Tag

Cocktails

Browsing

This summer sangria makes for a beautiful botanical sangria! While you can certainly make this peach & orange blossom sangria as a single serve cocktail, it also works great in a batch!

This drink was first featured in my Instagram project #NightcapwithJenni. Follow along each Sunday evening when I share a new beverage and some things I’ve been thinking about in my Instastories!

This post is not sponsored by the companies with products featured. There are some affiliate links in this post, affiliate links give a small portion of products purchased to this blog. Thank you for supporting this blog! This recipe is created for those of legal drinking age. Please drink responsibly.

Summer and sangria = perfect pairing. While we are not technically at summer yet, lately we’ve had some gorgeous weather and I’ve been soaking it in! I’ve greatly been enjoying my newly decorated outdoor deck area. Having a cocktail and good book in hand has only made me enjoy it more!

Ingredients of Peach and Orange Blossom Sangria including frozen sliced peaches, mint, peach and citrus soda, reisling, and peach and orange blossom voda.

Summer Sangria Ingredient Choices

Typically a sangria is going to feature both a wine and some sort of liquor. Often you’ll see a beautiful red wine and brandy or orange liquor. I chose to make a bit of a lighter sangria with this combo of vodka and Riesling. I think it is a good fit for a summer cocktail!

I’m a sucker for a good Instagram or Facebook ad. One Friday afternoon (right before my husband got off work) I had scrolled through my feed and saw an ad for Ketel One Botanical vodkas and I simply had to have him pick it up on the way home! Ketel One (I think recently) released three botanical vodkas (Grapefruit & Rose, Cucumber & Mint, and Peach & Orange Blossom) they feature no artificial flavors, no artificial sweeteners, no sugar…. to me that is the ideal type of infused vodka.

I knew I immediately wanted to pair the vodka with a peach soda of sorts, but also knew it would need a little sweetness. In came one of my favorite Rieslings… A to Z Winework’s Oregon Reisling. I’ve been a fan of A to Z Wineworks for their affordable but tasty Oregon wines but also because of their commitment to be a business with intention. They are a four time – B Corp ‘Best for the World’ business. B Cor’s work to be sustainable,healthy businesses for good workers, the community, and the environment.

Sangria served over crushed ice and garnished with mint and peach.

How to Make a Peach and Orange Blossom Sangria

Read on to see ingredients and directions for a pitcher of this Peach and Orange Blossom Sangria as well as directions for a single serve cocktail. The pitcher of Sangria serves approximately 6 glasses.

Pitcher of Sangria Ingredients:

  • 9 oz Ketel One Peach & Orange Blossom Vodka
  • 18 oz Riesling (on the sweeter side) I used A to Z Wineworks Riesling
  • 4.5 oz Simple Syrup
  • 1 Can Fresca Peach Citrus Soda* (Affiliate Link) Or any peach or orange flavored soda water… Fresca is slightly sweet, but that lends a nice sweetness to this sangria)
  • Frozen Peaches
  • Mint for garnish

Pitcher of Peach Orange Blossom Sangria Directions:

  1. Pour the vodka, Riesling, simple syrup and frozen peaches into a pitcher and chill.
  2. Right before serving, add the Peach and Citrus Soda.
  3. Serve over ice — I chose to serve over crushed ice as it is much more festive!
  4. Garnish with mint.

Single Serving of Peach Orange Blossom Sangria:

  1. Pour 1.5 oz Peach & Orange Blossom vodka, 3 oz Riesling, .75 oz simple syrup in shaker with ice. Shake.
  2. Pour into a glass — no need to strain.
  3. Top with approximately 2 oz of Peach and Citrus soda.
  4. Garnish with a slice of frozen peach and a sprig of mint.
Sangria served with peach and mint featuring ingredients.

Prefer it in a martini glass served up instead of a glass of ice?

Simply wait to add in the soda water, pour into a shaker with ice and shake vigorously (You are trying to melt the ice a bit in the process of chilling the cocktail and mixing ingredients.) Then strain into a chilled martini glass and garnish with a peach and mint spring.

What is your favorite summer drink go to? Share in the comments or @ me, @JenniBost!

And don’t forget to check in this upcoming Sunday around 6 PM PST (or the week after) for this week’s #NightcapwithJenni. I’d love to have you in the conversation.

If you are visiting from Pinterest… welcome! So glad you found our little party. I hope you’ll stick around for more by signing up for our Well Crafted Newsletter.

Happy Valentine’s Day! Today is one of my favorite holidays. Not for all the mushy stuff. That is great and all, but that isn’t what I love about today. I love chocolate, sweets, red, pink, decadent foods, the phrase ‘I love you!,’ little notes of love, and so much more.

When I was a little girl my dad always made a point of getting my sister and I something small for Valentine’s Day each year. Even when we couldn’t really afford anything, he made a point to tell his girls we were special this day. When I got a little older I loved making valentine’s for my friends. I might have tried my best at hiding a crush or two within friendly valentines. I guess I was pretty good at the hiding part of it all, because no one ever seemed like they found out! Whooops.

It never was a “romantic” time even after meeting my husband. I worked in the restaurant industry for so long that Valentine’s Day usually meant I had to work. Because of that time I never really like to go out on Valentine’s Day. I prefer to stop by the grocery store and grab some delicious ingredients that we don’t get to use often. Tonight is no exception. Tonight I’m going to run by Whole Foods for their Steak & Lobster special (seriously, once you see this Herb-Roasted Lobster Steak recipe you’ll want it too!) and bunch of their roses that are on sale. We are doing a small dinner party with friends. I can’t wait!

How to Make an Amaretto Sour - A Well Crafted Party

In planning my menu for tonight I knew I wanted to use one of my most beloved liqueurs in a drink. Amaretto is one of my favorite ways to give a little sweetness to a drink. Amaretto is a sweet almond-flavored liquor that is made from a base of apricot pits or almonds or both. Funnily enough though sweet and delicious the name Amaretto comes from the Italian word Amaro meaning bitter.

Good ole’ wikipedia says this of the word, “Conflation of amaro (“bitter”) and amore (“love”) has led to associations with romance.” I guess I’m just going to be a part of all those people that have trouble distinguishing the two, because I definitely amore my Amaretto.

I’ve always believed drinking a good Amaretto Sour felt like enjoying a really great make-out-session. Don’t believe me? Make one and find out! Or, scroll down a little further and find ways that Amaretto can enhance other favorite beverages to make them even more lovely.

How to Make an Amaretto Sour - A Well Crafted Party

How to make an Amaretto Sour:

Ingredients:

  • 2 oz Amaretto
  • 3/ 4 to 1 oz home-made Sour Mix (to taste)
  • A good maraschino cherry (check out my thoughts on a good maraschino cherry here)
  • Orange Slice (optional- I just love the flavor of orange and amaretto
  • Ice

Directions:

  1. Pour the amaretto and sour over ice. Crushed ice gives this drink even more ‘kissability’. I like to garnish with a a good maraschino cherry and a slice of orange!

How to Make an Amaretto Sour - A Well Crafted Party

Use Amaretto in these drinks to make them even more lovely:

  • Margaritas— Enhance the orange flavors and lend some sweet to your sour by adding Amaretto to your Margarita. To make a great margarita with Amaretto rim your glass with sugar rather than salt and pour the following ingredients over ice or blend in a blender together: 1 1/4 oz tequila, 3/4 oz amaretto, 2 oz sour, and 1 0z of fresh orange juice. YUM.
  • Spiked Coffee— Put 3/4 oz to 1 oz of amaretto in a hot coffee, top with a dollop of freshly mixed whipped cream and top with a dash of nutmeg.
  • Sidecar — Someday I’ll share my very favorite side car recipe with you… but, for now, consider trading out the cognac in a sidecar with Amaretto! To make pour the following ingredients over ice in a shaker, shake, and then strain into a chilled and sugar rimmed martini glass. Garnish with a twist of orange peel. Ingredients: 1 3/4 oz Amaretto, 1 oz Orange Liqueur, and 1/2 oz fresh squeezed lemon juice. So good.

Have the happiest of Valentine’s Day… may it be sweet and not sour at all!

Do you have a favorite drink featuring this lovely liqueur Amaretto? Comment below with your recipe!

Need more drink ideas? Check out all of my cocktail recipes!

12 Days of Christmas DIYs // A Well Crafted Party

This post is the second in my series of the 12 Days of Christmas DIYs for A Well Crafted Party. Check in each day for the next 12 Days for new DIY posts. There will be LOTS of free printables to boot! (Check out yesterday’s post: “Natural Green & White Holiday Party + Free Printables“)


Festive Holiday Drink Garnish // A Well Crafted Party

A good garnish will take a simple boring beverage (take, water for instance) and make it something special. I like most of my garnishes to be simple to make, because who has time to spend on creating intricate and fussy drink garnishes? Not me!

Festive Holiday Drink Garnish with Cranberries

To make your water glass pop or to give a festive twist to a Vodka and Soda on the rocks, try adding cranberries to your ice-cube tray and making cranberry ice.

Cranberry Ice Instructions // A Well Crafted Party

There is actually one or two steps in this ultra-easy DIY because cranberries will float the the top of your ice cubes and look pretty silly in your drink unless you take the time to freeze in steps. Why not just throw cranberries in a pitcher? They’ll all float to the top! The ice cubes will float as well, but it will look more evenly distributed throughout the pitcher.

Cranberry Ice Cube DIY // A Well Crafted Party

Directions for making cranberry filled ice cubes:

  1. Using distilled water or previously boiled water (freezes more clearly than tap water) fill your ice cube tray about 1/4 of the way full.
  2. Drop in a handful of cranberries in each cube area.
  3. Freeze (you don’t need to freeze overnight, but you do want the ice cubes to be solid before adding more water or partial cubes will float up.)
  4. After freezing add more water (fill until the cubes are 3/4 full, leaving a little space for more water) and cranberries. Freeze again.
  5. Finally, fill with just water so that the cranberries are entirely covered.

This doesn’t need to be perfect. I had a few cubes where I didn’t layer quite right and the berries poked out of the bottom a bit. It still looked festive in the water pitcher!

Cranberry Drink Garnish DIY // A Well Crafted Party

Need an ice-cube tray?

(affiliate links)

When discussing this DIY project with someone else I found out that not everyone has ice cube trays! Some people have super cool machines that will MAKE ice for them! (AMAZING.) But, you will need ice cube trays to make this project work. I like the idea of trying out the large cube trays (like the ones in the above picture) or a spherical tray to make a festive ice ball!

Do you want to see more from this Holiday Styled Shoot?

Photos from this project was from a recent Holiday Styled Shoot collaboration between myself and Suzannah of Create/Enjoy and Macey from Motormouth Studio. Check out my main post with links to DIY projects & recipes: “Natural Green and White Holiday Party + Free Printables”