Curaçaos - Don't be affraid

We wanted to change things up a bit and introduce a different color palette to your mixology repertoire. We aren't usually drawn to the bluish frou-frou drinks that arrive with lots of fruit and an umbrella on vacation, however the Blue Ice is a tasty and easy to make lybation. Here's the scoop on Blue Curaçao Liqueur.

Curaçaos history - It's flavoured with the dried peel of the laraha citrus fruit, grown on the island of Curaçao. A non-native plant similar to an orange, the laraha developed from the sweet Valencia orange transplanted by Spanish explorers. The nutrient-poor soil and arid climate of Curaçao proved unsuitable to Valencia cultivation, resulting in small bitter fruit on the trees. But the aromatic peel maintained much of the essence of the Valencia varietal, and the trees were eventually bred into the current laraha cultivar.

Curaçaos flavour - The liqueur has an orange-like flavour with varying degrees of bitterness.

Blue Ice:

• 2 oz vodka
• .5 oz Blue Curaçao Liqueur
• 1 oz fresh lemon juice

Shake all ingredients in a shaker half-filled with ice. Pour in a cocktail glass or in a highball glass filled with ice. Garnish with a slice of dried Pineapple.

Cheers!

a martini that gives you wings

The Midnight Martini is an perfectly simple cocktail that, when darker liqueurs are used, looks as dark as midnight. It does include a coffee liqueur (coffee brandy can also be used) which could keep you going to midnight if there’s any caffeine in the spirits and better than a Red Bull. Try this one out with Double Espresso Vodka and Kahlua, it’s a perfect match. Midnight Martinis are also often served as a shooter, just shake, strain into a shot glass and go for it.

Ingredients:

• 3 1/2 oz vodka or coffee vodka
• 1/4 oz coffee liqueur
• shot of espresso (optional)
• blood orange slice for garnish

Preparation:

Pour the ingredients into a shaker filled with ice, shake gently and strain into a martini glass. Garnish with a slice of blood orange, it will give the effect of a full moon.

Cheers!

a pear you won't soon forget

We've introduced you to various flavor infusions via Vodka, Gin, Whiskey etc, however, infusing vodka is one of the easiest spirits to work with because it's very neutral—making it a wonderful base. Things like fruit, cinnamon sticks, herbs and citrus rind all make for wonderful infusing elements.

Today we're introducing you to our infused Vodka (or Gin) with Pear, Apple and Chai Tea. The Chai gives just that little extra zing making it great for Autumn cocktails that will impress your most discerning guests. Let’s just say you’ll be thanking us next week when you’ve killed the whole bottle.

Ingredients:

• 1 Litre Vodka or Gin
• 2 Jolie Rouge Pears
• 1 Green Apple
• 1-2 Chai Tea Bags

Place vodka in a jar with a tight fitting lid.

Soak the tea bags in the vodka for one hour, then remove and discard. In the meantime, slice up the pear and apple–add to the jar.

Let pears, apples and vodka sit for one week in a closed container.

Once your week is up, your liquor is done infusing. You can strain the pears and apple out of the vodka, and eat or trash, I know what I'd do.

Come back later for a fantastic cocktail recipe using this infusion.

Cheers!

hello homemade limoncello

We here at lybations love to roll our sleeves up and make our own tasty liqueurs and infusions. Today we're going to instruct you on how to make Limoncello, a liqueur rich in history.

The story goes that in the late 19th century, Vincenza Canale, an innkeeper on the Isle of Capri was serving her homemade lemon liqueur to guests as a "digestivo" - an after dinner digestive aid. Word spread, requests were made for bottles and the family began to bottle the "limoncello". Today the descendants of Signora Canale run one of the leading Limoncello companies, Limoncello di Capri.

There you have it, if yours doesn't come out as planned you can always pick up a bottle from the experts.

• 10 Organic Lemons with the thickest skin you can find
• 1  750ml Bottle with highest proof high grade Vodka
• 2 - 4 Cups of regular Table Sugar
• 5 Cups of Water
• Microplane Grater
• Sterile Cheesecloth Bag (optional)
• Large Screen Strainer
• Stack of Fluted Paper Coffee Filters OR
• 1 Flat Bottom Permanent Coffee Filter
• 2 Infusing Mason Jars or Bottles with Tight Lids
• Serving Bottle

Now follow these 4 easy steps.

Zest all your lemons with the microplane grater. Don't zest to the point of seeing the white rind! If you zest into the rind your Limoncello will be bitter.

Drop the lemon zest and 2 cups of sugar into your infusion jar and tighten the lid for a good seal. *If you opted for using a cheesecloth bag use it at this point.

Store in a cool dry pantry for a minimum of ten days and up to a 2 month for maturation. Remember the longer the distillation the richer the lemon flavor. At the 10 day mark check for sweetness, if you need more, add another cup of sugar and let it rest another 20 to 30 days. Also, shake the bottle once a day - at least in the first ten days.

Lastly, you're now ready to strain your finished limoncello with a strainer and or filter into your serving bottle and chill in the fridge for a couple of hours.

Hopefully you've learned some Italian by now and can use a celebratory word or two to describe your limoncello creation. Cheers!

Vodka: potato vs grain

Vodka is defined as a neutral spirit "without distinctive character, aroma, taste or color. In fact, vodka's neutral taste does account for much of its appeal: It mixes equally well with tonic water and tomato juice, and it can be as crisp as James Bond's vodka martinis or as trashy as the "swamp waters" my local bartender mixes (made of vodka and Redbull). Vodka suits any occasion, goes with any food, and "possibly" gives you less of a hangover than any other liquor. It's no wonder that in America, vodka outsells gin, rum, and tequila, as well as scotch, bourbon, and whiskey.

Vodka can be distilled in a good many ways, from a great many substances, including wheat, rye, beets, corn, potatoes, and sugar cane. In Russia, the Yukos oil conglomerate recently made headlines for marketing a vodka distilled from hemp seed. As a result, each brand has a distinct smell, flavor, aftertaste, and burn (i.e., the burning sensation vodka creates as it goes down your throat). The grain-based vodkas, which are the most popular, tend to be smooth and can even go down easy. Vegetable-based vodkas are often, and often unfairly, dismissed as being harsh.

After several tastings, we came up with this short list of tasty, smooth vodkas.

• Brilliant (Distilled from grain)

• Glacier (Distilled from potato)

• Ketel One (Distilled from wheat)

• Armadale (Distilled from wheat and barley)

• Chopin (Distilled from potatos)

All fantastic, but in the end, Chopin was by far the best of the best. So, there you have it, distillation with potato is the winner. Cheers!