Image Credit: SF Girl By The Bay

Raising the Bar (Cart) Part 1: Cocktail Garnishes

Garnishes are a really fun thing. They make your drinks prettier, yummier, and we find, when we find the right garnish, it inspires us to be more creative with our cocktails than we might otherwise be. We thought the first week of February was the perfect time to commit to garnishing our cocktails right, as we’re pretty sure we’ll be doing a lot of our cocktail consumption at home this month. Here, some cocktail garnishes we’re psyched to move into the rotation.

Smoky Okra

Sure, we could use this in food…. But we’re WAY more excited about throwing it into our Bloody Mary.

Our Product Pick: Smoky Okra Pickles from Rick’s Picks
How to Use It: The Barefoot Contessa’s Spicy Bloody Mary

Image Credit: Barefoot Contessa (C)
Image Credit: Barefoot Contessa (C)

Crystallized Ginger

We could eat this by the handful, and may just stab it with a cocktail pick and throw it into any champagne cocktail to make it prettier and zestier. But if we really want to get involved, we’ll probably make this sparkling ginger drink.

Our Product Pick: Crystallized Ginger from The NutBox
How to Use It: Sparking Ginger Cocktails from Gourmet Magazine

Image Credit: Gourmet Magazine
Image Credit: Gourmet Magazine

Bourbon Smoked Sugar

We will use this for more than just cocktails – for instance, we’re pretty psyched to add it to dry rubs for meats – but we’re also going to use it to kick our Old Fashioneds up a notch. Here’s a recipe for those of you who want to join us.

Our Product Pick: Bourbon Barrel Foods Smoked Sugar
How to Use It: Smoky Old Fashioned

Image Credit: Baltimore Sun Feature on Sticky Wicket
Image Credit: Baltimore Sun Feature on Sticky Wicket

Cocktail Sugar Cubes

Okay. We are maybe just excited about the idea of having sugar cubes exclusively for cocktails, and how this cute lil’ box will look on our bar cart. But we also love the idea of plopping them in old fashioneds.

Our Product Pick: Cocktail Sugar Cubes from Hella Bitters
How to Use It: Absolut Traveller

Image Credit: Absolut Citron
Image Credit: Absolut Citron

Spicy Green Beans

Another fun guy to add to our loaded Bloody Mary. But what’s the other tip? To use the brine IN the Bloody to add an extra kick. Mind = blown.

Our Product Pick: Spicy Pickled Green Beans from Rick’s Picks
How to Use It: Spoon Fork Bacon’s Simple Bloody Mary

simple-bloody-mary
Image Credit: SpoonForkBacon.com

Main Image Credit: SFGirlbyBay.com

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