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The Perfect Cannabis Cocktail & Mocktail Recipes for the End of Summer!!

https://www.hopegrown.org/blog/perfect-cannabis-cocktail-recipes-end-of-summer

Images courtesy of Warren Bobrow: the Hoochie Coochie Man cocktail (left) and the non-alcoholic Rose, Saffron and Cardamom Lassi (right) from his latest book Cannabis Cocktails, Mocktails and Tonics: The Art of Spirited Drinks and Buzz-Worthy Libations.

Earlier this year, Warren treated our readers to a sneak peek of the book before it was available for purchase! If you missed that post, click here to get his recipe for the Mezzrole Cocktail, with a little dose of history regarding cannabis beverages.

Now, Warren has generously shared a couple of his favorite drinks that are perfect for transitioning from Summer to Fall.

Labor Day may be considered the unofficial end of Summer, but temperatures are still high here in Los Angeles and probably will be for a few more weeks. These cooling concoctions will definitely help prepare for the cooler climate to come, and the cardamom in the second recipe welcomes in the warm spices associated with Fall.

Really though, there are no rules that say you can’t drink these beverages any time of year. Do you only eat ice cream when it’s hot outside? I’m guessing the answer is no.

So, give one of these drinks a try this weekend to cool off and, if you love it, enjoy it whenever you feel like it, regardless of the weather!

Hoochie Coochie Man

“In India, where temperatures regularly hit three figures, cooling beverages are a must. Enter the lassi, a yogurt-based drink that’s akin to a smoothie. My favorite version features mango puree—or, in a pinch, mango sorbet or sherbet—paired with thick Greek-style yogurt and a snow shower of crushed coconut water ice. If you’re making a Hoochie Coochie Man, you’ll want to correct it with a little cannabis-infused light rum. Try infusing your rum with Critical Kush, a mostly-Indica strain. It has deep aromatics of Asian spices, freshly turned soil, and a concentrated pungency that’s the right contrast for the sweetness of the mango and the yogurt. And there’s enlightenment in each sip. (This strain of Kush is a powerful full-body relaxant, though, so no driving or bicycle riding allowed!) Top off your Hoochie with a couple drops of Creole bitters, which were originally invented as a remedy for dysentery.” 

How to make the Hoochie Coochie Man cocktail:

Ingredients:

• 4 ounces (120 ml) mango puree

• 4 ounces (120 ml) Greek-style yogurt

• 1 ounce (30 ml) cannabis-infused light rum

• 1 cup crushed coconut water ice

• Creole-style bitters

Note: To infuse your rum, follow the same instructions given to infuse your vermouth that we shared in our previous post for the Mezzrole Cocktail recipe. This technique is straight Warren’s book and can be used to infuse any liquor of your choice.

Directions:

Combine all the ingredients in blender and process until smooth. Divide between two Burgundy wine glasses with plenty of freshly crushed coconut water ice. Dot each with a couple drops of the Creole bitters.

Serves 2

Rose Saffron Cardamom Lassi

“I’m a bit of a lassi addict regardless of the weather, but in summertime, the cravings really kick in. That’s why I couldn’t resist including a second lassi recipe here—one that’s dripping with Asian perfumes of rose, bright-yellow saffron, and green-citrusy cardamom. Cardamom, by the way, is the flavor equivalent of a knife: it slices right through the rich milk fat in the yogurt and milk. This lassi is sweetened with a Medicated Rich Simple Syrup that’s been made with raw honey: make yours with Sativa strain Early Pearl. Its aromatics of chocolate, warm spices, and slow-cooked stone fruits add nuance to the lassi’s exotic floral flavors. This recipe makes two servings, and it contains plenty of medicated syrup, so don’t drink the whole batch yourself—at least not at one sitting.”

How to make a (non-alcoholic) Rose Saffron Cardamom Lassi:

Ingredients:

• 2 cups (460 g) Greek-style yogurt

• 3/4 cup (175 ml) whole milk

• 4-5 threads dried saffron, reconstituted in 2 tablespoons warmed milk, then cooled

• Scant pinch of turmeric

• Seeds from 6 cardamom pods, lightly crushed

• 1 tablespoon (15 ml) rosewater

• 1/4 cup (60 ml) Medicated Rich Simple Syrup (see page 43), made with raw honey

Directions:

Place all the ingredients except the Medicated Rich Simple Syrup in a blender and process until smooth and creamy. Add the Medicated Rich Simple Syrup: taste, and add more sugar and rosewater, if required. Blend again. Divide between two Burgundy wine glasses, and top each with a pinch of saffron, if desired.

Serves 2

Bonus Recipe: Medicated Rich Simple Syrup

Warren was generous enough to also provide his special Medicated Simple Syrup recipe from page 43 of his latest book!

“Simple syrup is an essential weapon in any bartender’s arsenal, and if you’re making cannabis cocktails, you’ll want to have a batch of this at the ready. Feel free to make it with either Demerara sugar or raw honey—and you can also doctor it up with just about any kind of fresh herb or flavoring. (The glycerine helps speed up the absorption of THC into your digestive system.) Use it in just about any recipe that calls for simple syrup.”

Ingredients:

If using Demerara sugar:

• 1 cup filtered spring water

• 1 cup demerara sugar

• 4 grams finely ground decarbed cannabis

• 1 tablespoon vegetarian (non-GMO) liquid lecithin

If using raw honey:

• 2 cups filtered spring water

• 1 cup raw honey

• 4 grams finely ground decarbed cannabis

• 1 tablespoon vegetarian (non-GMO) liquid lecithin

Directions:

Pour the water into a saucepan and bring to a rolling boil. Reduce the temperature to about 190ºF. Add the sugar or raw honey and stir it until it is completely dissolved into the water. (If you’re using raw honey and you find that the syrup looks too clear, add a little more honey.) Add the cannabis, then cover the saucepan. Reduce the heat again to about 160ºF and simmer for at least 30 minutes to infuse the simple syrup with the cannabis.

Reduce the temperature a third time, to medium-low, and add the lecithin. Cook for another 10 minutes, stirring constantly to prevent cooking and burning. Remove from the heat, and strain through a cheesecloth-lined strainer into a stainless steel bowl that’s resting in a larger, ice-filled container. This will help it cool quickly. Makes about 1 cup.

To make a Medicated Rich Ginger Simple Syrup, make the Medicated Rich Simple Syrup with raw honey instead of sugar, and add a 1-inch piece of ginger root, peeled and thickly sliced, along with the cannabis. Continue with the recipe as directed.

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Recipes

Summer Rum Punch!!

Welcome to rum, the libation understood by Buccaneers, Pirates, Sailors and “Armchair Sailors” the world over, throughout history.

Follow the Rhumb line on your sailing chart and let it take you around the globe.  Here also is an intoxicating liquid in your hand.  This liquid is as ancient as the early sailors who plied the relentless seas.   It is called Rum.   

Rum is usually available in almost every port where sailors gather after a long voyage or before embarking upon a longer one.

Rum has always been served as an inexpensive and potent form of relaxation for sailors and landlubbers alike.  As a panacea against fear, rum always calmed a sailor’s beleaguered nerves while far out at sea, unable to tie up to the yacht club dock.  Rum would take the edge off of weeks without even a tickle of wind, or in the face of the fiercest weather.   Rum is the complete drink of sailors who took this tipple to sea as a cure-all against all known infirmities from being a sailor in the early days.  And let me tell you from working for weeks aboard a modern boat, it’s really hard work!    

The ocean has always held an allure for me.  It’s unlike any other place that I’ve ever experienced.  I’ve done more than just a bit of sailing.  Mostly my sailing took place on a yacht belonging to my family.  I can picture her now, about sixty feet in length, displacing 65 or so tons.  She had all the modern conveniences of home along with a water maker- to turn seawater to a dense, brackish substance seemingly only good for washing dishes.  But it also made decent, not clear: ice- but extremely helpful to the brain, when all about you is sticky: hot, humid and mosquito beleaguered. Being out at sea and having an iced rum cocktail housed in a clean glass is one of life’s simple pleasures.  It connects you with every sailor who has ever sailed upon the ocean, even if they didn’t have your milky colored ice to cool their fevered brow.

The sea at night (and even in the daytime) can be a very scary place in a storm.  As anyone who has been in a yacht away from the relative safety of the yacht club dock knows, the ocean is much larger than you are.  Ships are not meant to be docked.  They are meant to explore the globe. And to do this they need to go to sea.  The waves will tower over your tiny vessel, threatening to smash you and your hard earned dollars into piles of shredded (read expensive) sailcloth, toothpicks of your fine teak decks and miles of razor sharp fiberglass where the bow decided to split open for no reason at all, exposing the interior of the vessel to the bottom of the sea in mere seconds.

That is why sailors kept rum on board their ship.  Because that mug of rum somehow makes it easier to forget that such a horrible demise may await you with every uncontrollable gust of wind or steep wave that knocks you to the wooden deck.   You’ll know it when it happens.   

Rum is hand-held courage for the sailor.Bobrow_July2016

Maybe the thrill of being a sailor out at sea continues to make rum so beguiling to all kinds of drinkers, even today. After all, this allure and call to the sea is what took this drink through history.

A daily tot of rum punch might have been made with a preserved fruit shrub.  Shrubs were made up of vinegar along with citrus fruit and molasses or raw honey.  They were mixed with water for purification and also with rum in a rudimentary punch.  The early shrubs were no more than citrus fruit, mixed with vinegar and sugar against decay.

Drinking what little water taken on board a ship could be fatal because the water was potentially deadly without purification systems like on modern vessels. The feeling of being soaked to the skin in cold weather with a steaming mug of grog filling your belly makes the going so much easier.  Just like cooling punch made with rum and tropical fruit juices gave scurvy ravaged sailors deep relief.  The modern day product Rose’s Lime Juice, a potent curative in its own right dates back to the Colonial era when drinking lime and rum was not just a casual drink, it was a curative in your mug of more than good cheer.

Rum traditionally found its way around the world because it was easy to transport from place to place.  And rum is sturdy stuff.  It doesn’t sour like wine or beer in the motion of the ship or the heat of the hold.

There are many names for rum that flows clear from the still with a hiccup or bubbles forth with a belly laugh. Times are changing and this has made rum universally respected.

Rum is cheap to make, easy to store, it lasts nearly forever and it gets better over time when resting within a cask.  It’s a win/win for the distiller and the casual drinker alike.

A Summer Rum Punch should always be made with freshly crushed juices. I cannot imagine making something that I may be serving to others with anything but the very best.  After all, aren’t you worth it?

In my travels I always come across individuals who say that when they are entertaining, they use less than satisfactory ingredients because their guests won’t know any better. That’s a shame- because it doesn’t cost much more to ensure a unique experience.  When you take short cuts- well, the overall understanding is cheap.  I don’t know from cheap. That’s why my drinks are memorable.  They evoke history, one sip at a time.

The Sea Cook

(the cook is the most important person aboard your ship, don’t ever forget that)

Ingredients:

  • 4 oz. Mezan XO Rum (no chill filtering, nor glycerin, nor added sugar, nor caramel coloring added)
  • 2 oz. juice: Take 2 pineapples- cut into rings, placed on a silicone tray, with Angostura Bitters (for good gastric health) and roasted for 20 minutes at 400 degrees or until caramelized.  Cool and set aside
  • 2 oz. juice in each cocktail-
    Do the same with a couple splashes of Angostura Bitters upon 2 large grapefruits- cut in half, also sprinkled with Demerara Sugar and broiled until bubbly.  Cool and set aside
  • ½ oz. Freshly squeezed orange juice
  • ¼ oz. Freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 1 oz. White Balsamic Vinegar
  • Angostura Bitters
  • Fresh Nutmeg and scraper
  • 1 oz. Oloroso Sherry (dark in color, rich and smoky in taste)
  • Lime chunk garnish
  • Fresh ice- not stinking of last month’s garlic pasta

Prep:

  1. Take the pineapples, skin them well, no bitter crust allowed! Roast them with the Angostura Bitters.
  2. Juice them and add 2 oz. of this juice to a Boston Shaker filled ¾ with ice
  3. Do the same with the broiled grapefruits- no pith (it’s bitter!) just juice them and add 2 oz. of this broiled grapefruit juice to the Boston Shaker
  4. Add the Mezan XO Rum and the vinegar
  5. Finally, add the Orange juice and the Lemon juice
  6. Cap and Shake hard for 15 seconds
  7. Pour into two Collins Glasses filled with ice
  8. Float the Oloroso Sherry over the top
  9. Scrape some nutmeg over the top to finish
  10. Garnish with a lime chunk and serve
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Articles Recipes

The Last Pirate Ship (Rhuby from Art in the Age)

I created this original recipe for Art in the Age out of Philadelphia.  My friend Steven Grasse is the lead protagonist of this Public Relations, Marketing, Advertising and Brand Re-invigoration firm.  It’s hard to put a finger on what they do best.  I just like what they do!

 

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Philadelphia – August 30, 2011

Bid Farewell to Summer with The Last Pirate Ship

Make a Cocktail with Art in the Age’s Rhuby

the last pirate ship cocktail recipe!

Art in the Age’s Root and Snap liqueurs created quite the buzz. Now, the collective is causing another stir with its much-anticipated spirit Rhuby, made of rhubarb, pink peppercorn, petitgrain, and other organic ingredients, based on a Revolutionary era recipe.

According to legend, Benjamin Franklin and botanist John Bartram tinkered with brewing rhubarb tea back in 1771. The boozy variation is now on shelves, just in time for a late-summer libation created by modern-day mixologist Warren Bobrow.

The Last Pirate Ship
Serves one

Ingredients
2 oz. Rhuby
1 oz. fresh lime juice
4-5 strawberries
Fleur de sel
1 sprig of thyme

1. Combine ice, Rhuby, and lime juice in a cocktail shaker.

2. Toast strawberries in a cast iron pan.

3. Muddle strawberries and add to cocktail shaker.

4. Shake and strain into a rocks glass, sprinkle with fleur de sel, and garnish with a thyme sprig.

Available at most Fine Wine & Good Spirits shops; online at finewineandgoodspirits.com. For more information on Rhuby, go to artintheage.com.

Photo: Courtesy of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction