The specialty cocktail is a host’s best friend. Just ask Kimberly Kennedy. The winner of last year’s “Wickedly Perfect” reality domestic diva competition on CBS says she relies on many a specialty cocktail when entertaining, especially during the summer.
“It adds a festive element,” Kennedy says. “And it’s easier on the host when you don’t have to stock a full bar.”
Kennedy’s first book, “The Art and Craft of Entertaining” (Atria, 272 pages, $26), is chock-full of such drink suggestions, which she calls “hospitality at its most essential.” Here, the Atlanta-based hostess shares a few of her favorite sippers for summer’s soirees.
–Tran Ha, tha@tribune.com
Baby bellini
Yield: 6 servings
1/2 cup peach concentrate, chilled
1 bottle sparkling cider or champagne, chilled
12 raspberries
Pour 1 tablespoon peach concentrate into the bottom of six champagne flutes. Fill each glass 2 3 full with sparkling cider. Drop two raspberries into each glass.
Mojito
Yield: 6 servings
1 cup simple syrup (see below)
5 sprigs fresh mint
2 limes, sliced
3/4 cup light rum
3 cups club soda
ice
To make simple syrup, combine 1 cup sugar with 1 cup water; cook over low heat until sugar dissolves. Lightly muddle mint and lime in a pitcher. Add simple syrup; fill pitcher with ice. Add rum and club soda; stir and serve.
‘A day at the beach’ martini
Yield: 1 serving
2 tablespoons coconut rum
1 tablespoon Amaretto
1/2 cup orange juice
1 tablespoon grenadine
pineapple juice, frozen into small ice cubes
1 fresh pineapple spear
Combine rum, Amaretto, orange juice and grenadine in a cocktail shaker with ice. Strain into a chilled martini glass and garnish with a pineapple juice ice cube and a spear of fresh pineapple.
Sangria
Yield: 6 servings
1 orange, sliced
1 green apple, cored and sliced
1 bunch seedless green grapes
2 tablespoons brandy, optional
1 cup orange juice
1 1/2 tablespoons super-fine sugar
1 bottle red wine, such as Rioja, chilled
1 cup club soda, chilled
ice
Combine orange and apple slices and grapes in a large pitcher. Add brandy, if using, orange juice and sugar. Stir until sugar dissolves. Add wine. Refrigerate for at least two hours. Add club soda and ice before serving.
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tha@tribune.com
