Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Summer Melon Thyme Sipper

I think everyone, no matter how much you love your job, has those times when you’re SO.READY for the weekend.  I work an unusual, compressed schedule.  My week gets really intense Thursday – Friday, with Thursday often being a 16 hour day.  Once my work is done for the week, and the stress has lifted, my thoughts go straight to “WHAT IS MY FRIDAY DRINK!?”  Sometimes I come home and pop open whatever craft beer has recently caught my eye, sometimes I go for a good glass of wine, but often I like to mix up a cocktail.

I was recently contacted by a rep for Candian Club Classic 12 Whisky to see if I wanted to sample their whisky.  They describe their whisky as being “lighter than scotch and smoother than bourbon”.  Best of all, they provided me with a handful of recipes.  One thing I LOVE to do is scour the web for recipes when I decide to make a cocktail.  Unfortunately seeing as I’m really indecisive, this can be a long process.  As soon as I saw the list of recipes they sent, this one stood out to me immediately!  I had every ingredient on hand already.  Woot woot!  And it used the thyme I have managed to keep alive, but have been wondering how to maximize it’s use.

This cocktail was simple to prepare, didn’t have a huge list of crazy ingredients, and most importantly was refreshing and delicious!  As I’ve mentioned many times before whiskey/bourbon is a spirit I really enjoy, but I know it can be intimidating, and have a strong flavor.  Now I know my flavor tolerance is probably different that some people’s, but this is a GREAT introductory cocktail!  The whisky flavor is subtle, which is a good if you want to just test the water by trying this spirit.  It’s not overpowering with sweetness (like a lot of cocktails can be for me) because the only sweetness comes from the watermelon and the triple sec.  And the thyme is a nice herbal note.  If anything, you taste the tartness of the lemon more than the whisky!  If you want the honest truth, once I was done taking pictures of this and ready to start sipping it, I went and added in about another ounce of the Canadian Club Classic 12.  Because I LIKE to taste my whiskey.  hehehe….

I loved this cocktail!  If we didn’t have plans to go to the Nashville Farmer’s Market Night Market that evening, I would have fixed another.  I spent a lot of Saturday wondering if I’d get the chance to have another, or if I’d have to wait until Sunday.  😀  I even think this would be a great drink to mix up in a large batch and serve to company.  Sitting on the front porch, this was the perfect summer sipper.

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Summer Melon Thyme Sipper

Yield: 1 drink

Ingredients:

1.50 parts Canadian Club Classic 12
.75 parts DeKuyper Triple Sec
2 parts fresh squeezed lemon juice
3 - 1” cubes fresh watermelon
3” sprig of thyme, leaves stripped

Directions:

Muddle watermelon in a mixing glass. Add all remaining ingredients and shake vigorously with ice and double strain into a chilled cocktail glass or over fresh ice in a tall glass. Garnish with a watermelon spear, lemon twist, or sprig of thyme.

adapted from Canadian Club

Disclosure: I was provided with the bottle of Canadian Club 12, but the thoughts & opinions are all my own.  I would never write about a product I wouldn’t spend my own money on.

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