The Fourth of July has always been a favorite holiday in our family. For much of our life, we lived on a lake which means that our parents spent many Independence Days hosting big parties. From dressing up for boat parades (our vintage "sports" costume we dug out of our grandmas closet was our favorite and won us $100 at the local bar) to creating playlists for the fireworks show, we were all in when in came to the Fourth.This year, we have elected to celebrate on the farm. A big Fourth of July party with masks, gloves and social distancing didn't sound like much fun so we are keeping it small. Coming from a family where there is never less than 75 people at our party, we are both really looking forward to a party that is smaller, more intimate but still filled with plenty of booms (Ross would have it no other way).Probably the best thing about keeping things small this year is the opportunity to really level up our drink menu. Usually our Fourth of July drinks all come in a can you dig for in the cooler. But this year, we are taking the opportunity to do drinks right and setting up a real festive drink bar. A well planned bar set up encourages conversation and invention. It sparks creativity and becomes a collaborative party activity that EVERYONE can enjoy (yes, even guests who don't drink).To help you set up your Fourth of July bar we have outlined a few of our tips and tricks and have created a couple of festive recipe cards for you to print out for the bar.
Supply the Ingredients for a DIY experience
Using flavored simple syrupslike ours make it really easy to put together a cute, inclusive MIY (mix it yourself) bar and makes your job as the host really easy. The key to success when putting together a MIY bar is providing a recipe and a couple of key ingredients. Our must have ingredients includes:
- least three different simple goodness sisters syrup flavors
- fresh lemons and limes
- A couple of different spirits
- sparkling water
- ice
Get the Right Tools for the Job
Putting out the right tools for your guests will help reduce waste, keep things sanitary and help your guests make delicious drinks. Here is a list of things we keep in our bar that always come in handy when hosting.Shot Glasses with measurements: THISis the one Belinda uses and loves.Ice Bin with Serving Utensils: THIS ice bin is insulated which helps if it ends up being sunny (please, let it be sunny) and has two serving utensils and a strainer for when the ice does melt and you need to drain the water off.Pour Spouts: To keep things from getting messy we rely on THESE handy pour spouts. When we selected our bottle we made sure they fit these pour spouts so home bartenders and professionals can pour our syrups quickly and easily. They also solve the age old problem of missing caps.Cocktail Shaker: If you have one already put it out. If you don't have one or the one you have is nice and you aren't thrilled about the idea of letting everyone use it I would recommend grabbing a cheap one. Or, if you have mason jars hanging around you can get a set of mason jar screw lids that screw over narrow mouth mason jars. It turns any mason jar into a cocktail shaker! WHAT?!?!?! Having multiple shakers makes it so people can make drinks together and don't have to wait their turn which can be hard to do at the drink station!Drink Accessories: the fun way to level up your drinks is to give your drinks some bling. Fancy straws, festive stir sticks and red, white and blue glasses are all fun options.
Print Recipe Cards
This is the easiest part because we did all the work for you! Fill out the below form to join our mailing list and we will email you a link to download the full size recipe cards for a classic cocktail and an Italian Soda mocktail. The full size is 8.5" x 11" so you can put them in a cheap frame and put them out on your bar to help guide your guests.*If you are already a member of our mailing list, you will receive the recipe cards automatically this week.
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Book Launch: Drink Your Garden: Recipes, Stories, and Tips from the Simple Goodness Cocktail Farm
Drink Your Garden: Recipes, Stories, and Tips from the Simple Goodness Cocktail Farm " is officially launched! We’ve found happy hour, fresh from the garden, to be one of life’s utmost simple pleasures, and we're sharing it, with this book. We love to learn traditional ways of making delicious things and preserving the flavors of each season through these methods.
