Cocktails with the Mister // Make this Rose Mojito

****Among my husband's greatest talents is his ability to make a very drinkable cocktail. He never worked professionally as a bartender, but at any house gathering, you'd be sure to find him mixing away at the bar for a thirsty line up of our friends who put their faith in him to "surprise them" with something particularly delectable... and he always delivers. Never too tart, never too sweet, never too strong.  The glass in hand is without fail the one you didn't even know you wanted. 

So I too asked if he would surprise me with a monthly recipe and feature it here on the blog. So today, we're kicking off 'Monthly Cocktail with the Mister', where he will ideate and mix you up a drink just in time for the weekend happy hour. ***

It's not uncommon for my wife and I to be out in a local restaurant and for her to request I 'figure out how to make this' cocktail she's sipping eagerly through her straw. Such was the day she returned from shopping and dropped a similar request to deconstruct a drink she had at the new upstairs bar over at our local Nordstrom. The drink is known as "Vine Street' on their menu and has both the flavors of a glass or rose and a minty mojito. Ingredients (though not the measurements) are listed on the menu and they probably would have been kind enough to tell her how to make it if she had asked. Nevertheless one Sunday afternoon I set out to make her my interpretation of that cocktail, which emerged as a Rose Mojito.

She didn't believe me, but it's important to measure for this one so that you get the right ratio of vodka to rose. I also added an additional ingredient not found on the menu, but one that became immediately important to help balance the heat of all that alcohol out in the drink - simple syrup.  I could only guess that the restaurant used a slightly sweeter rose or prosecco in their version. You have some flexibility when it comes to the grapes and mint - add a little more or less according to your own tastes. When shaken, the grapes and mint flake off into the mixture and end up in your glass - much like those little flakes of ice in a martini that always seem to make so good.

Once shaken, the foamy elixir is strained and served over ice and then garnished with a skewered assembly of grapes and mint after finishing with floater splash of prosecco that gives it a nice soda like fizz in the finish.

Recipe for Rose Mojito
Recipe by Ryan Neally for Holtwood Hipster


Ingredients:
2.5 oz. Rose Wine
1 oz. Vodka
0.5 oz. Simple Syrup
12 grapes (10 for muddling, 2 for garnish)
6-8 leaves of mint
Squeeze of Lime
Splash of Prosecco

In a cocktail shaker, muddle grapes and mint, along with your simple syrup. Muddle well so you get all the juice out of those grapes and release the mint by breaking it up.

Add your vodka, rose and squeeze of lime to the shaker. Cover and shake well.

Prepare your glass of ice. I like to use crushed ice for this drink.

Strain the mixture over the ice, making sure to shake the flaky remnants of the mint and grapes through the strainer holes into your glass. Finish with a splash of prosecco and skewer of grapes and mint.

There are quite a few bottles involved in this drink, but capped well - the rose and prosecco will save for a couple of days in the fridge. Cheers!