Smokey Cocktails

A clean cocktail that you don’t have to sacrifice your health goals for. We'll make a mint simple syrup, charred limes for lime juice, and lime garnishes. You'll learn in-depth knowledge about our herbal ingredient highlight, mint, & recommendations for organic spirits. Plus we'll shake everything together, like professional bartenders, into a delicious cocktail.

P.S. You can learn how to make cocktail’s like this one LIVE with me in my virtual Herbal Cocktail Classes. Sign up for the next class below.

If you like these beautiful glass cocktail straws, use my discount code: VICTORIAGEHLMEY to get 10% off your order. Check out the Simply Straws website here.

Ingredients:
(makes two 4-6 oz. drinks)

• Zest and juice of 3 limes

• 2 lime slices (to garnish)

• 1 cup mint leaves

• 1 cup agave (or sweetener of your choice: honey, sugar, etc.)

• 1 cup filtered water

• 4 oz Blanco Tequila - I like Don Abraham, IXA by Greenbar, or 123 Organic Tequila.

• 1 Tablespoon salt or sugar (for rimming the glass)

• 1 Tablespoon oil (olive or coconut are best)

• 1 Jalapeño pepper (optional if you want to make it spicy!)

• Ice

Choose organic, local ingredients where you can!

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Instructions

First things first, we’ll make the mint simple syrup. Combine water, sweetener, and mint leaves in a small saucepan on medium-high heat.

Bring mixture to a boil, stirring until sugar dissolves. Simmer for 1 minute. Remove from heat and let syrup steep for 20 minutes.

Strain syrup into a glass jar and let cool.

Next we’ll make the charred lime juice. Zest 2 of your limes and set zest aside for infusing your salt. Cut the limes in half. Reserve one half to cut into slices for garnish and prepare for charring.

Heat a frying pan (cast iron works the best) over medium-high heat. For those bartending outdoors, a grill will also work.

Drizzle oil in a small dish, and rub the cut end of each lemon in the oil so that the cut surface is well coated. Do the same with the garnish slices.

Add the limes face-down to the hot pan and allow to cook untouched for 4 minutes.

Swirl the lime halves around the pan a few times before removing to collect the charred bits for extra flavor. Flip the garnish lime slices and continue cooking until thoroughly charred on both sides. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Now squeeze the juice of the limes into a bowl, then double strain into an air tight container and place in fridge to cool.

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The Cocktail Recipe

Makes 1 Drink 

• 4 tbsp (2 oz) tequila 

• 2 tbsp (1oz) mint syrup 

• 2 tbsp (1oz) charred lime juice 

• large handful of mint

• 1 slice of Jalapeño pepper (optional if you want to make it spicy!)

Directions:

1. Prep your glass by running a fresh lime wedge around the rim. Place an even mixture of salt (or sugar) and lime zest in a low dish and press the juice-rimmed glass into it to coat. Fill glass with ice.

2. In a pint class, combine a large handful of mint (option to add a slice of pepper here) muddle with the back of a wooden spoon with the mint syrup. Add tequila and charred lime juice.

3. Stir thoroughly, and then strain over ice in your prepped glass. Garnish with a charred lime slice.

4. Enjoy! 

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All about mint

The use of peppermint in Aperitifs points to the traditional knowledge of it's benefits for aiding in the heavy feeling after a large meal. Peppermint's antispasmodic effect calms nausea and helps prevent gas and bloating. It’s often combined with caraway to help indigestion. Those with IBS, irritable bowel syndrome, can find relief with capsules of peppermint.

Peppermint is also a first herb of choice for treatment of colds and flu because it acts to relieve multiple symptoms at once: congestion, headaches and muscle aches, nausea and fever. You can drink a hot cup of peppermint tea, diffuse the essential oil in a room to ease the breath and kill germs, and massage the oil on chest and throat massages for relief.

Peppermint's generic name, Mentha, comes from Roman Mythology. Minthe was a lovely young nymph who caught the eye of Pluto, the ruler of the underworld. When Pluto's wife Persephone found out about his love for the beautiful nymph, she was enraged. She changed Minthe into a plant, to be trodden underfoot. Pluto couldn't reverse Persephone's curse, but he did soften the spell by making the smell that Minthe gave off all the sweeter when she was tread upon.

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2. Nair B. Final report on the safety assessment of Mentha Piperita (Peppermint) Oil, Mentha Piperita (Peppermint) Leaf Extract, Mentha Piperita (Peppermint) Leaf, and Mentha Piperita (Peppermint) Leaf Water. Int J Toxicol 2001;20:61-73.

3. Briggs C. Peppermint: medicinal herb and flavouring agent. Can Pharm J 1993;126(2):89-92.

4. Spirling, L. I. and Daniels, I. R. Botanical perspectives on health peppermint: more than just an after-dinner mint. J R.Soc.Promot.Health 2001;121(1):62-63.

5. McKay DL, Blumberg JB. A review of the bioactivity and potential health benefits of peppermint tea (Mentha piperita L.). Phytother Res. 2006 Aug;20(8):619-33.

6. Seyedeh Maryam Sharafi, Iraj Rasooli, Parviz Owlia Massoud Taghizadeh, and Shakiba Darvish Alipoor Astaneh. Protective effects of bioactive phytochemicals from Mentha piperita with multiple health potentials. Pharmacogn Mag. 2010 Jul-Sep; 6(23): 147-153.