Methodless Mixology: Sangria

So on August 20th we had a HappyHour event at Kitchen Arts. Showing off two of our new products: the Barmaid and the SodaStream. The barmaid is a tool that lets you rim glasses with sugar or salt for cocktails - it comes with plain kosher salt but they have various flavors you can choose from - Cocoaberry Sugar, Spicy Chili Salt and Sweet Mint Sugar are just a few of them. The SodaStream is much like a soda siphon but instead of having to use one small CO2 charger for each litre of soda it comes with one HUGE CO2 charger and two one-litre bottles that you fill with fresh water then screw into the machine. Press the button 3 or 4 times and you've got a bottle of club soda. There are also bottles of flavored syrups you can add to turn it into regular soda. Unfortunately it's all flavored with Splenda. How that was chosen as the better alternative to HF-Corn Syrup I'll never know. I guess it's good for the market who likes diet flavored drinks. At least I can drink it - unlike anything with Aspartame, my one food allergy: with a small amount my mouth feels weird, more and I get dizzy and a headache and too much and I get a nice big migraine

It was a great time. The people from the Lime Tree Cove who make the Barmaid were a lot of fun and a bunch of our friends came.

Anyway.

We had Margaritas, Mojitos and Sangria. I was in charge of making the sangria, which I'm proud to say was a pretty big hit.

This is my recipe, which makes about a gallon; hope anyone who finds it enjoys it while there's still summer.


You'll need:

1 Gallon sized container to put everything in. (I just used a big food grade plastic bucket then transferred some to a pitcher when serving)
4 or so very ripe oranges
3 lemons
3 limes
1 pint of orange juice
1/3 of a cup + 2 tablespoons of sugar.
1/2 pint of brandy
4-6 ounces of triplesec
1 litre tonic water
3 bottles of decent full bodied dry red wine.

Rioja is best but if you can't find any in your price range I would go with a Syrah or a Shiraz... I cannot stress enough that I feel very strongly you should not use Merlot. It isn't a snobbery thing, and has nothing to do with Paul Giammatti: I only bring it up because so many people use it or suggest it but I think this is just simply the wrong wine. Every time I've had sangria made with merlot it's been kind of sour and boring. Truly - feel free to use whatever you like, but I hope you'll just trust me on this one.



-Wash and slice the fruit in roughly 1/4 inch slices.
-Put all the slices in your container and cover with the sugar.
-Pour in the brandy and triplesec, stir it all together then cover and let sit for 1-2 hours.
-Stir in the orange juice, then add the wine. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
-Stir in the tonic water just before serving.
-Serve over ice and drink with or without moderation, whichever is your personal policy, and depending on who's driving.


- B. Out