Hi, Friends of Cocktails! Today we’ll set you up with celebratory cocktails for any occasion. A cocktail for when you’re celebrating on your own, in a pair, or when there’s a party and you don’t want to be stuck mixing single drinks. We’ll also take a look back to the year that was to thank all of you that helped us along the way, as well as into the future with Olympic aspirations that you can help bring to life.
Because Cocktail Time couldn’t exist without our Friends of Cocktails, the first thing is to give a shoutout to the ones who made all of this possible in 2024, including you. That’s why today’s cocktails will be based on the excellent partnerships we’ve built with the brands you’ve seen on the channel throughout the year.
FIOL Prosecco, Mijenta Tequila, and Liber&Co. supported our journey throughout 2024. With FIOL we not only made a few interesting episodes on the channel this year, showing you how to use it as a base for a cocktail, to make sparkling vermouth, a sparkling martini cocktail, or even how to use up sparkling wine if it went flat - 3 different ways! But what we also did was crown the FIOL Master 2024.
The FIOL Master 2024 was a unique competition where bartenders in Canada, UK and Italy were mastering bubbles, with four winners battling in the 2-part finale in Treviso, where Andrea Napoli created the winning cocktail we later made on the channel as well. I look forward to bringing FIOL to more markets, and the same goes for Mijenta Tequila and our Echo Verde project.
Mijenta’s sustainable approach aligns perfectly with what we try to do on Cocktail Time, so I hope you found the four chapters we covered with Mijenta–Super Juice, Fermentation, Batching, and Sustainable Garnishes–interesting and informative. I was happy to share this knowledge in several packed venues around the world, making sure this b-corp-certified tequila doesn’t stop with its mission once it’s bottled.
And we can’t forget about Liber&Co, our partner for 3 years straight. There’s no other cocktail syrup that comes close to what they manage to put in their bottles. And I look forward to getting their newly designed bottles with some interesting new flavors. We make a lot of DIY ingredients, but you’ll see you can even use bottled syrups to make new ingredients for twists on your favorite cocktails.
But the reason we’re doing all of this is because of you, Friends of Cocktails. Without you watching, commenting, learning, supporting and teaching as well, all of this would be pointless. You inspire me and my team to strive for bigger and better things. We’ll continue to provide that in the next year as well.
Same goes for our Patreon supporters, where we’re bringing more exclusive content in return for your support–thank you! We realize how fortunate we are to be able to do what we love and share it with others. So we decided to pay it forward. Sašo, Robi and I met years ago, all playing American Football on the same team, so as sports enthusiasts we decided to support an athlete in a pursuit of his dreams.
From the Ruše Gymnastics School, the hometown of our director, we’re proud to support Timon Sternad Hiter. At just 17, he’s a member of the Slovenian gymnastics team, training hard to achieve his dream of competing at the Los Angeles Olympics. We’re doing this thanks to you as well, so hopefully in 2028 we’ll all be cheering on Timon together!
All of that calls for some celebratory cocktails, don’t you think? Let’s start with a riff on something we’ve made before, the Dr. Fig cocktail, made in celebration of Slovenia’s greatest poet, France Prešeren, back in 2020. Also dubbed the Wine Old Fashioned, it combined white wine as the base, DIY Fig Liqueur as the sweetener, and orange bitters, served in a glass with chocolate paint brushed on the inside.
So let’s see how we’ll replace those ingredients for this cocktail, the Dr. Figaro, starting with a Tequila Fig Liqueur.
Mijenta Fig Liqueur
● 120mL · 4oz Mijenta Reposado
● 120mL · 4oz Liber & Co. Caramelized Fig Syrup
It’s as simple as mixing these two ingredients together until you get a homogenous mixture, bottling your liqueur and adding a label. Our syrup, having naturally caramelized sugars with notes of honey and dried fruit it also makes it a perfect pairing for barrel-aged spirits, like reposado tequila. Ideally, let it sit for a few days in the fridge for the flavors to really mix, mingle and bloom.
But even now, this 20% ABV liqueur is aromatic enough, thanks to the syrup, that the small amount we’ll use in the cocktail will be enough to play its important role. For the next part, FIOL pairs extremely well with figs, and we’ll keep the DIY orange bitters from the original recipe, and saline solution, to boost the flavors. Let's begin with our first celebratory cocktail!
Dr. Figaro
● 90g FIOL Prosecco
● 15mL · 0.5oz Tequila Fig Liqueur
● 2 dashes Orange Bitters
● 2 drops 20% Saline Solution
● Chocolate Paint Garnish
Starting with the garnish, you could use a double boiler or a ceramic bowl over a candle to melt your chocolate of choice. Then take a small, flat brush, dip it in the chocolate and with clean, straight strokes paint the bottom of the glass all the way up to the rim. I’m going with a tulip-shaped glass for this one, but a wine glass worked great for Dr. Fig.
Once you’re happy with the result you’ll want to place the glass in the freezer, so the chocolate doesn’t melt into the drink too quickly. While you’re at it make sure your ingredients are cold as well before placing your glass on a scale and adding the Prosecco. Next add the orange bitters, Tequila Fig Liqueur and saline solution.
Gently combine the ingredients with a lift of a bar spoon and that’s it. This cocktail is rich, bubbly, and decadent, and the chocolate paint will slowly dissolve into the drink, evolving its flavor. Perfect for a celebration, but if you’re hosting a party, I imagine you don’t want to go through all of that for all the guests.
You deserve to chat, mingle and be a part of the party as well, right? So for the next cocktail we’ll do a punch riff on the Strawberry Yogurt. This Zero Waste Cocktail with Strawberry Cordial was created to celebrate International Women’s Day back in 2023. The prep work for our Strawberry Punch will be completely different, but the cocktail will be built on the same flavor concepts.
To make it you’ll need tea. Hibiscus will pair nicely with strawberry and FIOL Rose, flavor and color-wise. So let’s begin by brewing it.
Hibiscus Tea
● 400g Water
● 4g Dried Hibiscus
I’m steeping the tea in hot water. After 4 minutes I’ll strain the tea and move on to making the acid solution. Acidity is key for milk clarification and lactic acid is what gives yogurt its distinct sour taste.
Lactic Acid Solution
● 3g Lactic Acid
● 47g Water
This will be made by dissolving the lactic acid in the water. You can go with citric acid solution as well, or even just lemon juice, for a more citrusy note. But with that done we are now ready to enjoy the Strawberry Punch.
Strawberry Punch
● 135mL · 4.5oz Mijenta Blanco
● 135mL · 4.5oz Hibiscus Tea
● 90mL · 3oz Liber & Co. Pacific Strawberry Syrup
● 18g Lactic Acid Solution
● 60mL · 2oz Warm Milk
● 2 drops 20% Saline Solution
● 120g FIOL Prosecco Rosé
Begin by combining Mijenta, the hibiscus tea, Strawberry Syrup and lactic acid solution, before pouring the mixture over the warm milk. Leave to sit for a while then we’ll strain out all of the solids, including the milk curdles, using a cloth or a coffee filter. Check to see when clear liquid starts coming through and re-filter the first part, if needed.
We’ll end up with a clarified, velvety, and softer tasting milk punch which could already be a great cocktail on its own, but we’ll improve it with some FIOL Rosé to make it fit for a celebration. Just make sure this milk-punch is nicely chilled first before grabbing 1.5oz or 45mL of it and combining it with 120g of Prosecco and 2 drops of saline solution.
The Strawberry Punch highlights the berry notes, providing a light, but luxurious experience for all of your guests. For a different take on this Punch you can swap strawberry with Liber&Co.’s Yakima Valley Peach Syrup, which will connect the flavors of Mijenta Blanco and FIOL Rose. In this case swap hibiscus tea with chamomile tea.
In my masterclasses I showed this flavoring scheme, which is how I always approached pairing flavors with both of these wonderful Proseccos. What’s even better is that you could make a big batch of this in a bowl by simply multiplying the amounts too. With that though, we’ve made it to the Bottom of the Glass.
I’d like to take this opportunity to once again thank all our partners, viewers, Patreon supporters, and everyone in the hospitality industry around the world for taking care of us as we get to enjoy in your service. The Cocktail Time channel will be back in a week as we kick off the 2025 season—a season full of exciting new projects, innovations, and, hopefully, even more Friends of Cocktails. Cheers!
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