Today we have a recipe courtesy of my husband. Over the weekend we had the luxury of living the childless life! My parents took the boys to the mountains for the weekend and we took their dog. They had three boys, we had two dogs. Fair deal?! I think so!
I volunteered at school Friday afternoon setting up for the Mother/Daughter event. I got home shortly after Josh around 6:45. We enjoyed a “carpet picnic” of meat, cheeses, breads, crackers, fruit and wine. Of course it wasn’t a true carpet picnic this time, we ate at the bar to avoid two dogs hovering over us!
Saturday we ran errands. The fun kind though, especially with no kids. We spent nearly one and a half hours at Total Wine! We were like kids in the candy store! We came out with three cases of beer, wine and liquor. That should last for a while! We were armed with wine to go with our ceviche, good times coming our way. We also went to Whole Foods and had a lovely time browsing peacefully.
The afternoon was absolutely gorgeous. Partly sunny and in the 70s. What to do? Well of course, sit on the porch and enjoy cocktails and the silence! This recipe is my husband’s creation. It pays homage to the state where he went to college, Kentucky. No, it does not contain bourbon!
Kentucky is home to the Wildcats, the Bluegrass state….and home to Ale-8-One. The slogan is “a late one”. It is a caffeinated soft drink that tastes like a spicy, fruity ginger ale. It is sold ONLY in Kentucky and parts of Indiana and Ohio, or of course online. Obviously to enjoy this cocktail you most likely will not have access to Ale-8-One. Go ahead and substitute with your favorite ginger ale.
The Wildcat blue part of the cocktail is the Bacardi Wolfberry rum. It is a blueberry rum infused with wolfberries. Lemon pairs so well with blueberries so Josh used both a lemon simple syrup and freshly squeezed lemon juice. This is a lovely cocktail to sip on the porch on a quiet Saturday afternoon. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!
Wildcat Lemon Drop
Juice of half a lemon
6 oz. Bacardi Wolfberry rum
2 oz. lemon simple syrup (see notes)
12 oz. Ale-8-One (or ginger ale)
Put the lemon juice, rum and simple syrup in a cocktail shaker. Fill with ice and shake rigorously. Strain into two glasses with ice. Add 6 oz. Ale-8-One to each glass.
Notes:
For lemon simple syrup make a traditional simple syrup of equal parts water and sugar. Add the zest of one lemon and cook,over medium heat until the sugar dissolves. Strain the zest and store in an air tight bottle in the fridge.
Yields 2 servings
Feeding My 3 Sons 
what a lovely cocktail and am so glad you had an adult weekend 🙂 Bet the kids enjoyed their time away, too. My husband and I consider liquor stores great date spots, too. Love looking for that certain something, whatever it is at the time, that’s on our List.
Liquor stores are a day time date here…can’t buy liquor after 7pm! We can still buy beer and wine. We went out Saturday night with friends and were remembering when they still had mini bottles in bars here! It hasn’t been all that long that we’ve had grown up bottles! More bourbon recipes to come later….we had lots of fun out that night and got drink ideas. We had an awesome bartender!
Lovely photos – well done you! And those drinks looks gorgeous and fresh and zingy – well done your husband!
Thanks! It was enjoyable! I look forward to his next drink experiment!
Yumm sounds very cool and fresh !
It definitely was cool and refreshing! I enjoy a lovely cocktail on the porch, fresh air and nice company.
Such a great cocktail and how nice that you both had some time to enjoy one or three. God bless Grandma & Grandpa. 😉
Well at least you enjoyed the child free weekend and even had a picnic. What a lovely weather you have. I envy you. We had snow squalls yesterday and our weather right now is at 6F. As soon as I can sit on my deck I will definitely make myself a long glass of Wildcat Lemon drop. The photos and the setting look fantastic. Thanks for sharing, I’ve bookmarked!
Stay warm, some day spring really will come. We had freezing temps last night and will again tonight so the garden still sits on my kitchen table! Soon enough I will be able to enjoy a nice drink outside, you too.
I hope your plants are doing well. The snow hasn’t melted here but this weekend temperatures will reach 44F so there will be some melting. Have a wonderful day!
this looks so gorgeous and fresh! 🙂