Kungsholm Cocktail

 

This is a lovely cocktail that plays up sweetness and spiciness with a nice balance and fruit. The theme for the ingredients and the flavor experience is Nordic, with Kungsholmen meaning "Kings Island" in Swedish and Swedish Punsch as the principal ingredient. This drink commemorates a small lake island in the heart of Stockholm!

For this cocktail, I made a rich raspberry syrup. I began by crushing raspberries in boiling water and adding sugar until the syrup was thick and sweet. Then it was a simple matter of straining out the solids and adding a teaspoon of vodka to act as a preservative. 

For the rest of the drink, I North Fork rye by Glacier Distillery and my homemade Swedish Punsch. By happy accident, there is a bit of smokey lapsang souchong tea mixed in with the Three Tea whiskey by MurLarkey distillery, which provided part of the liquor and flavor of this "quick" punsch recipe. 

• 1 oz. rye (North Fork used)
• 1 oz. Swedish Punsch
• 2 oz. orange juice
• 1/2 oz. raspberry syrup
• several dashes Pernod (Ricard used)

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. 

Faux Kir / Faux Kir Royale (Non-Alcoholic)

This mocktail can be done in two ways: the Faux Kir with grape juice and raspberry syrup, and the Faux Kir Royale with sparkling cider and raspberry syrup. Both are good if you make your own raspberry syrup from fresh raspberries cooked in water and sugar and mashed. You get this brilliant color and the taste of real raspberries on top of whatever juice you pick.

• 1 1/2 oz. raspberry syrup
•  sparkling cider (Faux Kir Royale or white grape juice (Faux Kir)
• lemon twist

Pour syrup into a chilled wine glass. Add a half glass of juice of choice and stir gently. Twist lemon peel over the glass and drop it in. 

Moscow Mule (Monin Raspberry Syrup)

I rarely make a drink simply to use a store-bought syrup, but the Monin products I've used so far have me feeling confident that even a small addition, like raspberry syrup, can change a classic just enough to make it worth a whole post. I don't have a Mule Cup (designed by Smirnoff ages ago and proliferating again now in the cocktail scene), so just do it with whatever jar or mug you have on hand. The syrup is diluted by the ginger beer, so you only notice the flavor of the berries, not the color.

• 3 oz. vodka
• 1 tbsp. lime juice
• 1 tbsp. raspberry syrup (Monin used)
• ginger beer
• lime wedge

Pour vodka, lime juice and raspberry syrup into a mug full of ice. Top with ginger beer and garnish with the lime wedge.

Chanticleer

This is an intriguing egg white and gin flip sort of drink. At first the recipe reminded me of the Belmont, with gin, raspberry syrup and half-and-half. But it really takes on a different character when served neat on an Old Fashioned glass and made with the thickness of egg white.

For this recipe, I chose to go with store-bought raspberry syrup for convenience. And this was fine, though homemade had a richer color and flavor. I also chose to use Tanqueray Rangpur, the gin with the strong flavor or rangpur limes. I think of it as the South Asian counterpart to Bombay Sapphire's East. Chanticleer is a good drink for after dinner or for the holiday season, but it is light and bright enough to enjoy in the summer as well.

• 2 oz. dry gin (Tanqueray Rangpur used)
• 1 egg white
• 1 tbsp. raspberry syrup
• 1 oz. lemon juice

Combine all ingredients in a shaker and shake until egg white becomes frothy. Add ice and shake again until chilled. Strain into an Old Fashioned glass.

Juicy Julep

Hot days sometimes call for refreshing non-alcoholic drinks. And sometimes you want to lay off the booze without looking like you need to lay off the booze. This one fits the bill. Anybody who sees the mint in this drink will assume you have some kind of Mojito. And mint and ginger ale give the cocktail an almost-alcoholic zing. Raspberry syrup is what makes it work, though, and it is responsible for the brilliant pink color. This non-alcoholic drink is perfect for using up all those tiki ingredients before they go bad.

• 1 oz. pineapple juice
• 1 oz. orange juice
• 1 oz. lime juice
• 1/2 oz. raspberry syrup
• 5 crushed mint leaves
•  mint sprig
• ginger ale

Combine juices, crushed min and raspberry syrup in a shaker with ice. Shake and pour into a highball glass. Top with ginger ale and garnish with mint sprig.

Albermarle Fizz

So I am running out of gin, and it is only halfway through the summer! What am I to do? For this gin fizz drink, I was forced to chose my select bottle of Bombay Sapphire East, and I'm not sure the peppercorn and lemongrass infusion did justice to my homemade framboise and raspberry syrup. But then, it was complex--more so than if I had made the drink with a substandard gin.

Fresh raspberry and raspberry flavor is what this cocktail is all about. The recipe doesn't call for berry garnish, but it doesn't hurt.

• 2 oz. gin
• 1/2 oz. lemon juice
• 1 tsp. raspberry syrup
• dash of framboise
• club soda

Combine gin, lemon juice, framboise and syrup in a Collins glass full of ice. Top with soda. Garnish at will.

Love Cocktail

This is one drink that seems to live up to its name pretty well. It has a great fruity flavor and color and an awesome pink egg foam that is fun to sip through. The coupe glass really does the foam justice, too.

The thing about sloe gin is that it can get sickeningly sweet pretty quickly. Lemon juice balances that, and raspberry syrup gives the sweetness another direction that takes your taste buds away from that Icee syrup taste (you know, that red slush drink at amusement parks). So, while this was a sweet dessert drink, and not too strong, I still appreciated the thickness of the mouthfeel and the tickle of foam bubbles that seem to slosh around in corners of the rounded glass like pink caviar when the drink is empty. This cocktail is a gooey kind of love.

• 2 oz. sloe gin
• 1/2 oz. lemon juice
• 3/4 oz. raspberry syrup
• 1 egg white

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with no ice and shake until well mixed and foamy. Add ice and shake until cool. Pour into a chilled cocktail glass (coupe glass preferred.)

Belmont

I used my homemade raspberry syrup to make the Belmont, a creamy gin drink with raspberry sweetness. Interestingly it was fairly dry for a dessert drink and you almost didn't notice the cream except that it made the drink white. Pink, really... This is a New York cocktail, like the Cosmopolitan and therefore must have a little red coloring of some kind.

Dry gin and homemade raspberry syrup with its jam-like flavor gave the Belmont an old colonial style flavor and mouthfeel. That's why I was glad to use my new coupe glass for this entry. I can't say I liked the Belmont all that much, but I'm not a dessert drink drinker. I tried to pair it with cookies, but it was really dry and spicy, so it might actually do better as a before dinner drink.

• 2 oz. gin
• 1/2 oz. raspberry syrup
• 3/4 oz. half and half

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. 

Ambrosia

I love that this cocktail exists. It's one of those champagne drinks that I wouldn't think of to make and requires a lot of raspberries in the prep, but it is so worth it.

This rendition of Ambrosia is all-American, and most of it is made with Virginia spirits. I got some Lairds Old Apple Brandy, which is really rich and fruity. Plus, I used Catoctin Creek's 1757 Reserve brandy which is like a bomb of grape and oak flavors. Add to this a dry Korbel sparkling wine and raspberry syrup, and it tastes like a mouthful of fresh and dried fruits.

• 1 1/2 oz. apple brandy
• 1 1/2 oz. brandy
• 1/2 tsp. raspberry syrup
• chilled champagne or sparkling wine 

Combine brandies and syrup in a shaker with ice and shake until chilled. Strain into a chilled white wine glass and top off with champagne and garnish with raspberries. (Directions say to drop the berries in the glass, but I was afraid that the dark color of the liquor would make them look strange. Once I unloaded them into the glass and gave it a stir, though, I can see why this is the best option for drinking.)

Canadian Daisy

The Daisy is a pretty standard whiskey, lemon, soda highball. I'm not sure why the Canadian Daisy is the only one that get's raspberries and raspberry syrup, but I'll take it. I guess Canadians, as much as anyone, love their raspberries. In this way it differs from the other Daisy variations: the Star Daisy, the Vodka Daisy, the Bourbon Daisy, and the Whiskey Daisy. The difference is that where all the other drinks used grenadine, the Canadian uses raspberry syrup for color and sweetener.

• 2 oz. Canadian whiskey
• 1 tsp. brandy
• 1/2 oz. lemon juice
• 1 tsp. raspberry syrup
• sparkling water
• fresh raspberries

Combine whiskey, lemon juice and raspberry syrup in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled highball glass filled with fresh ice. Top with sparkling water and float brandy on top. Garnish with raspberries.

Gloom Lifter

What an appropriate name for a drink. It certainly was rich and fruity, like a nice flan. So it did improve my mood some. I just find it a very unusual whiskey recipe all around. Egg white, blended whiskey, raspberry liqueur...Truthfully, I used up the last of my Chambord a little while ago. Not to worry, though. The recipe calls for raspberry liqueur and simple syrup, but I have raspberry syrup, so I just used that and omitted the simple syrup.

If you do have raspberry liqueur, by all means use it. The flavor in liqueurs is more concentrated in a small amount and might provide more contrast in this silky drink. But if you are like me, a quick fix like homemade syrups means not having to run to the liquor store to buy an expensive bottle only to use such a small quantity for one drink.

• 2 oz. blended whiskey
• 1 oz. brandy
• 1 tbsp. raspberry liqueur (raspberry syrup used)
• 1/2 oz. lemon juice
• 1/2 egg white
• 1/2 oz. simple syrup (omitted)

Combine whiskey, brandy, syrup/ liqueur, egg white and simple syrup in a shaker without ice. Shake vigorously. Add ice and shake until chilled. Strain into a chilled highball glass filled with fresh ice. 

Bayard Fizz

Raspberries and raspberry syrup make this drink a fresh and summery drink. I know it is pretty much winter now, but the ripe fruit warms the heart and makes for a great fizzy drink. Luxardo helps add complexity to what would be an ordinary Gin Fizz.

• 2 oz. gin
• 1 tbsp. maraschino liqueur (Luxardo used)
• 1 tbsp. lime juice
• 1 tsp. raspberry syrup
• club soda
• fresh raspberries

Combine all ingredients except raspberries and soda in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a highball glass full of fresh ice. Top with soda and add raspberries.

Quaker Cocktail

So I didn't think Quakers were much into drinking, or that they would approve of such a hefty helping of booze in a single drink. Altogether the Quaker Cocktail has 3 1/2 oz. of 40 proof spirits. It also has raspberry syrup, which I will also include with this recipe.

On first taste, this cocktail was like love and I am happy to be experimenting with delicious pink syrups right around Valentine's Day. It seems that raspberry syrup adds both color and sweetness that is fresher and more tart than grenadine, but would make an excellent substitute in almost any occasion. Lemon juice gives it acidity and the hefty 2.5 oz. of brandy (I recommend cognac) means that it has a silkier mouthfeel than a gin or rum only drink.

• 2 1/2 oz. brandy (Courvoissier used)
• 1 1/2 oz. light rum
• 1/2 oz. lemon juice
• 1/2 oz. raspberry syrup
• lemon twist

Combine all ingredients except lemon twist in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.

For an excellent raspberry syrup, combine 1 1/2 cups of fresh raspberries, 2 cups of water and 1 cup of fine sugar in a saucepan and heat until boiling. Stir occasionally to dissolve sugar. Cut heat and allow to cool for ten minutes. Use a potato masher to smash the berries into the syrup until it is evenly mixed.

Using a fine strainer, separate the syrup from the berry seeds and store in a cool dry place.