*Tropical*Strawberry*Sparkler*

What's better in the summertime than enjoying a cold, fruity beverage while lounging by a body of water? Not much else. These were my thoughts when my friends/neighbors (frieghbors) were discussing happy hour last week. One of the girls suggested we skip our usual neighborhood haunts and try a different venue - cocktails by the pool. Sold! When Friday rolled around I was craving something fruity and tropical, so I whipped up a drink concoction that incorporated those ideas. And because I didn't want to haul a cooler out to the pool with us, I thought I would make a frozen drink so that it would keep cold while we were relaxing outside in the summer heat.

I had some pineapple & passion fruit nectar in the fridge from a mojito I made a few weeks earlier, so I decided to use the rest of that in my drink. Since this was to be a frozen drink, I picked up some frozen pineapple and mango, along with a bag of frozen strawberries. Also laying around the house was about a quarter of a bottle of cachaça I needed to finish off, so I figured that could be the main liquor component. Something was missing though... something to make this drink extra special. And then it came to me: champagne. Perfect!

Substitutions can be made for some of these ingredients, depending on what you prefer or what you can find in your local grocery and liquor stores. There are a plethora of nectars to choose from in the Latin American section of the Shoppers Food Warehouse that I go to, so it's always easy for me to find a particular one I want to work with. But if you don't have access to a wide variety of nectars, you can always substitute pineapple juice or any tropical fruit juice you can find. As far as the frozen fruits, strawberries should be easy to find. If you can't find a mix of tropical fruit, stick with just the pineapple. I think that should be readily available in most stores. And as diverse of an area as northern Virginia is, I still was only able to find one brand of cachaça in the nearby liquor store. If I was only able to find one brand, I'll venture to guess that in other areas of the country, one might have a somewhat difficult time finding cachaça at all. No worries - just use a light rum in its place. And if you don't feel like spending the extra money on a bottle of champs, I suggest topping off your drinks with club soda. It'll still give you that sparkle and carbonation while not interfering with the other flavors.

I also wanted to mention some items you'll need for this recipe if you are planning to tote this drink out to the pool (or beach) like I did. I didn't want to bring a cumbersome pitcher to the pool with me, so I poured the drink mix into an empty and cleaned out quart bottle for easier transportation. In order to get the drink mix into this bottle, I needed a funnel. So make sure you have these two items handy when you're preparing this recipe.

Alright my little summertime happy hour lovers, let's get drinkin'!


Tropical Strawberry Sparkler

Servings: 8
Prep. time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:
1 16 ounce package of frozen strawberries, slightly thawed
1 16 ounce package of frozen tropical fruit, slightly thawed
20 ounces tropical fruit nectar
1 cup cachaça or light rum
1/2 bottle brut champagne
4 tablespoons agave nectar


Place slightly thawed frozen fruit in your blender.

Add in the fruit nectar, agave nectar, and cachaça or rum.

Blend until completely smooth.

Place an empty & cleaned out quart bottle in the sink with a funnel sitting securely in the top opening. Pour the drink mix through the funnel into the bottle. Screw the lid on tightly and shake the bottle for ten seconds.

Place the bottle in the fridge until you're ready to pack up for the pool (or beach).

When you're ready to hit the pool, pack the drink mix bottle and your bottle of champagne in your beach bag. If your pool is a public one like mine, you probably aren't allowed to have glass bottles. I got around this by putting the champagne bottle in a thick sleeve - kind of like a beer koozie. See?

If you don't have one of these, pour the champagne into a portable plastic container, like a Nalgene bottle.

To serve the drink, pour the fruity mix into a small cup, leaving some space between the drink mix and the rim. This space is for the champagne! Pour the champagne on the top of the fruity mix. Gently stir and enjoy! Salute!