Solar Flare

Again I found myself in need of a ‘punch’ option for a gathering for my partner and my joint birthday party.

The theme or perhaps more “inspiration” has established itself, by no great planning on my part, as ‘warmth and colour’.  From hearing many complaints about how cold and dreary Melbourne gets from the second half of April we could certainly use a bit of sun about now!

I have a deep love of blood-orange-everything so I figured I’d start with that and go from there – I wanted a hint of spice (cinnamon syrup fit) and then I thought why not actual spice. Before I knew it I had a bottle of vodka infusing with some chilies – much to the horror of my partner who cannot abide spicy food. I know infused vodkas are perhaps a little “2010” but I didn’t want to cross over to a tequila with chili notes or flavouring as I felt this might take over and we already had the Kalashnikov. The cointreau echoes the rich orange flavour nicely.

A common curse of the antipodes is not being able to get what is readily in season internationally available – I understand the blood orange season sort of slips away quietly from March onwards in the US, but I soldiered on and managed to find a few last bottles. I really wanted the ‘mature’ flavour of the blood orange so refused to go without, nearly converting this into a fizz in the process with some Arianciatta Rossa San Pelegrino – maybe for summer!

I prefer my bitters to be something I drink through (as in never mixed in and hopefully lots of it), so for this I’ve splashed it (very) generously over the top of the drinks post mixing – it lends a nice effect bleeding between the ice which of course refused to photograph well.

Mmm warm and cold at the same time

Between the flares of the bitters and the latent and subtle whisper of chili warmth, the drink named itself.  From the pre-test (we’re talking at least two, maybe three rounds of tests) it’s a perfect fit for the party.