LCBO Food & Drink Summer 2022

Recipes With wine, beer and spirit pairings by the LCBO’s Customer Engagement Group.

1. Place sugar and 1/2 cup (125 mL) water in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Whisk until sugar is dissolved. Add raspberries, orange zest and peppercorns. When it comes to a boil, remove from heat and mash raspberries with the back of a spoon. Let stand 30 minutes. Fine-strain into a 6-cup (1.5-L) glass pitcher, discarding solids. Cool completely. Stir in lemon juice and remaining 3 cups (750 mL) water. Cover and refrigerate up to 2 days.

3. For each serving, pour 3 3/4 oz Negroni mix into a chilled lowball glass over one large ice cube. Squeeze an orange twist over surface of drink, then drop in glass.

5 oz cream soda, refrigerated 1 orange wheel to garnish

1. Chill highball glass and Campari in the freezer for 1 hour before serving. 2. Pour Campari into chilled glass. Add one ice cube and stir for 10 seconds. Add cream soda and briefly stir again.

Inside Scoop from page 25

Makes 6 drinks

Tall Orders from page 51

NORTHERN SUNSET LEMONADE Classic lemonade gets a beautiful blush from a fragrant simple syrup flavoured with raspberries, orange zest and pink peppercorns. With the addition of vodka, it’s a refreshing cocktail fit for the hottest days of summer. 2 oz vodka 5 oz pink lemonade (recipe follows), chilled Raspberries and a lemon wheel to garnish 1. Place two ice cubes in a chilled highball glass. Pour in vodka. Stir for 15 seconds. Fill glass with ice. Top with pink lemonade. Lightly stir. Garnish with raspberries and lemon wheel. PINK LEMONADE When making this tart, naturally pink lemonade, feel free to use up raspberries that are too soft and mushy for other recipes—just make sure they’re not mouldy. Pink peppercorns, which lend a subtle hint of spice, can be found at bulkbarn.ca. 1/2 cup (125 mL) sugar 3 1/2 cups (875 mL) cold water, divided 3/4 cup (175 mL) raspberries 3 wide strips orange zest 1 tbsp (15 mL) pink peppercorns 3/4 cup (175 mL) fresh lemon juice Ice cubes and lemon wheels to garnish Makes 1 drink

3. Garnish with an orange wheel.

SCANDI MULE For a Highball with a little kick, add spicy ginger beer to aquavit, a complex herbal spirit from Scandinavia that will liven up a mixed drink. 1 1/2 oz Aalborg Taffel Akvavit (LCBO 495192, $34.10) 4 oz ginger beer Lemon peel to garnish 1. Chill a highball glass or beer mug and aquavit in the freezer for 1 hour before serving. 2. Pour aquavit into chilled glass. Add one ice cube and stir 13 times clockwise. Add ginger beer and stir three times counter-clockwise. 3. Express oils from the lemon peel by squeezing it with the skin side facing the drink, then drop it into glass. SODA MILANO Other than the fact that cream soda and Campari were both invented more than 150 years ago, they don’t appear to have a lot in common. Except that, when mixed together, they bring out the best in each other. Makes 1 drink

Makes 1 drink

2. Serve over ice and garnish with lemon wheels.

THE CASCADIAN Hop water is nothing less than the craft brewing world’s gift to Highballs. The hops contribute just enough flavour to add a new dimension to a drink, but notso much that they overwhelm the base spirit—in this case, a bitter-sweet, lower-alcohol Italian aperitivo. 2 oz Martini Fiero (LCBO 16079, $27.95) 4 oz Wellington Brewery’s Cascade Sparkling Hop Water (see TIP) 1 grapefruit twist to garnish 1. Chill highball glass and Martini Fiero in the freezer for 1 hour before serving. 2. Pour Fiero into chilled glass. Add one ice cube and stir for 10 seconds. Add hop water and stir briefly again.

Makes 36 oz, enough to serve 4 to 6

FREEZER NEGRONI Batching, diluting and freezing Negronis allows you to serve ice cold and expertly mixed cocktails with minimal effort. It’s a clever party trick that can be applied to any stirred, spirit-forward cocktail, such as a Manhattan or Martini. 6 oz London dry gin, preferably Beefeater London Dry (LCBO 570, $30.20) 6 oz Campari (LCBO 277954, $30.70) 6 oz sweet red vermouth, preferably Martini & Rossi (LCBO 215418, 500 mL, $9.45) 4 1/2 oz water Orange twists to garnish 1. Combine gin, Campari, vermouth and water in a 750 mL bottle. Refrigerate up to 1 month. 2. One to two hours before serving, place Negroni mix in freezer. (It will start to solidify if stored longer than 2 hours in the freezer, though it will quickly liquefy when moved to room temperature.)

3. Garnish with a grapefruit twist.

Makes 1 drink

TIP: Find hop water through Wellington

Brewery’s delivery service (store.wellingtonbrewery.ca) or look for it at a variety of other retail and online outlets, including notwasted.ca.

2 oz Campari Aperitivo (LCBO 277954, $30.70)

FOOD & DRINK SUMMER 2022 171

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