Carbonated Cocktails at Home
I taught a cocktail class last weekend, the proceeds of which are benefiting Phoenix Center for the Arts which truly does incredible things in the Phoenix community for the underserved. I usually do some kind of Prosecco welcome cocktail as people are mingling and getting seated. This time I decided on a carbonated welcome cocktail that’s pre-bottled. Mostly because it’s easy for me. It allows me to focus on the other four courses which were fairly complex. It also allows me to make it ahead and ease the burden on the day of the event.
Bottled cocktails have been popular for awhile, and carbonating at home has gotten fairly inexpensive so I decide it was time to jump in. I bought all the materials I needed on Amazon. The DrinkMate Carbonator is what I used. It can carbonate most anything (including alcohol) because it has a special release valve that keeps it from exploding. It costs about $89 on Amazon without the CO2 cartridge. I already had one in the old Sodastream so I didn’t need another. Do not try carbonating alcohol in your Sodastream. You will end up with cocktails all over your walls. Trust them when they say it only carbonates water. I used small clear champagne bottles that are just under 6oz which came in a case of 24 bottles. The inexpensive manual bottle capper came with 144 gold bottle caps for about $20. Everything I bought is reusable for future drinks except the bottle caps of course.
Cocktails will carbonate better and stay carbonated longer if they are clear. There are lots of scientific reasons for this, but I am going to skip them in this post. Just know that you will have better results if you use only clear ingredients. I have juice in mine so I did clarify it first. I have another article on clarification on my website. To achieve these results just substitute the watermelon juice in that recipe for pineapple, keeping the lime juice the same so 3:1 pineapple to lime juice.
Another key to keeping a cocktail carbonated longer is to ensure it isn’t too sweet. It’s for that reason I focused on making a slightly bitter cocktail. The flavors also go nicely together and with the carbonic acid created by the CO2 which offers a slightly sour taste as well.
The cocktail features Aperol, vodka, simple syrup, and clarified pineapple & lime juices. It’s refreshing but definitely still on the bitter side. It received rave reviews from my guests even those that don’t really like Aperol or bitter cocktails. The clarified pineapple juices helps to temper the bitterness from the Aperol. This recipe is for a large batch, enough to carbonate about 12 drinks.
2 cups Aperol
1 cup Simple Syrup (1:1 Ratio water to sugar)
2 cups Vodka
2.5 cups Distilled Water
3.5 cups clarified pineapple-lime juice
Mix everything together and store in the fridge overnight. You want it as cold as possible. An hour or so in the freezer would be a good idea too, just don’t let it turn slushy. The colder it is the better it will carbonate. I usually only fill the carbonated bottle half full which is enough to fill about 3 bottles. This is to ensure I can carbonate and seal the bottles quickly. Follow the instructions on the unit to carbonate. Use short quick pumps until you hear the release. Give it a few hard shakes to ensure it’s really carbonated and then let it sit to rest until the foam dissipates. You can press the slow release valve as you go to keep releasing it.
While it is sitting, prep the bottles. Make sure they are all clean and ready. I rinse mine with a tablespoon of Everclear rather than soap. It kills germs and ensures that no soap residue will be left inside the bottle.
You may need to practice filling the bottles. It should be done quickly in small batches with minimal foaming to preserve the carbonation. You can try a plastic tube on the end of a funnel that reaches the bottom of the bottle or just hold the bottle nearly horizontal and pour very slowly, similar to how you hold a glass when filling with beer from a tap.
Once filled, but them back in the fridge to stay chilled. I had mine in the fridge for about a week before serving and they stayed carbonated. If you went with only alcohol ingredients they could stay good much longer. Jeffrey Morganthaler has a good recipe on his blog from a few years back for something akin to an Americano Spritz.
Good luck, I hope you have fun. If you come up with your own recipes share them in the comments below.
