Tag Archives: idea

Cocktail Recipe: How to Make a Caipirinha

Need a different drink idea, yet something still simple and summery? Try cachaça, a popular spirit in Brazil that is made from distilled sugarcane juice.

Well, what should you do with cachaça, you say? Make a caipirinha! It’s a refreshing combination of limes, sugar, and cachaça.

caipirinha-600w

Pick up a bottle of Boca Loca Cachaça for $19.99 (reg. $24.99) for the month of June! One bottle of Boca Loca Cachaça makes around 12 cocktails.

Caipirinha Cocktail Recipe

Ingredients
– 2 oz. Cachaça (we recommend Boca Loca)
– 1 lime
– 2 tsp. sugar

Directions
Cut a lime into 8 wedges. Place the lime and sugar into a rocks glass and muddle the ingredients together. Fill your glass with ice; then add the Boca Loca Cachaça. Stir vigorously to mix the sugar well before adding a lime wheel to garnish.

Download & Print Caipirinha Cocktail Recipe Card > 

 

bocaloca-takeaways

caipirinha-wide

Cheers!

Blood and Sand: A Devilish Cocktail Recipe for Halloween

Blood and Sand - Scotch Cocktail Recipe

Looking for the perfect cocktail idea for Halloween? Here’s a classic recipe from the Prohibition era with a suitably sinister name: Blood & Sand. It’s one of the few cocktails out there that uses scotch as as the base spirit, while blood orange juice makes this drink a devilishly red color. For some depth and balance, you’ll also need cherry brandy and some sweet vermouth. Cheers!

How to Make a Blood and Sand Scotch Drink

Blood & Sand

INGREDIENTS
1 oz blended scotch
1 oz blood orange juice or Stirring’s Blood Orange Martini
3/4 oz sweet vermouth
3/4 oz Cherry Heering brandy

DIRECTIONS
Fill a cocktail shaker halfway with ice. Pour ingredients over ice. Shake and strain, serve on the rocks. Garnish with an orange peel.

Halloween Cocktail Recipe Idea - Blood and Sand

Looking for these ingredients? Stop by our liquor store in Providence, RI to browse our selection of classic cocktail ingredients, glassware, and barware. www.bottlesfinewine.com

Just dying over the pumpkin orange peel garnish?
Learn how to make it!
Click Here >

Try some more cocktails perfect for Halloween:
A Chartreuse and gin concoction with Maraschino Liquer and fresh lime juice. A Prohibition era classic.
A medley of gin, citrus, Lillet, and an enticing aroma of absinthe. Fantastic to share for adult Halloween parties.

Amaretto Bourbon Punch

Amaretto Bourbon Punch Recipe

Learn how to make an Amaretto Bourbon Punch cocktail, perfect for the fall! This is a party sized punch that serves a group of 6-8 people. Visit our YouTube channel http://youtube.com/bottlesprovidence for more easy bourbon drink ideas for entertaining or for serving at home.

Amaretto Bourbon Punch
Serves 6-8

Ingredients:
1 Liter bottle of club soda
1/2 bottle of W.L. Weller Special Reserve Bourbon
Juice of 4 fresh lemons
1/4 bottle of Amaretto

Instructions:
Combine all ingredients in a punch bowl. Fill with ice and garnish with cherrie & lemon slice.

Cheers!
Looking for more bourbon cocktail recipes? Click below:

 

 

Grilled Swordfish Recipe Paired with Rosé Wine

swordish dish goes with rose wine

Grilled swordfish for dinner tonight? Don’t know what wine to choose? The answer to that is obvious: pair it with a bottle of rosé!

Rosé wine pairs with almost everything, are great housewarming gifts, and happen to be delicious all by themselves. Their lovely dry (not sweet!), berry, herbaceous character and their beautiful color make rosés supremely enjoyable. They have the light citrus flavors of a white wine, combined with strawberry, raspberry, and cherry flavors of a red wine. The best of both worlds.

Edible Rhody Magazine recently featured a great Swordfish with Tomato Salad & Baba Ghanouj recipe by Chef Peter Kielec of Plum Point Bistro in Saunderstown, RI.  Use heirloom tomatoes, fresh eggplant from the farmer’s market, and local swordfish for a winning summer dish. For a complete gastronomic experience, enjoy with a bottle of Château Pradeaux Rosé.

chateau pradeaux rosé wine pairing

2012 CHÂTEAU PRADEAUX ROSÉ
Côtes du Provence, France

Rosés from Provence, in the southeast of France, are light, dry, and perfect in the summer. Made from a blend of Grenache & Syrah varietals, they have a light copper, salmon color. Enjoy the aromatic explosion of watermelon and Herbs de Provence – rosemary, sage, thyme, marjoram. The densely concentrated flavors of this wine match its aromas, making this rosé a perfect pairing with the meaty, rich and luxurious swordfish.

Visit our store to get this wine.

grilled swordfish recipe wine pairing

GRILLED SWORDFISH with HEIRLOOM TOMATO SALAD & BABA GHANOUJ
Peter Kielec, Chef de Cuisine, Plum Point Bistro, Saunderstown

The baba ghanouj can and should be prepared ahead of time. I love it atop the swordfish but enjoy it as a snack with pita chips too! Great when there is a plethora of eggplants at the farmers’ market.

INGREDIENTS

Baba Ghanouj:
2 medium (2½ pounds) eggplants, washed
Extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher or sea salt
Freshly ground back pepper
1 small garlic clove, roughly chopped
Juice of 2 lemons (remove seeds)
½ cup sesame tahini
2 dashes Tabasco sauce
½ bunch flat-leaf parsley (washed, stemmed and roughly chopped)

Swordfish:
4 (8-ounce) swordfish steaks
Extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher or sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
8 medium (2½ pounds) heirloom tomatoes, washed and cut in wedges
1 medium shallot, peeled and thinly sliced
2 sprigs basil, stemmed and leaves torn
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
Pomegranate molasses*

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 450°.

Rub whole eggplants with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place on a lined, rimmed baking sheet and roast for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Flesh will reduce and become soft inside the skin. Remove from oven and let rest 1 to 2 hours.

Slice eggplants in half, scoop out the flesh and place in a food processor, discarding the skins. Add garlic, lemon juice, tahini paste, Tabasco, 2 teaspoons salt and 1 scant teaspoon pepper. Blend until smooth. Remove to bowl. Fold in chopped parsley. Cover and store in refrigerator up to 1 week.

Heat grill and rub swordfish with olive oil, salt and pepper. Grill fish approximately 7 minutes per side, being careful not to overcook.

Assemble salad by tossing together tomatoes, shallots, basil, 3 tablespoons olive oil and vinegar in a bowl. Season to taste. Divide salad among 4 dinner plates. Serve swordfish atop tomato salad and top fish with a drizzle of pomegranate molasses and a dollop of baba ghanouj. Serves 4.

*Can be found in some markets and specialty ethnic shops. It’s terrific in marinades, over yogurt and more. Reducing pomegranate juice in a small saucepan on the stovetop will work as a substitute.

VISIT

Fava Beans Pair with Chablis (Chianti if you want, too…)

Have you eaten fresh fava beans recently? No? Well, you are missing out on a wonderfully sweet, tender, and versatile legume. Only the perfect bottle of wine can make a fava bean dish even better. In this case, we’re pairing Chablis with this newly in-season vegetable. Discover more food and wine pairings on our seasonal recipes page.

In Season Now: Fava Beans
June – September

While common sense tells us to avoid the culinary recommendations of cannibals, fava beans are actually a great summer ingredient! Fresh, earthy, creamy in texture, and sweet like peas, you can make a delicious risotto, sauce, or pilaf with fava beans. Split the pod, remove the beans, blanch them in boiling water for a few minutes, and cool immediately in an ice bath. Drain, and now they’re ready for a killer salad. A simple way to serve fava beans is tossed with extra-virgin olive oil, salted to taste, and topped with pecorino cheese.

Wine Pairing

Chablis from Chablis, France are some of the best Chardonnays there are. The term ‘Chablis’ has been  misused to refer to generic white wine, which is not what we’re talking about in this case. You should give real Chablis a try! Dry, steely, fruity, and super refreshing, Chablis is not your grandma’s buttery Chardonnay. Enjoyed with your favorite fava bean dish!

Or, just grab a bottle of nice Chianti…

Recommended Wine:
  • Domaine d’Elise Chablis is a white burgundy (100% Chardonnay grapes).
  • Wine has been made in the village of Chablis in Burgundy, France since the ninth century!
  • The limestone soils of Chablis give this wine a great minerality that matches the flavor of fava beans.

An Iuka Grogg Cocktail: Make a Classic Tiki Drink

Join the revival of Tiki cocktails! From Jeff “Beachbum” Berry’s book, Remixed: A Gallery of Tiki Drinks, we’re featuring a new recipe called an Iuka Grogg (spelled with an “I”). Enjoy this enticing combination of lime, pineapple, and passion fruit flavors, topped off by a rich, caramel, dark rum aroma. The quintessential tiki cocktail to have all summer long!

Pay us a visit in Providence, Rhode Island to browse our in-store display of Tiki drinks. Not in around RI? Learn more cocktail recipes on our YouTube channel to look like a pro at your next get-together. Joanna, our resident cocktail expert, will show you how to make a classic Trader Vic Mai Tai and a simplified “Beachbum” Berry Zombie drink.


How to Make an Iuka Grogg

Iuka Grogg

INGREDIENTS
3/4 oz fresh lime juice
3/4 oz pineapple juice
1/2 oz passion fruit syrup
3/4 oz dark rum
3/4 oz demerara rum

DIRECTIONS
Shake well with ice cubes. Strain into a chilled tiki mug, or serve in pineapple to make a splash at your party! Or to just to feel special.


tiki drink cocktail recipes

Visit us to pick up all the ingredients you need! Just look for the large Tiki Bar display.

     



 

Radishes & Wine: Seasonal Rhode Island Food Pairings

food wine pairing radish white wine "pinot gris"

Radishes are here in Rhode Island! As part of our series of blog posts featuring in-season foods paired with wine, this week we’re having Foris Pinot Gris with farm-fresh radishes. For more pairing ideas, visit our seasonal recipe page.

The other week, Darius Salko invited Nick, the Bottles Wine Director, to Allens Farms and The March Hare in nearby Westport, MA. Darius showed us around and gave us super-fresh greens to enjoy. Take a look at photos from our visit, here!

  • Allens Farms grows certified organic herbs, greens, vegetables and flowers in nearby Westport.

In Season Now
May – Mid-December

Radishes are a spicy root vegetable that grows best either in spring or early fall. Whether you prefer French Breakfast radishes or the familiar Cherry Belle radish (or both!), radishes are easy-to-grow and can be enjoyed fresh or cooked. Make an easy appetizer with a baguette, soft cheese, and chives, serve  them with artisanal butter and sea salt, or even braise them with shallots. A great way to enjoy the local harvest!

Wine Pairing

Pinot Gris is medium bodied white wine with notes of pears, apples, and stone fruit. Pinot Grigio and Pinot Gris happen to be the same grape, but the former is grown in the northeastern region of Italy, and is generally paler and lighter in style. Foris Pinot Gris is delicious example of Pinot Gris from Oregon, with aromas of melon, pear, citrus blosson, and a hint of vanilla. A great summertime wine!

Recommended Wine: Foris Pinot Gris

  • Foris is a family owned and operated vineyard in southern Oregon’s remote Rogue Valley.
  • Pinot Gris grows well in cooler climates such as Oregon, Washington, Alsace, and Northern Italy.
  • Read more about Foris Pinot Gris at www.foriswine.com
Visit our store to get this wine
 

Easter Beer Hunt Party Idea & Photo Contest

What’s an Easter Beer Hunt? Well, Easter fun doesn’t have to be just for kids with this party idea. Simply replace the eggs with beer, and bring back the joy and excitement of Easter for those over 21!

How to Hold an Easter Beer Hunt
  1. Buy beer. Variety is the spice of life, so try mixing up your beer choices. This will be especially pleasing for avid beer enthusiasts. If you know some of their favorite beers, get those to heighten the competition. You’ll probably see some trading after the hunt is over.
  2. Hide the beer in your yard. Be creative, but don’t choose impossible places. Lost beer is no fun.
  3. Let the beer hunt begin! Use six-pack beer holders filled with some pink plastic grass.

We highly recommend hiding the beers after the kids have their Easter egg hunt. And as always, please be responsible.

An Easter Beer Hunt Photo Contest
WIN a FREE BEER TASTING!!!
  1. Get the Bottles 6-pack holders & plastic shred (for free, and as seen in the above photo) at our store at 141 Pitman St., Providence, RI. Don’t forget some delicious beer!
  2. Hold an Easter Beer Hunt (directions are above).
  3. Take an awesome photo that has the Bottles 6-pack holder in it somewhere. Be creative! Let the champion show off, take a photo of the hunt in progress, etc.
  4. Post ONLY ONE photo on our Facebook pagehttps://www.facebook.com/bottlesprovidence
  5. If your photo has the most likes, you WIN a FREE BEER TASTING for you and 15 of your friends!

The Easter Beer Hunt Photo Contest ends April 10th at 1:00pm. That’s right, you only have a little over a week to share your photo on our Facebook page and get as many likes as you can. At 1:00pm on Wednesday, April 10th, 2013 we will start counting the likes and announce the winner shortly.

IMPORTANT:
Your photo must have the Bottles 6-pack holder in it somewhere.

FACEBOOK POSTING TIPS:

  • We have to manually approve your photo for it to appear prominently on our timeline and not just in the ‘Recent Posts by Others’ area on our timeline. When you first share and upload your photo on our Facebook page, it should show up in the ‘Recent Posts by Others’ area automatically. We will try to manually approve contest photos several times a day.
  • Make sure you set your photo privacy settings to ‘Public’, so that everyone can see it & vote.
  • Make sure you are going to our Facebook page, selecting ‘share a photo,’ and uploading it.
  • Still having trouble? Make sure you and your friends ‘like’ our page, so that they can ‘like’ your photo.
Our Facebook Page
 
GOOD LUCK & HAPPY EASTER!!!
 
Cheers,
The folks at Bottles

Super Bowl Drink Ideas & Printable Cocktail Sign

Our beloved Pats haven’t reached the Super Bowl, but you and your friends can still gather to watch the game. Serving cocktails during the football game or any party doesn’t have to be stressful – a self serve bar is a great idea where guests make their own drinks. What’s better than a DIY bar for a party, complete with drink ideas? Learn how to set one up, and use these free printable cocktail recipe signs. This download has 6 easy cocktails; all you have to do is set them at the bar! This is a great way to entertain for not only the game, but for birthday parties, bachelor & bachelorette parties, graduation, summer bbq’s, family reunions, and almost any celebration.

super bowl cocktails how to set up a self serve bar
 

What to serve with your jalapeno poppers, buffalo wings and famous spinach dip? Beer of course, but cocktails are great too! You can serve cocktails and not miss any crucial moments of the game. Drink mixing should be limited to time-outs or commercials, so you need something quick, classic and with as few ingredients as possible.  Greet your guests with a cocktail, but also set up a self serve bar in your home arena so as not to lose a minute of action.

SELF SERVE BAR SET-UP
– Have an ice bucket with tongs, a cocktail shaker, bottle opener, bar spoon, and rocks glasses.
– For mixers, have Angostura bitters, simple syrup, ginger ale, club soda, tonic water, and ginger beer.
– Include handles of a few staple liquors like Bourbon, Vodka, and Rum.
– Pre-slice a bowl of limes. (Don’t forget the orange wedges for Old-Fashioned’s!)

It’s time to let your guests to play bartender! Everyone has variations on how they like their drink mixed. A self serve bar with helpful cocktail recipe signs lets them make the perfect drink to their own taste.

COCKTAIL RECIPE SIGNS
Offering simple drink recipes gives your guests ideas for what they can make. Follow the directions below to make each these 6 quick & colorful “Help Yourself!” signs. They each have an easy drink idea with a basic recipe to get them started.

Directions:
 1. Click the link above to download the PDF file.
 2. Print out both pages on your home printer.
 3. With scissors, cut out each of the 6 cocktail recipe signs.
 4. Fold each in half, so that it forms a standing sign with the recipe on both sides.
 5. Place at your bar!

You need a PDF reader to open this download, click HERE if you need to download a PDF reader.

Now that you have assembled the tools and given your guests a quick playbook, all there is left to do is enjoy the game!

Things to do during a time-out:

– Check your ice situation. Good cocktails are chilled cocktails.
– Take out the trash (or just tie the bag and throw it on the back porch to be properly disposed later)
– Make yourself a drink!

moscow mule cocktail recipe printable sign

Moscow Mule

Ingredients
1-2 parts Vodka
1 part Lime Juice
2-3 parts Ginger Beer

Directions
Moscow Mules were first popular in the 1950s, and are so easy to make, smooth, & refreshing, that there’s no way they aren’t making a comeback! Add 2 or 3 ice cubes to Prairie Vodka, fresh Lime Juice, and Gosling’s Ginger Beer, and then stir.

free printable download cocktail recipe signs

Old Fashioned

Ingredients
2 oz. Bourbon
Dash of Angostura Bitters
1 tsp. Simple Syrup
Orange Wedge

Directions
There are many variations on The Old Fashioned; here’s our easy version that’s simple enough for parties that uses Buffalo Trace Bourbon and Angostura Bitters. Add an ice cube or two and stir.

bourbon ginger ale cocktail idea recipe

Bourbon & Ginger Ale

Ingredients
1 part Bourbon
2 parts Ginger Ale

Directions
Bourbon and ginger ale go together like peas ‘n carrots! We are using Buffalo Trace Bourbon Whiskey. Use your favorite ginger ale and serve this bubbly, refreshing drink over ice.

vodka tonic cocktail recipe idea

Vodka Tonic

Ingredients
1 part Vodka
2 parts Tonic Water
Lime Wedge

Directions
Almost everyone knows a Vodka Tonic. Combine Praire Vodka with Fentiman’s Tonic Water over ice, and add a lime wedge.

 
printable cocktail drink signs

 

Daiquiri

Ingredients
3 parts Rum
2 parts Lime Juice
1 part Simple Syrup

Directions
A rum-based cocktail, Daiquiris have many variations; this is a basic version. Fill a shaker with ice & all ingredients. Shake and strain into glass.

how to set up a self serve bar cocktails recipe


Dark and Stormy

Ingredients
1 part Gosling’s Rum
2 parts Gosling’s Ginger Beer
Lime Wedge
 
Directions
A type of highball, a Dark & Stormy is a popular cocktail in the Rhode Island area. Use Gosling’s Rum and Gosling’s Ginger Beer. Serve over ice.

 

What we recommend for liquors & mixers:

Prairie Vodka
The Kraken Black Spiced Rum
Gosling’s Rum
Buffalo Trace Bourbon
Fentiman’s Tonic Water
Angostura Bitters
Gosling’s Ginger Beer

*All available at Bottles Fine Wine in Providence. www.bottlesfinewine.com

CHEERS!

from the folks at Bottles

 

 

Phantasma: Halloween Cocktail Recipe

Halloween and Dia de los Muertos are just around the corner! Phantasma is a Halloween cocktail idea created by the folks here at Bottles, a fine wine, craft beer, and liquor store in Providence, Rhode Island. To help you celebrate for Halloween, here is an easy tequila cocktail recipe that uses only 3 ingredients: Kah Tequila Blanco, Cocchi Americano, and fresh lemon juice. Watch the Cocktail Video 

Phantasma

Ingredients
1.5 oz Kah Blanco Tequila
1.5 oz Cocchi Americano
3/4 oz lemon juice
Lemon garnish

Directions
Add ice to shaker. Add tequila, Cocchi Americano and lemon juice. Shake and then strain into a glass with ice. Garnish with a lemon wedge or lemon zest. Enjoy!

The Kah Tequila Blanco skull bottle is hand painted to represent a traditional Calaveras, or sugar skull, which is used in Day of the Dead rituals to symbolize death and rebirth. The word “Kah” translated to life in the ancient Mayan language.

Kah’s distiller’s use 100% hand selected Blue Agave, and is both certified organic and Kosher. Kah Tequila Blanco has sweet notes of cooked agave with a spicy white pepper punch, and is silky, delicate and smokey. This tequila is great on the rocks or for mixing in cocktails.

Cocchi Americano is moscato d’asti, a sweet white wine fortified with a touch of brandy and flavored with gentian root, cinchona bark, along with orange peels and herbs. Cocchi Americano makes a delicious aperitif or great base for mixing. Read this article to learn more about Cocchi Apertivo Americano’s resurgence in craft-cocktail bars across America. The New York Times also has a great article on this Italian aperitif wine.

In the area? Bottles has all the bartending and cocktail supplies you’ll need. We are also happy to deliver or ship your order to you. For more information, visit our website at www.bottlesfinewine.com, call us at (401) 372-2030 or email us at info@blog.bottlesfinewine.com.

Cheers!


Find more videos and cocktail ideas on our YouTube channel and our Cocktail Recipe Page.