Purple Independence

Hello!!  It's been a long time since we've chatted about cocktails hasn't it.  We have been going absolutely crazy since the last time we drank together.  Baseball for our oldest has been non-stop, we had a family reunion in Monterey, CA and then drove directly to Santa Cruz, CA to have (I want to say our first ever) "Just the 6 of us" vacation.

My grandma is one of nine siblings, so our family is all over the U.S.  We do a lot of laughing, a good amount of eating and a bunch of drinking!  The first night we got there we had a "tailgate" style dinner, so we all wore our sports gear.  Of course my family was supporting the S.F. Giants, how else would we have dressed?  Before the 2012 World Series I had made a bet with two of my cousins that if the Giants (like I didn't know they'd make it) played the Tigers in the World Series, looser has to wear the winning teams hat ALL.......NIGHT......on Friday at the reunion.  Yup, it was nice seeing those two extra Giants hats there!  Woot Woot, go Giants!

We came home and started right back up with a baseball tournament.  Back to reality.  Our trip was amazing and we all had a great time.  We're really looking forward to our next reunion and hopefully before that a family trip.

I gave this cocktail 3.5 shots out of 5.  Apparently the year if more then half over with and here comes the Fourth of July!  I figured I'd better pull out some bottles and create something patriotic-ish for the upcoming holiday.  I was shooting for a blue cocktail, but with all that I had to add to it, it became a sort of purple color.......so be it.  This cocktail is a lighter tasting cocktail.  I was hoping for more of a blueberry taste, so I think I will try a different-ish combo with more blueberry next time.  The flavors go well together, I would say the raspberry vodka stands out the most and the rest sort of blend together.  All in all, it's not a bad cocktail.

Here is my recipe for a Purple Independence:

• 1 1/2 ounces raspberry vodka
• 1/2 ounce blueberry schnapps
• 1/2 ounce cranberry juice
• 1/2 ounce sweet & sour mix

Fill up a short cocktail glass with ice.  In a shaker, add ice and all of the ingredients above.  Shake and strain into your cocktail glass and enjoy!

Here is a photo of the end result:

Here is a photo of the ingredients:

Here's to the first half of this year!  Cheers to the second!

The Cocktail Lady