Bubbles Bubbles Everywhere but not a drop to drink

So I am planning on doing a post on glassware but a few items are taking longer to arrive so in the meantime I wanted to touch on carbonation.

Top of the morning to ya!

So since I am an amateur I didn’t know technical names for many things. So what I did was make my own names to help me remember. I like to call my carbonated ingredients “toppers”. I did that because generally they are used to top your cocktails. Many classic cocktails require a topper so I always make sure I have options stocked in my bar.

I need examples

Now I use toppers as a general term. I include alcohol and nonalcohol ingredients. So my toppers include everything from seltzer water, club soda, sparkling Italian soda, ginger beer to champagne and sparkling wines. I mean you could even add something like sprite or Sierra mist.I find these items are just as important as the cordials, spirits and syrups that you add. Remember they must compliment your flavors! Here are some examples:

These are just a few examples of “toppers”

Now let’s see what I have in my stash

Buying small bottles/cans of bubbly are much more practical. I find 1 is usually good for 2 drinks. It keeps the cost down because it’s not like we need it every day. Plus they’re convenient for traveling as well.

Now I could go into detail with each item but I just think that is too much. If there is one you have questions about please comment below.

What’s your poison

So now the question is what cocktails require “toppers”. Now one example, that has 2 of them, we’ve have already covered is a Spritz. I featured a limoncello Spritz and a Aperol Spritz in my last post “I got Edibles ” which was about edible flower garnishes. These require a club soda and champagne.

What else you got?

So since we have already covered them we’re going to move on. So what else do we have?

I got the list

Take note I am not included the whole recipe just the carbonated ingredients in them

Gin Fizz- soda water
Dark and stormy- ginger beer
Mule- ginger beer
Tom collins- club soda
Gin and Tonic- tonic water
Mojito- club soda
Gin Ricky- club soda

A shout out to the underdog

Now I’m not knocking these but they’re just not my thing. I’ve seen several mixologist that have used these as a substitution for a usual carbonated beverage or have built a new cocktail around one of these. Some look quite refreshing if that’s your thing it’s just not in my stash.

Be cautious if you choose to use one of these. The flavor still needs to be complimentary and not too complicated or it takes away from the drink. Also be aware if it contains what I call “fake sugar”. I personally can’t stand it and I taste it immediately if it’s in my drink. That’s the main reason I don’t have them in my stash.

Now these are just a few examples of classic cocktails that use carbonated ingredients. There are tons of variations. “Toppers”, just like fruits, cordials and syrups, can create numerous variations of cocktails. So I decided to keep that in mind when I made the recipes featured in this post so….

Let’s make a cocktail

So first one up is a variation on a mojito. So basically a mojito is rum, lime juice, simple syrup, mint and club soda. So I decided to use what I had in my fridge. So we are adding fresh dragon fruit, changed simple syrup to dragonfruit syrup and then I changed the club soda to Sanpellegrino Limonata. I also decided to add a blue sugar rim for extra color.This is what I came up with:

Dragonfruit Mojito

2 oz white rum
1 oz fresh squeezed lime juice
3/4 oz dragonfruit syrup
2 tablespoons of dragonfruit
4-6 mint leaves
Sanpellegrino Limonata to top
Mint leaves and lime wheel for garnish

Add mint leaves, dragonfruit, dragonfruit syrup in shaker and muddle. Add lime juice and rum and muddle again. Then strain into tall glass full of ice. Top with soda. Garnish with lime wheel and mint leaves

On to the Next

So the second variation I chose was a Tom Collins. A Tom Collins traditionally consists of gin, lemon juice, simple syrup and club soda. Lemon and maraschino cherry for garnish.

Now what I going to do is use my homemade butterfly pea tea gin (1/3 butterfly pea tea and 2/3 gin). Then I switched the simple syrup to lychee syrup. Then I changed the club soda to Italian limon sparkling soda. Then I garnish with luxardo cherries.

Lychee Tom Collins

2 oz butterfly pea tea gin
1 oz fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 oz lychee syrup
Italian limon sparkling soda to top
1 luxardo cherry and lemon peel for garnish

Add gin, lemon juice, lychee syrup and ice to shaker. Shake vigorously. Strain into tall glass full of ice. Top with sparkling soda. Drop cherry in and make sure it falls to the bottom. Garnish with lemon peel.