New Year’s Eve is the time to start fresh. To reflect on all that you accomplished or wished you had accomplished. To get ready for a brand new year. We love New Year’s Eve, it’s like Mondays, the start of something that you can be awesome at.
This past year has been incredible for TMG. We are eternally thankful for every single person supporting us and showing us so much love. As a thank you we teamed up with an amazing local distillery, Yongehurst Distillery Co., to make three NYE cocktail recipes to go along with the three hors d’oeuvres in last week’s video.
Yongehurst was nice enough to give us three of their spirits to work with: Liberties Vodka, Harbours Rum and Fivewood Dry Gin. While delicious on their own,they are even more incredible in handcrafted cocktails. We spent hours testing and are sure they won’t disappoint any of your guests.
When doing our research we came across the idea of roasting oranges. It’s a technique often used to make a side with for dinner. So we thought, why not add herbs? Suddenly you have an herb-roasted orange juice paired perfectly with rum.
Ingredients
- 1 orange
- 1 tbsp fresh thyme
- 1 tbsp fresh rosemary
- 1 tbsp avocado oil
- 3/4 cup cold water
- 1/3 cup ginger beer
- 1 oz. Yongehurst Distillery Co. Harbour Rum
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350F.
- Slice your orange into wedges and add to a baking dish. Mince your fresh herbs and add to your baking dish along with your avocado oil and toss in the oranges to ensure it is all coated.
- Bake in your preheated oven for about 30 min or until the tips start to char a little bit.
- Once the oranges are done, remove them from the oven and allow to cool for about 10-20 minutes or until you can handle them. Remove the skin and place the rest in the blender along with about 3/4 cup of cold water. Blend until smooth.
- Strain your orange juice using a sieve in order to get a super smooth juice. (This will make more than enough for one juice so you can save it for non-alcoholic beverage or double up some of the other ingredients and make a double batch.)
- To your glass of choice add your rum first, then add in about 1/3 cup of your roasted orange juice and your ginger beer. Garnish with some slices of orange and a sprig of thyme.
Gin. It’s not our favourite spirit. It was one of the more difficult drinks to create because neither of us drink it. We were pleasantly surprised however with the taste of their Fivewood Dry Gin. Mixed with spiced tea, this gin pairs perfectly. We present our Tea Cranberry Tea Cocktail.
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp David's Tea Forever Nuts, divided
- 1/4 cup boiling water
- 1/3 fresh cranberry juice, or store bought
- 1.5 oz. Yongehurst Distillery Co. Fiveward Dry Gin
- 2 tsp maple syrup, if making your own cranberry juice
Instructions
- dd 1 tbsp of your tea to each of your two tea bags. Add one of the tea bags to your gin and the other to your boiling water and allow to steep. The gin should be infused for about 2 hours and the tea steeped for about 10 minutes. All the tea to completely cool before making a drink.
- If you are making fresh cranberry juice you can add about 1/2 cup of fresh cranberries with about 1/2 cup of water to a blender until smooth. Strain it through a sieve to get smooth cranberry juice. (This will make a bit more than you need for one drink)
- To put your drink together pour your gin into your desired glass along with your cranberry juice your tea and your maple syrup. (Only add maple syrup if you are using homemade unsweetened cranberry juice)
- Garnish with some fresh cranberries to serve.
Last but not least we made a cocktail using vodka. The easiest one to come up with, but just as elegant and delicious. Made with fresh blackberry juice and citrus, it will teleport you right to the middle of summer, in the middle of winter.
Ingredients
- 1/2 pint blackberries
- 3/4 cup water
- 1/3 cup sparkling lemon water
- 1 tsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 tsp agave nectar
- 1.5 oz. Yongehurst Distillery Co. Liberties Vodka
Instructions
- To a high speed blender add your blackberries and water and blend until smooth. Strain your juice using a sieve to get a smooth juice without any chunks or seeds. (This will make more than you need for just one drink)
- Put your drink together by adding your vodka to your desired glass along with your sparling lemon water, 1/3 cup of your blackberry juice mixture, lemon juice and agave nectar.