Mixology Monday: Niche Spirits

 When you're in cocktail creation mode what is the first spirit you lay your hands on?  Gin?  Bourbon? Rum?  How about Akvavit, Cachaca or Armagnac?  Probably not.  We all have our favorite spirits and flavor combinations that we enjoy when making a cocktail but for this Months Mixology Monday hosted by Filip at Adventures in Cocktails we will be encouraged to go outside our comfort zone and experiment with spirits that are often over looked for no reason other then our unfamiliarity with them.

"…Any cocktail where the base ingredient is not bourbon, gin, rum, rye, tequila, vodka etc would qualify.  So whether you choose Mezcal or Armagnac get creative and showcase your favorite niche spirit."
- Mixology Monday

Seeing how it is summer (or at least it officially is in two days) clear spirits are my poison of choice at this moment.  One of my absolute favorite cocktails to enjoy on a hot summer afternoon is a quality margarita.  1.5 oz Tequila, 0.5 oz cointreau, 1 oz lime juice, dash of simple syrup, shaken and served on the rocks.  Using this classic as the point of departure, I wanted to create a cocktail equally refreshing while steering off path enough to distinguish it from any preexisting recipes.

Lapageria Rosea
- 1.5 oz Pisco
- 0.5 oz Giffard Grapefruit Liqueur
- 0.5 oz Orange Juice
- 0.5 oz Lemon Juice
- 0.25 oz Simple Syrup.

- Add all ingredients to cocktail shaker
- Add ice and shake
- Double strain over ice into chilled rocks glass
- Express oils of orange peel over drink
- Discard orange peel

Lapageria Rosea

This is one of those cocktails that you can easily adjust an ingredients proportion to suit your tastes.  I had to make this drink four times before I got it absolutely perfect for my liking.  I original used Aperol but found that the taste of the Pisco to be very overwhelming.   If you can't get any of Giffard's products in your area feel free to substitute any other grapefruit liqueur.

I would like to thank Mixology Monday and Filip at Adventures in Cocktails for this months theme of unusual base spirited cocktails.  If you haven't been to Filip's site defiantly check it out!  Thanks for reading and please comment!  A tweet for my blog with result in a tweet for your blog.  Follow me at spirit_imbibing on twitter and I will be sure to return the favor!