Sassy Summer Cocktails using Elderflower Liqueur

My lovely neighbor tipped me off to a hip cocktail ingredient - St. Germain (Elderflower liqueur). She said she loved it with vodka and grapefruit juice in a Bichon Frisè (no, not the white puffy poodle). Yum! Shortly thereafter I was able to find St. Germain (there are also other cheaper brands of elderflower liqueur which are worth checking out) and the floral sweet nectar was immediately a favorite of mine. Now I see St. Germain everywhere - my Kroger carries it, Costco was giving away a mini bottle when you bought a bottle of Bombay - so probably it's not new to everyone else, but I am excited to have found it.

One great use for St. Germain is in a white sangria. I had a few opportunities to make a batch of sangria for a party this summer. Using St. Germain in sangria is a must.try.now situation, it adds floral punch that really makes the drink special. The first time I made it, it was so good, that I toted a bottle of St Germain all the way around Lake Michigan on a road trip "in case I needed to spring into action and make a batch of sangria." The opportunity did arise and no drops of sangria were left behind. This version of white sangria is called Sangria Flora due to the wonderful addition of elderflower liqueur. You can substitute any fruits that you'd like to try, I'm pretty sure it will be wonderful no matter what you try.



Sangria Flora

1 bottle Pinot Grigio
1 1/2 cups St. Germain/elderflower liqueur
2 peaches, sliced thinly
handful of strawberries, sliced
1 cup raspberries
1 orange halved and sliced thinly

Mix all ingredients together and for bonus flavor: let the flavors marry overnight.
Serve over ice.

My second fabulous must-try cocktail using St. Germain is the Grapefruit Buck. It's kind of like a moscow mule-meets-bichon frisè. We were out on a fabulous fancy dinner at the Capital Grille for our 10 year anniversary when I saw the Grapefruit Buck on their menu. I'm in love with any drink that has ginger and this was described as "Absolute ruby red vodka, elderflower liqueuer, ginger beer, and lime." It was delightfully refreshing, a little spicy and tart, a little sweet - delicious! This was easy to replicate at home and another fabulous drink to put into a copper mule mug (although the pale pink color is perfectly attractive for a glass). I didn't have ruby red vodka so I improvised:


Grapefruit Buck
1 1/2 oz vodka (or gin)
3/4 oz St Germaine 
2 oz grapefruit juice
3 oz ginger beer
squeeze of lime

Enjoy these elderflower delights!

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