Cocktail Corner: Let Your Mood Inspire Your Cocktail

The cocktail deck, Cheers! Just Because makes it easy to find the perfect cocktail to suit your mood. Courtesy photo.

The cocktail deck, Cheers! Just Because makes it easy to find the perfect cocktail to suit your mood. Courtesy photo.

A Spirited Toast to All Things Alcoholic! By Leslie Dinaberg 

Feeling adventurous, naughty, flirty, insecure, sentimental or stressed? Have we got a cocktail for you.

Author (Sanctuaria: The Dive Bar of Cocktail Bars) Matt Seiter, a certified bartender, and industry historian, has something new and fun on the menu: the Cheers! Just Because collection of 50 “mood-inspired cocktail recipes” in a handy card deck format.

There’s something here for all types of cocktail lovers, from novices looking to set up their own home bar to advanced mixologists in search of exotic new recipes.

For the adventurous, how about “A Walk in the Grove,” which combines Calvados brandy (made with apples and pears) with lemon juice, Cointreau, simple syrup and a few drops of Absinthe for a ripe fruit adventure in cocktails. The naughty recipe is “Cookies & Cream Punch” (yum!) made with Gin, Maraschino Liqueur, Vanilla Bean Ice Cream and, of course, cookies!

Want to whip up the perfect drink for an occasion? The cocktail deck, Cheers! Just Because has the recipe for you. Courtesy photo.

Want to whip up the perfect drink for an occasion? The cocktail deck, Cheers! Just Because has the recipe for you. Courtesy photo.

The flirty category calls for “Loose Inhibitions,” combining Reposado Tequila, Cognac, fresh squeezed orange juice and lime juice and raw honey, shaken, not stirred. Feeling insecure, Seiter’s recipe for that is the “Mystic Lamp,” to “guide you to happier times” with a mixture of Puerto Rican Gold Rum, Lychee Juice, fresh squeezed orange juice and lime juice and almond extract.

You get the idea: pick a card, mix a drink.

Now that fall is here, the sentimental recommendation from the deck is perfect—”Remembering Summer” made with Cucumber -infused Blanco Tequila, St. Germain, fresh squeezed lime juice, rose water and Peychaud’s Bitters. Stressed, Seiter prescribes a tiki style cocktail called “Relief” with Cachaca (a Brazilian spirit made from sugarcane juice), fresh squeezed orange juice, hibiscus syrup, Allspice Dram, tonic water and mint leaves.

The Cheers! Just Because deck makes a fun host or hostess gift for cocktail aficionados, but it’s so much fun to play with, you just might want to keep it for yourself.

The cocktail deck, Cheers! Just Because takes the concept of mood in a truly unique direction, linking 50 drink recipes to different moods. Courtesy photo.

The cocktail deck, Cheers! Just Because takes the concept of mood in a truly unique direction, linking 50 drink recipes to different moods. Courtesy photo.

Cheers! Click here for more cocktail corner columns.

Leslie Dinaberg

When she’s not busy working as the editor of Santa Barbara SEASONS, Cocktail Corner author Leslie Dinaberg writes magazine articles, newspaper columns and grocery lists. When it comes to cocktails, Leslie considers herself a “goal-oriented drinker.”

Originally published in Santa Barbara Seasons on October 21, 2016.

Cocktail Corner: Brunch at the Outpost

Outpost cocktails, courtesy photo

Outpost cocktails, courtesy photo

A spirited toast to all things alcoholic! By Leslie Dinaberg

While I’m not quite one of those people who believe that brunch without booze is just a sad, late breakfast, I do believe that just about everything is better with bacon, especially day drinking!

Outpost, at the Goodland Hotel in Goleta, is a great place to hang out any time of day, but their recently added brunch is particularly delish. Sit outside if you can; poolside is a perfect, relaxed place to start your day with one of mixologist Chris Burmeister‘s creative concoctions like the Oaxacan Bracer, made of Mezcal, cantaloupe juice and lime, or the Corpse

Outpost brunch, photo by Leslie Dinaberg

Outpost brunch, photo by Leslie Dinaberg

Reviver #2, with Gin, Orange Curacao, Cocchi Americano, lemon juice and absinthe rinse (to get you in touch with your inner Van Gogh, who was known to indulge from time to time). They also have bottomless Mimosas, along with Bloody Marys, Bellinis and more creative Chevy Chasers like the Knickerbocker (made of Rum, dry Curacao, raspberry and lemon), the Red Snapper (with Gin, smoked oyster, horseradish, caper and cranberry juice) and the Smokemosa (made with Scotch, orange juice and sparkling wine).

I’m guessing Chef Derek Simcik might have had a cocktail or two to warm up his creative juices when he developed the brunch menu. I don’t know how else to explain the impulse to create a housemade “pop tart,” chock full of straight from the farmers’ market filling! Trust me, they’re delicious! (and I’m not usually a fruity sweet person).

The patio at the Goodland, photo by Amy Barnard

The patio at the Goodland, photo by Amy Barnard

Actually it’s all delicious. We loved the Buckwheat Griddle Cakes, made with candied pecans, white chocolate custard and whipped brown sugar butter; the Market Benedict, with asparagus, Serrano, poached eggs, crab béarnaise and hash browns; the Chilaquiles, made from corn tortillas, avocado puree, crème, chorizo salsa and a sunny side up egg, and of course the bacon, available with a traditional egg, toast and hash brown combo; on a torta with scrambled eggs, avocado, queso fresco, black bean puree and hash browns or as a little something on the side.

The Outpost at the Goodland is located at 5650 Calle Real in Goleta, 805/964-1288, Outpostsb.com. Brunch is served on weekends from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Cheers! Click here for more cocktail corner columns. Originally published in Santa Barbara Seasons Magazine on April 17, 2015.

Leslie Dinaberg

Leslie Dinaberg

When she’s not busy working as the editor of Santa Barbara SEASONS, Cocktail Corner author Leslie Dinaberg writes magazine articles, newspaper columns and grocery lists. When it comes to cocktails, Leslie considers herself a “goal-oriented drinker.”