4th of July Cocktails - Red White & Blue Drinks - Pimms Cup
Sports and Patriotic Fourth of July Holiday Themed Drinks
Parades, fireworks, picnics, sporting events, concerts and hot weather all help us celebrate / remind us of the Fourth of July holiday. Here are a few cool refreshments paired with the occasion to serve at your home bar as part of the celebrations.
Pimm's Cup Is The Wimbledon Tennis Championships Signature Drink
Most major holidays seem to have the finals of a sports competition associated with it. Much like U.S. Open golf and Father's Day, Wimbledon tennis goes with July 4th. While not specifically related to America's declaration of independence from the British, it is contested over the Fourth of July holiday weekend in Great Britain and watched by millions of American fans. The Pimm's Cup is a famously hot weather drink that's very popular in the summer and a Wimbledon crowd favorite.
The tennis matches happen early in the U.S. due to the time change, which means having guests over for brunch. Open up the breakfast bar with a twist by mixing up something different than the usual brunch drinks i.e. Bloody Marys and Mimosas. The Pimms Cup concoction normally has a low alcohol content along with lots of fruits and vegetables as garnishes.
Classic Pimm's Cup Recipe:
2 oz Pimm's No. 1 Cup
¼ oz fresh lemon juice
3 - 4 oz ginger ale
cucumber slice for garnish
Fill highball glass with ice. Add Pimm's No. 1 gin based liqueur and lemon juice. Top off with ginger ale and garnish with cucumber. Considered classic by using ginger ale versus lemon - lime soda or lemonade, the cucumber garnish could be considered minimum. Its common and almost expected for a Pimm's cup cocktail to include several garnishes. Some combination if not all of these popular ingredients are normally added: apples, cucumbers, oranges, lemons, strawberries and mint sprigs.
How To Make Red, White & Blue Layered Cocktails
Want to go patriotic? Then create your own red, white and blue colored libations. Mixing up drink favorites with single colors is the easiest. However, multiple colors in the same drink can be achieved several ways: ice cubes, garnishes, glasses and layers.
Colored ice cubes create themed cocktails to fit any occasion including the 4th of July. Specifically themed Independence Day barware or frosted / colored glasses can be used in combination with the drink's liquid & garnish colors to fit the festivities as well.
Another red, white and blue beverage option would be layered cocktails known as Pousse-cafes. By arranging the liquids based on their densities, where a lighter liquid is CAREFULLY poured on top of a heavier liquid and so on, the different liquids appear to be completely separate from one another ( at least temporarily ) as if they were solids.
It takes a little patience and some practice but making a Pousse-café is a lot of fun. Pouring each liqueur slowly over the back of a bar spoon so that it then flows down the side of an angled glass works well, but you can also tilt the container.
Red, white and blue drinks go great with New England Patriots themed pigskin parties too.
What Are The Weights Of The Liqueurs & Other Liquids?
Some of the popular red, white (clear) and blue liqueurs used are listed below in order from lightest (lower number for specific gravity) at the top to the heaviest ones at the bottom. Also included are their flavors and expected colors. Brand formulations may vary slightly in weight, flavor and color but these should serve as starting guidelines. Best results will be realized by choosing adjacent layers with larger differences in their specific gravities.
Red, White & Blue Pousse-cafe Chart: ?.?? liquid (flavor) - color
1.00 Water (plain) - Clear
1.04 Cointreau (orange peel) - Clear
1.07 Campari (herbal / bitters) - Bright red
1.09 Cranberry liqueur (cranberry) - Deep red
Triple Sec (orange) - Clear
1.10 Blackberry liqueur (blackberry) - Dark red
1.11 Blue Curacao (orange) - Brilliant blue
1.12 Cherry liqueur (cherry) - Dark red
Crème de Noyaux (almond) - Bright red
Strawberry liqueur (strawberry) - Pink red
1.16 Grenadine (pomegranate) - Deep orange-red
1.14 White Crème de Cacao (chocolate) - Clear
1.17 Anisette (licorice) - Clear
1.18 Crème de Cassis (black currant) - Blood red
More 4th of July Cocktails
Some political cocktails are more patriotic than others but many of them could double as nice options for 4th of July themed drinks too.
Senator Cocktail - Ottawa Sports Washington Politics
A Liqueured Up Lawmaker's Drink
If you glance through the ingredients of the Senator Cocktail and notice all the fancy liqueurs before reading the instructions, you'd probably think this recipe from 1891 was a pousse-cafe style layered drink.* However, a couple of years earlier the striped sip was declared all but dead.†
Even Pousse Café is out of date.
~ Americanisms 1889
So members of the world's most exclusive club (the United States Senate) were intended to be served this drink mixed instead of as a tiered technicolor tipple. Fads come and go though and the extensive list of pousse-cafes created after the late 1800s shows that these “coffee pushers” have been very popular on and off over the years since.
The original recipe is shown below, but if it suits you better to pin stripe your Senator, the ingredients are listed in the order of their specific gravities from lightest to heaviest going top to bottom so you form boundary layers. Not unlike the political parties do.
Behind The Bar - How To Make The Senator Cocktail At Home
The Senator Drink Recipe:
½ oz chartreuse
½ oz brandy
½ oz benedictine
½ oz curacao
½ oz maraschino
½ oz creme de roses‡
Shake well and strain into a cocktail glass filled with shaved ice before serving.
Not Necessarily Politically Correct
The Senator along with its counterpart, the Congress Cocktail, are both drinks that mix politics with pleasure. Here's some political humor for election night too.
First, I have the privilege of being Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. It is not an oxymoron I assure you.
~ Pat Roberts
If you're hanging around with nothing to do and the zoo is closed, come over to the Senate. You'll get the same kind of feeling and you won't have to pay.
~ Bob Dole
I must say I am not pleased to have to arrange the Senate schedule around the availability of Senators who are running for President.
~ Arlen Specter
The reason there are two senators for each state is so that one can be the designated driver.
~ Jay Leno
Our constitution protects aliens, drunks and U.S. Senators.
~ Will Rogers
Senators Sport A Team Or Two Too
The Senator cocktail also makes a great hockey team themed drink as a namesake for the Ottawa Senators and if you want to re-live a little history, a couple of other sports too.
In fact the Washington Senators, formerly the Washington Nationals (1884) and the Washington Statesmen (1891) of the American Association, started playing baseball in the National League (1892-1899). They returned after a one year hiatus, played sixty seasons (1901-1960) before becoming the Minnesota Twins and then another eleven seasons as an expansion team of the same name only to move southwest to become the current Texas Rangers.
There was also an American football team that played in the NFL as the Washington Senators from 1921 to 1922 as well. An analogy comparable to the New York football Giants versus the New York baseball Giants back in the day.
So in addition to being an Ottawa Senators drink, its a MLB baseball beverage and a NFL football team tonic from a past life too.
Similar Drinks
Happy Thought - crème de violette, crème de menthe, crème de rose, Cognac, crème de cacao and anisette.
Knickerbine Cocktail - kummel, Benedictine, egg yolk, crème de rose and orange bitters.
Lillian Russell - cream, crème de violette and crème de rose.
Liquid Symphony - Cognac, yellow Chartreuse, crème de menthe and crème de rose.
Maiden's Kiss - Benedictine, yellow Chartreuse, maraschino liqueur, Curaçao and crème de rose.
Pousse Cafe #6 - Cognac, yellow Chartreuse, crème de rose, maraschino liqueur and crème de cacao.
Symphony of Moist Joy - creme de rose, yellow chartreuse, creme de menthe and Cognac.
Vicomte Cocktail - gin, crème de rose and dry vermouth.
More cocktails and drinks starting with the letter ‘S’ that you can assess.
References
* - William Schmidt, The Flowing Bowl - When and What to Drink (New York: Charles L. Webster, 1891), 176. Print.
† - John S. Farmer, Americanisms - Old & New. A Dictionary of Words, Phrases and Colloquialisms Peculiar to the United States, British America, The West Indies, etc. Their Derivation, Meaning and Application, Together with Numerous Anecdotal, Historical, Explanatory, and Folk-Lore Notes. (London: Thomas Poulter & Sons, 1889), 214. Print.
‡ - Crème de roses is not widely available and can be hard to find, but Creme de Violette is a fairly good substitute as are Creme Yvette and Parfait d'Amour. You may have to add a little sugar to increase the specific gravity in whichever of these cordials you choose though if you're making the Senator cocktail as a pousse-café rather than as a mixed drink.
DISCLAIMER: MLB, NFL, NHL and other related images, logos, etc. are shown only as a point of reference / commentary for names, mascots, colors and so on as potential drink inspirations and do not represent an affiliation, sponsorship or endorsement by the league, any individual team or associated person or group.
