Bourbon and Spicy Ginger Soda

For Paul's birthday, I knew I wanted to make a cocktail that featured his favorite bourbon--Woodford Reserve. So I found an intriguing recipe in Hugh Acheson's "A New Turn in the South: Southern Flavors Reinvented for Your Kitchen": Maker's Mark and Spicy Ginger Soda. I didn't have the fresh ripe peaches or the drink's eponymous bourbon. But I knew Paul would love the ginger so I went ahead with what I had:

1/2 pound of fresh ginger
1 cup turbinado sugar
6 oz of bourbon
4 oz of soda water/seltzer

Prep the ginger by peeling it and ideally finely grating it. Man, this is a lot of work.  As someone who doesn't work with ginger in such large quantities often, this was a LOT of work.  I ended up mincing it as much as I could because grating it seemed to just make a weird stringy mess where I was losing the juice.

Bring 1 cup of water, the minced or grated ginger, and the turbinado sugar to boil.  Don't be surprised-it's going to be a lot of ginger in the pot.  Turn off heat and let it steep for an hour. Strain off the ginger pieces and save the syrup.

Fill two glasses with ice. Add 3 oz of bourbon and 1 fat spoonful of ginger syrup and stir. Add 2 oz of soda water. Stir gently, find a place to get comfortable, and enjoy.  Ideally outside with friends and family.

The remaining ginger syrup will last in the fridge for 2 weeks--my daughter loved making fresh ginger soda with the syrup and seltzer.  So much tastier than the canned variety.

Good Friend punch

I love a good spiked punch.

It's one of my favorite ways to serve cocktails to a group. Folks can serve their own serving size and I think it's makes it more about a social party than straight up drinking. When I lived in New York, my roommate, Dan, and I used to make a wine cooler every July 4th--we'd kind of wing it with a jug of Carlo Rossi and a bunch of juice and fruit. Then we'd pour it back into empty bottles and slap on a homemade label ("Dan and Fran's Freedom Cooler!"), and bring it to a July 4th rooftop party somewhere. Best July 4th memories.

Anyhoo, wine coolers and spiked punches are easy to serve on the fly for impromptu parties. Personally speaking, it's easier to keep a bottle of liquor or wine in the cabinet than a 12 pack of beer on hand in the fridge. Plus, it's easy to make it delicious!

Above is a pic of a punch I made visiting some friends in SoCal last month with what I found in the liquor cabinet and juice and fruit I bought and mixed it up in a soup pot. The measurements are approximations because the beauty of such punches is it's not exact science:

- 3 quarts of cranberry-pomegranate juice
- 1 cup of light rum
- 1 cup of Hpnotiq liquer
- 1 cup of Grand Marnier liquer
- 1 cup of DiSaronno liquer
- cut up fruit (like an orange, lime, lemon, and berries)

You can add some ice to help chill it (or dilute it) or add ice when serving. Enjoy!