It seems like it has been 5 million years since I posted a cocktail here and I must say that I've missed it. Cocktail Friday was something I started back in my Tokyo Terrace days for a couple of reasons. First, I was really hoping to cut down on our budget for going out. Living in Tokyo, it was easy to blow through a good chunk of change between eating out at Izakayas, spending a few hours at Karaoke, and indulging in a little sushi (all of which go well with Umeshu Soda). We started having at-home happy hours on Friday evenings, which we would often invite our friends to join, which saved us some dough on drinks and apps. Sometimes we would go out afterwards, but a lot of the time we would just make it a stay-in kind of night. The second reason I started Cocktail Fridays was because I didn't know much about anything but wine and I wanted to expand my horizons. This was a great way to hold myself accountable when it came to learning about various spirits, mixers, etc. Fast forward to today and I still love taking classic cocktail recipes and making them new with the addition of new and unusual ingredients. This Grapefruit Vodka Soda is a perfect example.
I first made this cocktail for my sister, Rebecca, the vodka soda lover in the family, when she was visiting us a couple months ago. My cocktail ingredients were limited, since I hadn't been keeping things stocked during my pregnancy. However, I scrounged up a bottle of vodka from the freezer, grabbed a grapefruit that was hiding in the fridge, and cracked open a can of my very favorite sparkling water: pamplemousse (aka grapefruit) from La Croix. Yep. That's all I used to whip up a fresh, seasonal version of the classic vodka soda. Easy peasy, no?
I may be 100,000% sleep deprived with our new little bundle of joy, but getting back into the routine of sharing a fresh and easy cocktail with you each and every week helps me feel more like myself. Plus, this is easily adaptable for those of us who need more mocktails in our lives. Just omit the vodka. Done and done. The grapefruit wedges are enough to make any old sparkling water feel more elegant and fun.
Cheers to that, I say. Cheers. To. That.
Grapefruit Vodka Soda
Makes 2 cocktails
- 4 oz vodka
- 4 oz pamplemousse sparkling water (or any variety you prefer)
- 4 grapefruit wedges
Fill two short glasses with ice. Pour the vodka over the ice and the sparkling water over the vodka. Squeeze the juice from one grapefruit wedge and float it in the glass. Stir gently to combine and garnish with remaining grapefruit wedges. Enjoy!