TROPICAL HUCKLEBERRY- THE IMPROV COCKTAIL

TROPICAL HUCKLEBERRY

¾ measure passionjuice

¾ measurecranberry juice

¾ measure citron vodka
¾ measure huckleberry vodka

¾ measure clubsoda

Sugar for the rim

My day started atthe top of Big Sky, Montana’s Lone Peak. Hubby and I had taken the tram up tothe top right out of the box. I’ve never been a morning person, and here I wasbefore 10 am at 11,166 feet in a cloud with whipping winds and no good sense ofdirection. I followed some other skiers down the very steep bowl run, which wasa mix of crude and powder, and I’m happy to say I made it turn by turn. Therest of the ski day was great too, but the legs never quite recovered from thatfirst run.

My day ended at myfriend Michelle’s house. The college buddy and Big Sky resident is the reason I’mhere, and she was kind enough to have hubby and I over for dinner last night.Luckily, her husband Lee manages Whiskey Jacks — the main bar at the base ofthe mountain. So I challenged him to make my cocktail. He rose to the occasion withhis own concoction, which we named the TROPICAL HUCKLEBERRY.

To make it, Lee startedby rimming a martini glass with sugar. He then put the two kinds of juices -listed above and the two vodkas into a shaker. He added ice, shook it andstrained it into the glass. He then added the club soda. I learned that you shouldn’tever add club soda to a shaker, because you’ll shake out the bubbles and itwill turn into water.

As you can see inthe picture (those are my hosts in the background), the TROPICAL HUCKLEBERRYcocktail is a nice color. That mostly comes from the passion juice. Aftersearching Ohio grocery stores for passion juice, I was happy to finally see abottle in person. But they don’t sell it in Montana either. Michelle and Leehad gotten it on their honeymoon in Hawaii over the summer. The passion juice mixedwell with the other juices and the vodka, and the club soda gave the TROPICALHUCKLEBERRY an easy sipping, delightfully-fruity taste. The cocktail also provedto me yet again that club soda is king, just like my friends, and that damnLone Peak.

Drink Up^

Cocktail Connie