Fruit cocktail

Well, it is about time. After years of having to justify delicious fruity chick drinks to the hard line scoffers, Reuters runs an article stating that researchers have discovered that alcohol added to fruit improves the antioxidant properties of the fruit! Makes it BETTER for you than just the fruit alone! ENHANCES it! 

HA!

A pox! on all those who smirked at our girlie Strawberry Daiquiris and Peach Margaritas! Fie! to the bartender’s whine at the need to make frozen drinks! Step off! to those who look askance on the adding of rum to my blueberries and Post Toasties!

This is great news to all those, women AND men, who enjoy an alcoholic beverage made with actual fruit, particularly on the cusp of summer. So let’s talk about how we improve our health, our mood and our outlook on life with a little soused fruit:

Strawberries: Of course, there are the ubiquitous Daq’s and Marg’s mentioned above. But try something new instead of the usual rum and tequila. Use Amaretto or Limoncello or peach schnapps instead. Blend up strawberries, cream and Grand Marnier for a play on Strawberries Romanoff. Use any number of the flavored vodkas, rums or, now, even tequilas on the market.. there are only about 2,466,395 of them...pick one and make your own signature drink.

Bananas: Mix with coconut rum or spiced rum or blend them with Godiva Chocolate liqueur and cream. Add bananas to any fruit drink for more depth of flavor. Vanilla vodka would work or make a classic Banana Banshee with fresh bananas, white Crème de Cacao, cream and rum...but use a flavored rum to sex it up. Lemon or peach rum sounds like it might work, as does Bärenjäger Honey Liqueur or the Godiva White. 

Blackberries and Raspberries: Get some frozen berries, add ‘99 Blackberries’ liqueur or

Chambord

or raspberry vodka, a bit of sour and a splash of Cointreau. Blend for a few seconds, then strain into a martini glass... all the flavor of fresh berries, pleasantly cool, with booze and no seeds! Bonus! Or make an infusion with assorted mixed berries and Bonny Doon Framboise. Let it sit in the frig for a week or two, then strain out the liquor to drink and spoon the drunken berries over shortcake and ice cream. This will change your life.

Peaches: Nothing you do with peaches could be better than a fresh Bellini. The easiest and fastest way to get one in yer belly is to make a puree of fresh (peeled) or frozen peaches and DeKuyper Peachtree Schnapps; spoon a teaspoon into a champagne flute and top with sparkling wine or champagne. Don’t like wine? Try Lindemans Peche Lambic instead.

Watermelon: Relive those long-lost days of your youth with this frat house staple. Drill a core into a watermelon and turn a bottle of your favorite rum upside down into it and let the booze permeate the melon for a few hours. We used 151, but that’s because we didn’t own a moral. Just make sure the kinder don’t mistake it for the unspiked version, because it would wipe them out and shut them down. And that would be bad. Ummm.... yeah.... bad.

Blueberries: I have found that blueberries don’t mix well into drinks because of the toughness of their skins, so these are best used in infusions, where they can impart their delicate flavor and color without having to choke down the leathery skins. Just give them a little crush before adding them to the jar so they can macerate well. 

Citrus Fruits: Again, these should be reserved for infusions. Experiment with blood oranges, Meyer lemons, Clementines, Key Limes, Kumquats, etc and different rums and vodkas... don’t be afraid to use a pre-flavored spirit or liqueur, as that will give you a good base of flavor which the addition of freshly infused fruit can only enhance. Mix it up... infuse a lime vodka with Mandarin oranges. Or a vanilla rum with Clementines. Or double up a blood orange vodka with fresh blood oranges. Your imagination is the only limit.

And don’t limit your infusion enthusiasm to just spirits! Make fun summer quaffs by infusing red, white, pink or sparkling wines with fresh fruits. Then serve the infusions on the rocks with club soda and a complementary fruit garnish or mixed with spirits for Winetini’s, the latest, coolest cross-category amalgamations!  

There’s a whole universe of options out there to play with. Pick a fruit, a spirit and anything that sounds like it would complement and go to town.

After all, you are doing this for the noble cause of vindicating all those years of being scoffed at for your FuFu drink. Do it for the girlie-girls and the girlie-men. Do it because you don’t care what anyone says, you like your cocktails cool and light and fruity. Do it because it’s better for you and more fun then eating an apple a day. Do it for your health, heart and head. Just do it. Doctor’s orders.