Mother’s Day Tipples

Drinks for mother’s has almost become its only mini industry.

With “You are the reason Mommy drinks” onesies and books with instructions for kids to make cocktails, it seems there are a lot of functional alcoholic moms out there. The darker side of that tongue in cheek statement is the trend of memoirs including “Drunk Mom.”

I just can’t believe that is the only way to portray women and alcohol. It seems a little old that women who drink are portrayed as wine sippers, or fruity beverage drinkers and almost never beer drinkers. So, while some of these drinks are fruity, they include beer or are a different take that don’t rely on feminine sensibilities to enjoy. Each of these drinks are in tribute to mother’s in my life, regular people who enjoy a drink now and again.

My Ex Wife

Yup. The newly divorced guy gets to write about Mother’s Day. My ex wife, who is a great mother, is more of a typical wine drinker. Strawberries and champagne is a classic for a reason and here is a take on it using one of the health food of the moment, coconut water. Need some electrolytes for that long morning of Mother’s Day breakfast in bed. We used Two Oceans Extra Dry Sparkling Wine that helped with the inspiration because of its tropical fruit notes. Any dry bubbly with citrus or tropical notes should work well.

Sparkling Wine + Coconut Water
1 part coconut water
2 parts sparkling wine
Strawberries sliced and sprinkled with Orange Blossom Water.

If you don’t have the water, not a problem but a neat trick stolen from Herve This, is that a tiny bit of this makes tame berries smell quite a bit like wild if in the right proportions.

Mother’s Tea

My Mom loves tea and has moved on from orange pekoe to more herbal teas. I got this idea from a mojito. My mom would probably not like this but it was definitely inspired but what I think she would like, if she gave it a chance. Her favourite drink is more of a Kahlua or Bailey’s and this is a lot lighter in alcohol.

Mint tea made the regular way
Capful of Bacardi 151 (or two of a regular strength rum)
Sugar (1/4 teaspoon)
Lemon Juice to taste

My Grandma

My grandmother liked her liquor. She was a woman who took care of a farm after her husband died and enjoyed relaxing with a drink. I remember sitting on a bench at her table and watching her with a beer, tomato juice and small tumbler of vodka. The beer went in the glass and mixed with a bit of the tomato juice. The vodka was sipped and chased with the red. Here are two drinks that I think she would have liked.

V8 & Weisse
1/2 can Hopcity LawnChair Weisse (German Wheat beer)
1 cup V8 or tomato juice
Curry powder

Take a beer glass, tumbler or something and wet the rim. Rim the glass with curry powder. Pour half the beer into the glass and top with V8. The clove and spice notes of the beer play well with a tomato juice and the curry powder just makes it right. Just saying. Any German style weisse would work but this one just showed up and I am a sucker for something I haven’t had in a while.

Homemade Radler
250mL (1/2 bottle) Junction Engineer’s IPA
250mL Orange juice
Sprig rosemary

I’m not going to tell you the instructions for this one. Remember the proportions are just a starting point. Any piney or citrus (like almost all) IPA will work for this.

All of these drinks are set up in such a way as to be okay to break that before 11am rule. Definitely good enough to make its way onto a breakfast tray and into a mother’s mouth. As always, play around.

Enjoy and have a happy Mother’s Day regardless of what type of drinker you are.