Triple Berry Sidecar

     Ever since I picked up a copy of cocktails, shaken and stirred by Douglas Ankrah in 2005, I've always wanted to mix many of the them highlighted throughout this book. It's a great cocktail book with an emphasis on quality products and fresh ingredients. Being the rum nut that I am, one of the first cocktails I made this year was the Madagascar Sour; a mix of aged rum vanilla sugar, lime juice and vanilla liqueur. Working with the ingredients I had available I concocted a homemade vanilla simple syrup in which to use in place of the liqueur and infused sugar. I also traded out the rum for, of course my all time favorite, Pyrat XO. Who's up for a vanilla daiquiri? Sign me up, that's for sure.
     The drink was bright, acidic and finishing with a suprising vanilla richness I was not expecting. I knew the syrup was there but wow was that interesting.

     Next for Mother's Day we at Dante macerated some berries in cognac, to use to improved the complementary glass of prosecco we were offering. A last minute adjustment changed the whole ballgame and now I was sitting on three quarts of infusing fruit. The Triple Berry Daiquiri from the same book came to mind. A play on that cocktail was designed, around a mix of that recipe and the traditional Sidecar. Cognac infused blueberries and raspberries mixed with Gran Gala infused strawberries, how could this ever go wrong?

Triple Berry Sidecar
2.25 oz. Berry infused Cognac/Gran Gala mix(puree)
0.75 oz. lemon juice
splash simple syrup
- shake hard and strain into chilled cocktail glass

     This drink was delicious. Perfect for the warm weather that is to come, and a great way to utilize some seasonal fruits. We has sample this cocktail two different ways; once as a screwdriver and finally as the sidecar it became. We found the screwdriver version a bit to sweet. The Triple Berry Sidecar is here to stay.