When the weather starts to turn warm, our thoughts wander to outdoor drinking. Today, our friend and cocktail connoisseur Nick Britsky shares his expert opinion on 5 must-try Michigan cocktails for the season.
Thanks to the Drink Michigan gals for the opportunity to guest post some fun Spring/Summer Cocktails featuring Michigan booze via NickDrinks.com.
Mixing with beer, cider and mead is a lot of fun. 
Since Michigan is known for its apples, I thought a drink with Motor City Brewing Works Hard Cider would be delicious. You are more than welcome to use other ciders but MCBW is very dry which allows you to adjust the sweetness to your liking.
- 2 oz Two James Grass Widow Bourbon
- ½ oz Simple Syrup
- 2-4 dashes Aromatic Bitters
- Generous Topping with Hard Cider
Mix everything, except the cider, in an iced shaker and strain into an iced rocks glass. Top with hard cider and enjoy.
Cherry Bombs Over Russia
While the title isn’t overly political (I am Ukrainian after all), it more refers to the amazing art on the Valentine Vodka Liberator Gin bottle and the variation on a Moscow Mule. You could use Vernor’s in this drink but I love an official ginger beer like Barritt’s.
- 1.5 oz Liberator Gin
- 3 Michigan sweet cherries
- 2 wedges of lime
- Generous Topping with ginger beer.
Muddle the cherries and limes in the bottom of the glass. If the cherries have pits, remove them now. Fill glass with ice. Add gin and top with ginger beer. Give everything a gentle top to bottom stir and enjoy.
Minllini
Bellinis are great for brunch or cocktail hour and are super simple to make. Use the ripest Michigan peaches you can find or add sugar as necessary.
- 3 barspoons of peach puree
- 2 mint leaves + some to garnish
- Dry Sparkling Wine like L. Mawby’s Blanc de Blancs
To make the puree, pit 5 peaches and toss into a blender. You can peel them for a more uniform color. Taste for sweetness and adjust accordingly. Aim sweeter than you normally would. The sparkling wine will cut it.
Muddle 2 mint leaves in the bottom of a champagne flute and then remove leaves. Add 3 barspoons of puree. Ever so slowly top with sparkling wine. It will foam like crazy. You will have to be patient. When you have mostly filled the glass gently stir the puree into the wine. It will foam some more. Top with a small sprig of mint and enjoy.
Wild Dandelion Martini
Dandelions are mostly known for their thoughtlessness in ruining a perfect lawn. But you can harness them for the power of good. Below I’ll show you how to make a simple infusion with vodka and the flowers. Give it a shot as it is much more refreshing then I thought it would be. It is worth the effort. WARNING: Do not pick flowers where you know or suspect they have been sprayed with chemicals. This will likely kill you but more importantly ruin the taste.
- 10 Dandelion Flowers and 20 Leaves
- 8ish oz of your favorite Michigan vodka (I used Two James Vodka)
- Large Jar
- Peel of one orange
- Good quality dry vermouth
Wash the dandelion parts and place into a large, sealable jar along with the orange peel. Cover the plants with vodka. Let this sit for at least 2 hours up to a max of 5 days.
To make the drink, take 1.5 oz of dry vermouth and 1.5 oz of dandelion infusion and stir in a mixing glass filled with ice. Strain that into a martini glass and garnish with orange zest.
OSU Jerk Bag
So I went to MSU and probably should love OSU because they hate UofM. But, I was in marching band at State and when we visited OSU they were total jerk bags. So I made this drink in their honor. The base of this drink is a good quality sweet vermouth. To my knowledge, we don’t make one in Michigan, so I made my own with Michigan Wine. This is a bit of a process but I’ve shared it over on my blog.
- 2 oz good quality sweet vermouth
- 1 oz earthy/funky rum (like Pusser’s)
- 1 jerk bag
To make the jerk bag, take three layers of cheese cloth and fill with 5 allspices berries, 3 cloves, 5 peppercorns, a pinch of red pepper flakes, a pinch of cumin and a small stick of cinnamon. Get it? This is jerk seasoning.
Stir the vermouth and rum in a glass filled with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Add the jerk bag. The drink is fun because it changes over the night. As more of the spices infuse it goes from sweet to spicy to herby to bitter. It’s a lot of fun.
I hope you enjoyed these cocktails. Check out my blog for more fun stuff and thanks again to the Drink Michigan gals. Budmo (Ukrainian for Cheers)!
Nick blogs on NickDrinks.com and is a cocktail enthusiast from Royal Oak, Michigan. His passion started in college by converting his loft into a tiki bar and equipping it with a selection of tools, glassware and liquors that rivaled most local bars. He currently spends his time researching uncommon and forgotten drinks, reading bartending books and building his ever expanding selection of bitters.
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