It’s Mixology Monday time again. This month’s theme, highballs, comes from Joel at Southern Ash. From the announcement:

Highball – n. 1. a long iced drink consisting of a spirit base with water, soda water, etc

-Collins English Dictionary – Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition.

Challenging in it’s simplicity, and a great way to start the new year off. Read on to see what we came up with.

Christa was in the mood to try black cherry soda as our mixer. Given that we’re working with just two ingredients, we decided to vary the base spirit to see exactly how changing up that one ingredient changes the drink.

Gone Courting

• 1 1/2 oz chocolate vodka (we used the Mud Puddle from New Deal)
• 2 oz black cherry soda*

Assemble in a high ball glass. Add ice. Enjoy!

• Nose: Chocolate, tart fresh cherry, and a little bit of cooked cherry like cherry pie.
• Palate: Sweet cherry on the intro and then rich chocolate on the mid palate. Creamy cherry-vanilla on the finish. Goes down very easily 🙂

Ozaki

• 1 1/2 oz aged rum
• 2 oz black cherry soda

Assemble in a high ball glass. Add ice. Enjoy!

• Nose: Cola, cherry, vanilla and some woody funk from the rum.
• Palate: Black cherry and grape brandy on the front. Vanilla, cherry and oak on the mid-palate. Nice long cedar-y finish.

*Black cherry soda: We couldn’t find any that we liked in our quick run to the local mega-mart, so we improvised. If you find one you like, use it. 🙂

• 2 oz cherry vanilla soda
• 2 oz soda water
• 1 oz black cherry concentrate
• 1/4 oz simple syrup

Highballs are great since they are quick and easy, and with a little thought to your ingredient choices can be very tasty too. We hope you enjoy these simple pairings, and we are looking forward to what else is on offer this month!