beer and hard cider, leaving about 1/3 inch space at top. Add a shot of blackcurrant syrup and stir gently to mix.
Blackcurrant syrup: In saucer, bring one cup sugar and two cups blackcurrant juice to boil. Allow to simmer for 20 minutes or until mixture appears thicker. Cool in ice bath and pour into final storage container, adding 1 oz vodka as preservative.
Ingredients: – 1/2 oz Bushmills Irish Cream – 1/2 oz coffee liqueur – 1/2 oz hazelnut liqueur – 6 oz coffee – whipped cream Garnish: cinnamon
Pour ingredients into a tall Irish coffee glass. Top with fresh hot coffee and finish with whipped cream on top. Garnish with cinnamon stick and power.
Well, I’m not a widow, but I’ve definitely been having a bitter sort of week. Thereby, it’s a Bitter Widow sort of day by default! It’s oh-so-pretty and from the ingredients looks like it packs a punch which is just what I’m looking for.
Ingredients: – 1 part Campari – 1 part sweet vermouth – 1 part vodka – Ice – Orange twist, for garnish (optional)
Instructions: Combine Campari, vermouth, and vodka in a cocktail shaker and stir. Pour into a chilled cocktail glass over ice. Garnish with an orange twist and serve.
Nestled comfortably in the Eola Hills, just west of Salem, Oregon, you will find The Cost Vineyard. A low-yield producer of premium quality, fully estate grown Pinot Noir.
While I don’t doubt the quality and taste of their wine, what I’m in love with are their bottles. Wine labels in general fascinate me, but when one goes against the norm – as in anything – it really grabs my attention. Cost Vineyard accomplishes this by using “newspaper clippings” that strategically place their name on the bottle in small type that you might otherwise miss. Point proven: bigger and bolder isn’t always better.
Absinthe is something that I’ve always wanted to try – maybe something about it being illegal in the States until not long ago?? Apparently Ernest Hemingway was a big fan of the green libation and created the first version of Death in the P.M., named after his novel Death in the Afternoon. The ratio of alcohol here has been altered (E.H.’s was a bit much), but otherwise it’s an extremely easy cocktail to mix up and enjoy.
Ingredients: – 1 part absinthe or other anise-flavored liqueur – 10 parts chilled brut sparkling wine
Instructions: Pour absinthe in a chilled champagne glass. Top with sparkling wine and serve.
The XOXOXO is the star of the Valentine’s Edition of On the Rocks. This singleton predicts she’ll be making some of these lovelies for her and the girls tomorrow night. Here’s to the single life!
Ingredients: – Champagne – 1 1/2 oz. Hennessy X.O. – 1 small ripe mission fig* – 1/2 oz. Mymoune Rose Syrup – 1/2 oz fresh lemon juice – 1 oz. Moet & chandon White Star – Thinly sliced star fruit
In a cocktail shaker, muddle fruit (pits removed) with syrups. Add Hennessy X.O., lemon juice and ice. Shake them well and strain over ice into a cocktail glass. Top with champagne and garnish with slice of star fruit. * A plum, prune or other red fresh in season fruit may be substituted.
I’m not a big whiskey drinker – bad experience, long story – but this DC Buzz looks yummy. Oe else I’m just a sucker for the sugared rim and cool glass.
Ingredients: – 2 1/2 parts Jim Beam Black bourbon – 1/4 part triple sec – 1/2 part fresh lemon juice – 1/2 part blueberry juice – 1/2 part lavender honey simple syrup – dash of orange bitters – sugar for rimming
Mix all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Strain into a chilled martini glass rimmed with sugar.
The label on the back of Oxford Landing’s wine bottles is brilliant. Tear the little tab off of it as either a reminder of wine you liked and want to buy again or as a keepsake for the occasion. Smart design at work, my friends.
