Red, White, & Booze: Cocktails with Patriotic Flair

Whether you are spending the Fourth of July up north or enjoying the fireworks closer to home, Haskell’s once again has you covered with some inventive cocktails to ensure that your Fourth of July is filled with boozy festivities. 

The Fourth of July is Independence Day, not Independence Evening, so we have a few drinks for you to enjoy before the sun sets.

Start your 4th with a BANG

After you have enjoyed your morning coffee and you are ready to begin brunch, we recommend two classic drinks, the Bloody Mary and the Mimosa. These classic drinks might not scream Fourth of July, but with the use of some creative garnishes, we will have you singing “America, The Beautiful” in no time. 

Bloody Mary

To save you the fuss, we have several Bloody Mary mixes for you to choose from. We recommend Filthy Bloody Mary Mix, Powell & Mahoney Bloody Mary, or the Spooky Horseradish Bloody Mary Mix, but if you are feeling a little more entrepreneurial and want to do it yourself, here is a great recipe:

• 3 cups tomato juice
• 2 cups vodka (or tequila if you want to make a Bloody Maria)
• 2 tablespoons dill pickle juice
• 1 tablespoon olive juice
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice (fresh-squeezed is best)
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon horseradish
• 1 teaspoon Tabasco
• ½ teaspoon celery salt
• ½ teaspoon pepper 
• ½ teaspoon ancho chili powder

Combine all the ingredients in a pitcher and serve in a glass over ice. Another great option is to exclude alcohol from the recipe and allow your guests to add vodka, tequila, or nothing to their choosing. 

We love two things about Bloody Marys: One, you can make them to your liking, and they will be even more delicious. Want them a little more spicy? Add extra Tabasco. Want them more citrusy? Add more lemon juice. Don’t have lemons? Substitute lime juice. There are so many different ways you can modify the drink. 

Two, the garnishes are really what makes a delicious drink—they are like a drink with an appetizer. To make your Bloody Mary “Fourth of July Approved,” we recommend adding red, white, and bleu: cherry tomatoes, a hard-boiled egg, and bleu cheese-stuffed olives. A few of our other favorite garnishes are dill pickles, cornichons, celery, lemon and lime wedges, crispy bacon, and green olives.

Mimosa

For those of you who prefer donuts in the morning to eggs and bacon, this sweet beverage will be a great addition to your Fourth of July brunch. The mimosa is a simple, sweet drink:

• Sparkling wine
• For a sweeter Mimosa, try Cavatina Sparkling Moscato or Baccio della Luna Extra Dry Prosecco.
• For a less sweet option, try our favorite sparkling wine for under $20, Bouillot Brut, or Castel de Nit Vino Espumoso Brut from Spain. 
• Orange juice

In a glass, mix ⅓ sparkling wine and ⅔ orange juice. Feel free to change the proportions depending on your tastes. Once again, to make this drink “Fourth of July Approved,” the garnishes will add some patriotic flare. On a toothpick, add two or three blueberries, a cube of pineapple, and a strawberry.

Keep the Parade Going!

As the day progresses and the party moves to lawn games, trips around the lake on the pontoon, or relaxing in the hammock, you want to ensure your cooler is filled with beer, seltzer, and water. You will also want to ensure you have an easy-drinking punch and some Jell-O shots ready to go. 

Bootlegger Benny’s Punch

Named for the husband of our founder Fritzi Haskell, Benny was a boxer and a convicted bootlegger. This punch is great to mix up and set on the deck next to a cooler of ice so guests can help themselves all afternoon. We love this drink because it is quick, easy, and delicious. We also love using gin (although vodka makes a good substitute) like Vikre Boreal Spruce Gin, Far North Gustaf Gin, or Du Nord Prominence Gin because it has a stronger pine flavor, making it perfect for weekends up north (sometimes for fun, we even add a sprig of an evergreen to the cup).

Ingredients:

• 24 cans of light beer (we love to use Fulton Lonely Blonde, Lift Bridge Farm Girl, or the classic Michelob Golden Draft Light)
• 1 ¾ liters of gin
• 4 cans of frozen pink lemonade concentrate

For Benny’s Punch, combine all the ingredients into our 3.5-gallon Coleman jug and then stir.

You can choose to allow the lemonade to thaw before putting it into the jug but we have found that using frozen concentrate keeps the beverage cooler longer throughout the day. If you have a larger jug, you can either add more light beer or add club soda to top the jug off. Once the drink is ready, we like to garnish with the fruity brunch leftovers: pineapple, lemons, limes, blueberries, and strawberries.

Sparkly Red, White, and Blue Jell-O Shots

These patriotic drinks are a great addition to any cooler. They are tasty and fun. The one catch is that they take a bit longer to prepare as each layer of Jell-O needs to be set before the next is added, so make sure you set aside enough time for these treats.  

Ingredients:

• 3 oz red Jell-O (cherry, raspberry, or strawberry)
• 3 oz blue Jell-O (berry blue or blue raspberry)
• ½ cup white rum
• ½ cup vodka
• 7 oz sweetened condensed milk
• .75 oz unflavored gelatin
• 2 cups club soda
• Approx. 60 1-oz clear cups with lids

Instructions:

1. Set all the cups on a large tray. You will also need enough space in your refrigerator to cool each layer, so make room there, too. 
2. The first layer you will want to make is the sparkling blue layer
1. Bring 1 ½ cups of water to a boil
2. In a large bowl, stir the water in with the blue Jell-O mix (this is much easier if you use a bowl with a spout)
3. Stir until Jell-O is completely dissolved
4. Refrigerate the Jell-O for 12-15 minutes (you don’t want the Jell-O to set too much)
5. Stir in two cups of cold club soda
6. Pour mix into cups ⅓ full
7. Chill until set
3. The second layer will be the white layer
1. Add the unflavored gelatin with ½ cup of cold water into your mixing bowl
2. Let it thicken for 5 minutes
3. Add 1 cup of boiling water
4. Once the gelatin is dissolved, whisk in the sweetened condensed milk and ½ cup of white rum
5. Cool slightly so it doesn't melt the blue layer
6. Pour mix into cups so they are ⅔ of the way full
7. Refrigerate until set
4. The final layer is the red layer
1. Add the red Jell-O and a cup of boiling water into your mixing bowl
2. Whisk until the Jell-O is dissolved
3. Once the Jell-O is dissolved, whisk in ½ cup of cold water and ½ cup of vodka
4. Cool slightly so it doesn’t melt the white layer
5. Pour mix into cups so they are full
6. Refrigerate until set
5. Add lids
6. Refrigerate until ready to serve

Another fun addition you can make to these Jell-O shots is to add some fruit into each layer, although they tend not to “shoot” as well when fruit gets in the way. 

Don’t forget that kids love Jell-O, too! These are easy to make non-alcoholic. Just follow step one, the blue layer, for each layer, and you will have sparkly N/A Jell-O shots.

Soon enough, you will be back home, back at work, and the kids will be returning to school. Make this 4th of July one to remember by busting out these patriotic cocktails!