OLYMPICS COCKTAIL RECIPE: The Caipirinha

What’s your weekend cocktail? For the next three weeks, when watching the Olympics, it could be the Caipirinha, the national cocktail of Brazil. It’s made with the national’s official spirit, cachaça. In the U.S., cachaça is considered “Brazilian rum,” but don’t call it that in front of a Brazilian! Rum is distilled from molasses, the…
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TIP OF THE DAY: Mix Up Some Coolers

[1] Blackberry cooler (photo courtesy FreidaFroo.Wordpress.com). [2] A peach wine cooler (here’s the recipe from TasteOfHome.com). [3] Watermelon cooler with green tea and white wine (photo courtesy Serendipitea.com). [4] Commercial wine coolers: the lowest common denominator (photo courtesy Majestic Brands).   WHAT’S A COOLER? Short for wine cooler, a cooler is a tall drink typically…
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COCKTAIL RECIPE: Fizzy Lemonade With Sambuca

Each weekend we try a new cocktail recipe. Last weekend it was Fizzy Lemonade, a fresh lemonade made with club soda and sambuca. The recipe was sent to us by Molinari Sambuca Extra.   ANISE-FLAVORED LIQUEURS & SPIRITS Sambuca (som-BOO-kah) is an anise-flavored liqueur from Italy, one of a family of anise-flavoured alcohol that also…
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TIP OF THE DAY: Make A Shrub, a.k.a. Drinking Vinegar

There are shrubs for landscaping, and shrubs for drinking. The latter is an acidulated beverage: made with an acid such as vinegar, lemon or lime juice along with fruit juice, sugar and optional ingredients including herbs, spices and alcohol. The word is a transposition from the Arabic shurb, a cool drink. In the U.K. today,…
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TIP OF THE DAY: Make A Rickey, Cocktail Or Cocktail

When we were in college, we went often to the Brigham’s Ice Cream Parlor in Harvard Square for a Raspberry-Lime Rickey. The coffee shop craze that began in Seattle had not yet become a destination elsewhere. Rickeys were the Frappuccinos of the day. To us, a Rickey was raspberry syrup mixed into club soda with…
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