(Somewhat) Patriotic Sangrias

I have a surprise for you at the end of this post

But first, I’m going to get all festive on you, again, and share this somewhat patriotic trio of sangrias. I say “somewhat,” because while it’s supposed to be red, white, and blue, it looks a little maroon, yellow, and purple…

But, I mean…close enough, am I right? If you wanted to make them a bit closer to your desired hue, you could probably add in a few drops of food coloring to the “red” and “blue” flavors (for the white I’m afraid your outta luck!), but for me, and the guests I served, the flavors made up for any particular lack in color.

I wish I could claim this ingenious sangria trio as my own, but the idea and recipes are from my probably most visited website—Epicurious.

I made these for last year’s Fourth, and they were a huge hit. (Also, I’m super obsessed with those stackable beverage thingies I found randomly at my grocery store.)

The “red” is a Dubonnet Rouge and brandy sangria. If you’ve never had Dubbonet Rouge, it’s a blend of fortified wine and spices that is super dee duper tasty. Oranges, lemons and a few dashes of bitters flavor this fruity, but well-rounded beverage.

The “white” is a pineapple sangria made with white wine, rum and coconut water. It’s a little bit tropical, and goes down way too easily.

The “blue” is a cucumber-vermouth sangria, full of fresh mint, a bit of gin, and blue curaçao to color it. It’s probably my favorite of the three because it’s so unique. You don’t really see many vermouth-based sangrias, ya know?

Everyone had a ton of fun trying all the flavors. We had stemless wine glasses, festive paper straws, and little name tags that you could etch your name into with your fingernails (err or a shark…like mine…that little shark drawing is kind of the “Rachael symbol,” haha). It was a total blast I highly recommend serving this fun trio at your Fourth of July celebration, this year!

Just remember to prepare in advance, because the bases of each of these have to marinate for about 4 hours.

Okay, okay now for the surprise! I recently reached 500 likes on my Facebook page, and I wanted to thank you guys for your amazing support by doing a little giveaway. You guys have no idea how much I love and appreciate every single one of you!

At first I wasn’t sure what sort of present to give away, but I soon decided that something that I love myself (and use on a near daily basis) would be perfect. The Flavor Bible is the one culinary book that I can never seem to put away. It lives on my couch beside my laptop, or in my kitchen…with plenty of food-covered fingerprints throughout the pages. It’s not a traditional cookbook, though. Basically, it’s a huge encyclopedia of ingredients with all of their flavor pairings, and dish ideas from acclaimed chefs using those ingredients. Say you looked up: “Morels,” you would find, among other things, the best techniques to prepare them, their best ingredient pairings, “flavor affinities”—which are groups of ingredients that all work together (i.e. morels + asparagus + ramps), dishes famous chefs have cooked using the ingredient, and in some cases, pairings to avoid.

This book gives me so much inspiration when I’m developing recipes, and I want to share a brand new, hardcover copy with one of you. All you have to do is “like” my Facebook page to enter (if you already do, the widget below will verify it), but you can also earn extra entries!

The giveaway will run through the 23rd of June, so feel free to tell your friends about it!

The Flavor Bible Giveaway