Four I'm Under My Host

Last Saturday was my wife and my 10th anniversary, an occasion which we marked by hosting a catered dinner party at our home for 20 of our closest friends.  While the caterer handled the food, I handled the cocktails and designed 3 signature drinks for the event.  We recently returned from a 10-day getaway to Hawaii (the first part of our anniversary celebration), where we gorged ourselves daily on the perfectly ripe tropical fruit found there in such glorious abundance.  And being me, I of course ordered and mixed up many a fine cocktail taking advantage of that fruit.  So riding high off that experience, I decided to go with a tropical theme for the 10th anniversary dinner cocktails.  Lacking the fresh, ripe tropical fruit supply of the islands, I utilized some very nice passion fruit nectar I found at our local Whole Foods, some guava juice that I had around the house, and the excellent Mandarin Blossom Vodka from our local Hangar One distillery for the flavor bases.  And at great personal sacrifice, I experimented every night for a week before the party to get the balances just right!  Based on feedback from our party guests and the fact that I’m still avidly drinking them after the fact, these tropical anniversary cocktails were a big success (all shaken and served up):

Guava Lemon Drop

• 3 parts Skyy Citrus Vodka
• 1 part triple sec
• 1 1/2 part Kern’s Guava Juice
• 1 part fresh lemon juice
• Dash Fee Brothers Lemon Bitters
• Lemon wheel garnish

Passion Fruit Margarita

• 2 parts tequila
• 1 part triple sec
• 1 part Santa Cruz Organics Passion Fruit Nectar
• 1/2 part fresh lime juice
• Lime wheel garnish

Mandarin Cosmopolitan

• 3 1/2 parts Hangar One Mandarin Blossom Vodka
• 1 part triple sec
• 1 1/2 parts cranberry juice
• 1/2 part fresh lime juice
• Lime wheel garnish

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