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Easy Bloody Mary Bar for the Holidays // A Well Crafted Party
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Saturday Spirits: Bloody Mary Bar with Powell & Mahoney

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Easy Bloody Mary Bar for the Holidays // A Well Crafted Party

Disclosure: Powell & Mahoney shared a  complimentary bottle of their Limited Bloody Mary mix for review purposes. All opinions are my own. Links may be affiliate links. Purchases made from affiliate links help support this blog. Thanks for reading! 

Anyone else have the realization that this is the last weekend before the crazy hits? Just me? Couldn’t be.

This weekend is my prep weekend to make it through the next two months. On my calendar I’ve got 3 parties, two photoshoots, 1 fun holiday blog series (with 12 free printables!), holiday visitors, holiday gifts to buy… well, you get the idea. Today is all about prepping the house, the blog, and my holiday gift/card lists. Bring on the bloody marys!

Easy Bloody Mary Bar for the Holidays // A Well Crafted Party

Make a Quick Bloody Mary Bar for Busy Holiday Prep Days

Sometimes I like to take the time to make my own bloody mary mix. I enjoy trying different spices and ingredients. However, I’m a big believer in making life as easy as possible while preserving the tastiness… so, when I find a good bloody mary mix I stock up to bring out as needed. This Siracha Bloody Mary Mix by Powell & Mahoney is exactly what I’d make for myself…. without all the work!

The holiays are surrounded by days where a quick bloody mary bar will be welcome to all involved. Having the family over for a day of cooking for Thanksgiving? Set up the bloody mary bar and a coffee bar for a fun way to start Thanksgiving. Lots of adults trying to stay awake on Christmas morning? Make the early morning wake up easier by setting out your favorite bloody mary mix, some Vodka and/or Tequila and some easy garnishes. DONE.

Easy Bloody Maria // A Well Crafted Party

Lately I’ve really been digging Bloody Marias instead of my normal bloody mary. What’s the difference? Tequila!

Easy Bloody Maria or Easy Bloody Mary

Ingredients: 

  • Glass with Ice
  • Rimming Salt (optional)
  • 1 1/4 oz Tequila (for Bloody Maria) OR 1 1/4 oz Vodka (for Bloody Mary)
  • 4 oz Bloody Mary Mix (I used Powell & Mahooney Limited Sriracha Bloody Mary Mix)
  • Garnishes of choice! I used Bacon, pickled carrots, jalapeno olives, salami, lemons & limes. Other garnishes that would be great include celery, pickles, pickled green beans… the list goes on and on.

Directions: 

  1. Rim glass with salt (optional) by rubbing a lemon around the edge and dipping into rimming salt
  2. Pour Bloody Mary Mix & Liquor of choice over ice
  3. Stir mixture
  4. Top with Garnish & Enjoy!

Easy Bloody Mary Bar for the Holidays // A Well Crafted Party

 

Okay, now I’m off to work on that to-do list!

What are your plans for this weekend before the holiday business begins?

 

 

 

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Pear and Apple Cider Sangria // A Well Crafted Party
A Well Crafted Pantry

Saturday Spirits: Pear & Apple Cider Sangria

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Pear and Apple Cider Sangria // A Well Crafted Party

I had a really difficult time figuring out the name for this drink. It is similar to a punch, but I made it in singles. Sort of a sangria, but I don’t know many sangrias with bourbon in them. So, name it whatever you want… but, it is a tasty fall beverage!

Every year it begins to really feel like Fall to me when I get to attend the local Pear and Apple festival at the Portland Nursery. I load up on apples and pears and incorporate them in EVERYTHING until I run out. One year I bought 60 lbs of apples and pears and ended up making a ton of apple sauce, apple butter, apple pies, and many apple desserts. This year I knew that my kitchen time would be limited so I didn’t indulge quite as much as I’d have liked to… but, we did enjoy the Hard Apple Cider tasting and came home with a 20 lbs of apples and pears as well as a few delicious ciders and wines.

A few of those purchases are featured in this drink. I’m hoping that you are able to find these brands because they are fantastic, but if not then I’d suggest looking at the flavor profile and finding something similar near you. This drink is totally worth it.

Pear and Apple Cider Sangria // A Well Crafted Party

Ingredients:

(Makes 1 Beverage– Though, you can multiple by 4 easily to make a pitcher!)

  • 1 1/4 oz Bourbon (I used Buffalo Trace)
  • 2 oz Pear Wine (I used Bull Run Pear Wine )
  • 3 oz Hard Apple Cider ( I used Shilling Oak Aged Cider )
  • Squeeze of 1 large lemon slice
  • Sliced, ripe pears (I used Anjou pears and had about 4-5 slices per glass)
  • Glass with ice

Directions:

  1. Fill a glass with ice, putting in slices of pear along the way
  2. Fill glass with Bourbon, Pear Wine, and Hard Apple Cider
  3. Give it a stir and enjoy!

Don’t forget to eat those tasty pears once your drink is gone!

Pear and Apple Cider Sangria // A Well Crafted Party

About Shilling Oak Aged Cider: The hard cider is finished in 100% NW Oak. It has a smokey cinnamon flavor profile with clove and vanilla. It would be considered a semi-dry cider. There is a bit of the apple taste still there, but not nearly as sweet as some ciders.

About Bull Run Pear Wine: The Bull Run Pear wine is from Oregon! It is a sweet ice wine.  I’d say this is a nice sweet, smooth dessert wine without the punch of a brandy. Loved it.

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Sparkling Lollipop Cocktail // A Well Crafted Party
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Saturday Spirits: Lollipop Sparkling Cocktails

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Wow! It has been a couple weeks since I’ve last shared a Saturday Spirits. I didn’t quite mean to go on a hiatus… but, it happened. Anywho, I’m bringing you one awesome cocktail today, so the wait will have been worth it. A few weeks ago I created these Lollipop Sparkling Cocktails for my “Hey Girl-Ryan Gosling Themed Birthday Party.”

Sparkling Lollipop Cocktail // A Well Crafted Party

First I made lollipops using Raft Botanical Cocktail and Soda Syrups for the flavoring. This was my first successful time making candy… and, boy it is fun, easy and TASTY. I discovered that patience really was the key to making candy right. Well, that and a candy thermometer.

Once your lollipops are done the hard part of this cocktail is completed. All that is left is creating a tasty rimming sugar and pouring your favorite sparkling wine! These make for a really festive cocktail. There are quite a few recipes and how to’s below. Don’t let them intimidate you. The whole process is much easier than it sounds when you look at a huge blog post.

Sparkling Lollipop Cocktails // A Well Crafted Party

How to Make Lollipops

To make lollipops you just need a few essential tools. I made my lollipops with molds because I wanted to have a very precise look to them. However, you could use this powdered sugar method as well! For flavoring I really wanted to avoid using artificial or concentrated flavoring. I opted to test out creating the pops out of my Raft cocktail syrups and was thrilled with the way they turned out. (Affiliate Links Below)

Tools: 

Ingredients: 

  • 2 Cups Sugar
  • 2 Tablespoons Corn Syrup
  • 1 3/4 Cup Water
  • 3 Tablespoons Raft Botanical Cocktail Syrup (I used Lemon Ginger for one set & Hibiscus Lavender for another)
  • Extra sugar and syrup to create rimming sugar

Directions: 

  1. Prep your candy molds by spraying with vegetable oil (non flavored!) and placing the lollipop sticks.
  2. In a saucepan combine sugar, corn syrup and water over medium to medium-high heat. Stir to keep it from overheating or sticking. Burnt sugar will quickly make happy candy-making time into throwing out a pan and dealing with a stench time.
  3. Heat the sugar, stirring, until the candy thermometer reads just about 305 degrees. You don’t need to keep the candy thermometer in there the entire time, but once it starts to boil a bit it is a good idea to get that in there. You don’t want it to get past the hard-candy stage. Once the thermometer reads 305 go ahead and add in the Raft syrup. Stir into the mixture and watch the thermometer closely.
  4. Once the thermometer reads between 310-320 degrees remove the mixture from the heat. using a spoon pour the mixture into the molds. Be very careful… liquid candy burns are not a pretty thing. You’ll want to do this part while the mixture is hot, I recommend buying several lollipop molds. I ended up making about 24 lollipops per batch.
  5. Once the candy has cooled the lollipops are ready to eat! We stored ours on wax paper in a sealed container for about 2 weeks and they still tasted awesome. Though, try to keep them separated as they will stick together. You can also just buy some candy wraps and wrap them up nicely!

Sparkling Lollipop Cocktail // A Well Crafted Party

How to Make Rimming Sugar

A good sparkling cocktail needs some sugar to it. The lollipop will give the cocktail sugar and flavor… but, it won’t be immediate. The rimming sugar helps drive the flavor until the lollipop can do its magic. It also looks pretty too!

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup Granulated sugar
  • 1- 2 teaspoons Raft Syrup
  • Lemon zest (use a microplane and it takes no time at all!)

Directions:

  1. Mix ingredients well… breaking up any clumps that might have formed from the liquid
  2. Lay out flat on a plate or baking sheet until mixture has totally dried. It can then be stored in an airtight container for about a week or so.

Sparkling Lollipop Cocktail // A Well Crafted Party

Lollipop Sparkling Cocktail Recipe

Ingredients:

Directions:

  1. Use the lemon wedge to ring around the glass and dip onto a plate with rimming sugar.
  2. Drop a lollipop into the glass
  3. Pour in the sparkling wine!
  4. If you’d like a little more kick then add in 3/4 oz of Limoncello Liqueur
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