Non-alcoholic recipe
Blood Orange Velvet Fizz
Blood orange and lemon meet a restrained vanilla note, while cold ginger ale adds fizz and a lightly spicy finish.
Ingredients
- 90 ml chilled pasteurized blood orange juice
- 15 ml fresh lemon juice
- 10 ml house vanilla-bean syrup (sugar, water and whole vanilla bean; no extract)
- 75 ml chilled ginger ale
Preparation
Make vanilla syrup by dissolving 100 g sugar in 100 g water, adding half a split vanilla bean off heat, covering for 10 minutes, then straining and chilling. Do not use vanilla extract. Fill a highball with cubed ice; add 90 ml blood orange juice, 15 ml lemon juice and 10 ml vanilla syrup. Stir once, add 75 ml cold ginger ale and lift gently with a spoon. Garnish with a blood-orange wheel.
Glassware
Highball glass over cubed ice
Garnish
1 thin blood-orange wheel
History
Blood-orange spritzes, including versions with vanilla or ginger ale, predate this proposal. This Mixology house variation specifies syrup made with whole vanilla bean rather than vanilla extract; it does not claim an inventor or a novel pairing.
Mixology View
Blood orange sweetness varies considerably. The 10 ml vanilla syrup is meant to round the citrus, not turn the drink into dessert; keep ginger ale well chilled and avoid over-stirring. Sensory assessment only, not physically tasted.
Ingredient note
Use syrup prepared from whole vanilla bean, not vanilla extract or an unspecified vanilla flavouring. Check the ginger ale and syrup ingredients if avoiding particular flavourings or trace alcohol.