St. Valentine’s Day is another of those holidays which seems nearly impossible to celebrate without drinking alcoholic beverages.
However, it is a “required” holiday for those of us in relationships, so you can’t just stay home. If you are non-drinker you do need something in your hands, and it would be nice if it wasn’t club soda with lime.
I thought I might try to rectify the situation by presenting a festive and delicious cocktail for non-drinkers to enjoy.
Spice 94 Valentine Fizz
1 1/2 oz Seedlip Spice 94*
3/4 oz Knudsen Just Sour Cherry Juice (or other unsweetened cherry juice)
3/4 oz Lemon Juice
1/4 oz Aquafaba**
1 Teaspoon Finely ground washed raw sugar (or to taste)***
Shake with ice and strain into an 8oz fizz glass. Top up with soda and garnish with freshly grated nutmeg.
*Seedlip Spice 94 is a flavored and distilled non-alcoholic mixer which will soon be introduced to the US markets along with its brother, Seedlip Garden. Seedlip Spice 94 is the bark, spice, and citrus forward expression. The aroma is very similar to Angostura bitters. The Seedlip company sent me samples in the hopes that I might help promote the brand for its impending release.
**”Aquafaba” is the trendy name for the liquid produced while cooking chick peas aka garbanzo beans. It creates a foam and texture similar to egg whites when added to cocktails, and, since it is made from legumes, is completely vegan & vegetarian (unless you cook your garbanzo beans with ham hocks.) The easiest way to get it is to buy a can of low sodium, organic chick peas and reserve the liquid. Do note that a small portion of the population of the world is, in fact, legitimately allergic to fava and garbanzo beans, so any use must be noted on your menus.
***Yeah, I still refuse to use refined sugar and I haven’t quite gotten to the point in restarting my drink making career where I am bothering to keep sugar syrup around. The easiest way to make super-fine sugar from washed raw or demarara sugar is just to put it in a coffee grinder, spice grinder, or blender and pulverize until it is super-fine. It will clump if it’s humid, but you could add a silica gel packet to the container.