These days, there’s no shortage of stunt cocktails out there—drinks made with zany, unusual ingredients: Sweet peas! Bacon! Hen-of-the-woods mushroom garnish! Cotton candy! Rose foam! These exhibitionist drinks invariably scream, “Look at me!”
And, yes, while I’m often the first one at the bar to order a stunt cocktail, it’s not what I want to serve at a dinner party. For that, I want something elegant, understated, and most importantly, something that complements food. But not a complete introverted wallflower of a drink, either—I want something delicious and balanced, a drink that can hold its own.
Enter the Sparkling Ginger Daisy cocktail. This drink, with a hint of warm ginger and sprightly champagne, is what I want my guests sipping while the Macy*s Thanksgiving Day Parade is on, and the turkey is still roasting. And as everyone’s sampling my signature cornbread stuffing laced with rosemary, as well as my sweet potato casserole sprinkled with ginger and cinnamon, they’ll be washing it all down with these daisies.
The drink starts with equal parts crisp gin and zingy Domaine de Canton ginger liqueur. (I love this stuff. If you buy one new bottle of booze this holiday season, I say this is the one.) Add to this a splash of tart lemon juice for balance and grenadine for rosy, festive color, and top with the lightness of bubbles. Together, these flavors meld together into a sippable sparkler that becomes an easy guest at the dinner table.
It doesn’t scream, it doesn’t whisper. It’s a perfect conversationalist.
| Spice & Ice | Chronicle Books, 2009 | Makes 1 cocktail
A daisy is a classic juice-based cocktail sweetened with grenadine or a red liqueur, and often topped with sparkling wine. Here, the bright spice of ginger plays against a backdrop of bubbles for a festive holiday sparkler. And if you feel like gilding the lily, try one or both of the optional special touches below.—Kara Newman
Active time: 5 minutes Total time: 5 minutes
Sparkling Ginger Daisy Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 ounce Plymouth gin
- 1 ounce Domaine de Canton ginger liqueur
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon grenadine
- Brut champagne
Directions
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1. Combine the gin, ginger liqueur, lemon juice, and grenadine in an ice-filled mixing glass.
2. Stir until well chilled, and strain into a champagne flute.
3. Top with champagne.
Optional touches:
1. Rim the flute with sparkling sugar before pouring in the drink.
2. Garnish with a cherry at the bottom of the flute.
- Pomegranate Martini from For the Love of Food
- French 75 Champagne Cocktail from Wasabimon
- Cranberry Cosmopolitan from Leite’s Culinaria
- Sgroppino | Lemon Chill from Leite’s Culinaria
Sparkling ginger daisy recipe © 2009 Kara Newman. Photo © 2009 Antonis Achilleos. All rights reserved.
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