Perhaps the most recognized piece of music from the Nutcracker is the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy. Slow and haunting, the bell-like sound of the piece evokes a lullaby and a sense of just drifting off to sleep.
With this cocktail, we had a sense of what we wanted it to taste like from the get-go, a kind of holiday spice cake laced with fruit. The brandy-based sidecar seemed to be the best cocktail to build off of. We substituted ginger liqueur for the traditional orange liqueur, put some ginger in the sugar rim and added blackberries to deepen the flavour of the brandy. Kate had some blackberry cordial that she wanted to try while Drew wanted to see how much flavour could be obtained by muddling fresh fruit. Both results are fantastic.
Drew’s Sugar Plum Fairy Cocktail:
- 5 blackberries
- 1 tsp simple syrup
- 1 oz brandy
- 1 oz ginger liqueur
- ½ oz lemon juice
- 1 Tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp powdered ginger
Mix the sugar and powdered ginger together. Wet the rim of a cocktail glass with lemon juice, shaking off the excess. Run the rim through the ginger sugar to lightly coat. Place the blackberries and simple syrup in a cocktail shaker and muddle. Pour brandy, ginger liqueur and lemon juice into the cocktail shaker and shake. Pour into the ginger sugar rimmed glass. Garnish with candied ginger.
Kate’s Sugar Plum Fairy Cocktail:
- ½ oz Frostbites Blackberry Ginger cordial
- 1 oz brandy
- 1 oz ginger liqueur
- ½ oz lemon juice
- 4 dashes Dillon's Bitter Cranberry bitters
- 1 Tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp powdered ginger
- cocktail glass
Mix the sugar and powdered ginger together. Wet the rim of a cocktail glass with lemon juice, shaking off the excess. Run the rim through the ginger sugar to lightly coat. Pour cordial, brandy, ginger liqueur and lemon juice into the cocktail shaker and shake. Swirl in the bitters. Pour into the ginger sugar rimmed glass. Garnish with candied ginger.
Cocktail Notes:
Our original idea was to infuse brandy with blackberries but we were doing several other infusions for the calendar, so we decided to drop this one. Also, we weren’t sure about the availability and quality of blackberries this time of year. Blackberry brandy could be substituted in, if you happen to have it. The amount of simple syrup may vary, depending on the sweetness of the berries.
Like most classic cocktails, Sugar Plum Fairy is almost entirely liquor. However, the cocktail could be topped off with club soda to dilute it and make it more of a party drink.
Inspiration:
The fairy dance from Disney's Fantasia is probably one of the most famous versions of the Sugar Plum Fairy dance from the Nutcracker.
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