In my mind most of the citrus vodka you can buy in the store is just not very good, so why not make your own. The flavor is just so much better.
In a re-sealable glass container like a large jar fill a little over halfway with sliced limes, lemons and grapefruit. Next, pour in vodka to the top, it’s that simple. Let stand about one week; press the fruit with your muddler to get out all of the juice and citrus flavor, then strain out the fruit; to improve the clarity strain again using a cheese cloth. Now it’s time to enjoy! This infusion can be used in a variety of great cocktails, but for one of the best screwdrivers ever just mix it 50/50 with orange juice!

This has to be one of my favorite infused vodkas to date. As you can see in the photo my friends and I finished most of the infusion before I got a good photo. It is probably best it you keep it in the freezer and serve straight into a martini glass.

Ingredients
A fifth of vodka
2 packages of fresh raspberries
One slice of lime
½ cup of sugar

Combine and let stand for about one week; then strain out raspberries. Press the raspberries to get out all the juice and raspberry flavor; to improve the clarity strain again using cheese cloth.

The mojito a classic and fantastic drink! I thought I would take a moment to talk about preparing the perfect mojito.
The classic technique is to muddle the mojito
Ingredients for a Muddled Mojito
2oz light rum
½ of a medium size lime
Handful fresh mint
2 teaspoons sugar
Combine the ingredients in a glass or the shaker base, squeeze the lime and drop it in with the rest. Do not add ice yet. Use the muddler to thoroughly smash the mint this will release the oils and flavor of the mint and the lime. You can now either strain into a glass with ice or just add ice and serve with the pulverized mint in the glass. Add a sprig of mint and a lime wedge to garnish.

One of my best friends is having a birthday party next week and I was asked to come up with a drink just for the occasion.  I grow fresh mint in the back yard and love mojitos in the summer, my dilemma was how to make them new and exciting. On a whim I decided to make a black cheery syrup (sounds harder than it is) and came up with the black cherry mojitos! The cherry flavor is subtle but delicious; the best part is the color.

Ingredients for Black Cherry Mojitos

Hand full of freshmen mint

3 oz light rum

1 ½ oz black cherry syrup

¾ oz lime juice

Combine the ingredients in a shaker with ice, shake vigorously, strain in to a glass with fresh ice, garnish with a sprig of mint.

Note: To shake or to muddle… both work well shaking will pulverize the mint and the mint must be thoroughly strained into the glass. However shaking gives a great green color to the drink. Muddling works best if you a using a coarse sugar in the drink, the sugar works like sandpaper helping to breakdown the mint.  

Making the Black Cherry Syrup