Wine-based cocktails!

April 14, 2009 11:11 AM

Can you suggest cocktails made with wine instead of liquor?

Ok, so I know the whole idea of cocktails without liquor in them is kind of weird, but bear with me. I'm having a fundraiser and we have a beer and wine license, so we can't legally serve liquor, even if it's in a premixed cocktail. We'll be serving beer and wine, but we'd like to have a 'specialty cocktail' to go with the theme of the party (which, if it helps, is "black light burlesque in the seedy future").

Any ideas? I tried searching on google, but all I can find is cocktails with wine and liquor, which doesn't work for my purposes.

posted by hapticactionnetwork to food & drink (29 comments total)

Sangria? Mimosas?
posted by Stewriffic at 11:13 AM on April 14

Wine spritzers can be nice, and everybody loves mimosas and Bellinis, though I dunno if any of those go with 'black light burlesque in the seedy future.'
posted by box at 11:13 AM on April 14

There is a mexican cantina a couple blocks from me that doesnt have a hard liquor license so they make margaritas with wine. I dont know what proportions they use, or what kind of wine, but it works pretty well cause the margarita mix is so strong.
posted by CTORourke at 11:13 AM on April 14

You can do a couple of things with champagne: + OJ = mimosa, + cran = poinsettia

Sangria is awesome and really easy. You could even have a "sangria bar" where people put the fruit of their choosing into their wine.
posted by radioamy at 11:17 AM on April 14

Champagne cocktail: Soak a sugar cube in bitters of your choice, pour champagne gently atop cube.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 11:21 AM on April 14

Bellini!
posted by rabbitrabbit at 11:21 AM on April 14

You should serve Black Velvets -- Guinness and champagne. Delicious, deadly, decadent.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 11:22 AM on April 14 [3 favorites has favorites]

If we're talking about a REALLY seedy future, let me offer you this really dubious cocktail that everyone will be drinking in 2026 -- yes, even schoolchildren: the white wine/Diet Coke spritzer.

Try it before you knock it.
posted by hermitosis at 11:23 AM on April 14

Kir: white wine and creme de cassis. Kir Royale: Champagne and creme de cassis.
If you can serve creme de cassis with your license.
posted by vincele at 11:25 AM on April 14

Creme de cassis is a liqueur. Perhaps a grey area.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 11:29 AM on April 14

Drinksmixer lists over 200 "wine-based cocktails" (many of which, undoubtedly, have liquor in them), but I am fond of the Bishop cocktail and the bitter sweet.

hermitosis: red wine and coke is listed at drinksmixer as a diablo's blood!
posted by crush-onastick at 11:29 AM on April 14

kalimotxo: 50/50 box red wine and coca-cola (not diet, not pepsi).
posted by rhizome at 11:34 AM on April 14 [2 favorites has favorites]

A lot of the wine/beer only bars around here make "cocktails" with soju subbing in for vodka. That might open up a huge range of possibilities for you if you can find it.
posted by booknerd at 11:43 AM on April 14

There is this bar/lounge called Stain in Brooklyn that serves two very delicious wine mixed drinks: one read, one white. The red one is called "Diablo's Blood" and it is red wine and black cherry soda. The white one is called "Popped Cherry" and it is champagne and cream soda with a cherry at the bottom. They are both good, but the latter is especially delicious and I have made it at my own parties, sometimes with a cherry and sometimes with a hershey kiss instead.
posted by millipede at 11:44 AM on April 14 [2 favorites has favorites]

("red," not "read." the drink is not literature. gah.)
posted by millipede at 11:46 AM on April 14

in addition to sangria, you could consider various forms of punch, which is actually rather retro from a cocktail geek perspective, but you could phrase it as "everything old is new again"?

David Wondrich is a great resource for extinct punch recipes. For example:

Claret Punch - 1 bottle bordeaux, 4 oz of sherry, 2 oz maraschino liquer (substitute syrup if this ia gray area?), rind of one lemon, superfine sugar, club soda combined in a bowl.
posted by bl1nk at 11:46 AM on April 14 [1 favorite has favorites]

There's a lot of places around here (San Francisco) with Beer/Wine licenses that serve shōchū cocktails. I don't know whether that would be permissible under your local laws, but it is here. Shōchū has a higher alcohol content than beer or wine and less strong flavor so it's way more versatile in cocktails. (Failing that, sake is certainly going to be legal for a beer/wine license, and also might mix better than beer or wine)

Whatever you do you should make sure to include tonic water, if you're actually going to have lots of blacklights - glowing drinks are totally the future!
posted by aubilenon at 11:47 AM on April 14

Use the beer end of your wine/beer license for micheladas!
posted by mandymanwasregistered at 12:01 PM on April 14

black light burlesque in the seedy future

Now THAT sounds interesting. Where's my invitation?

More helpfully, I'm here to remind you that such things as tonic water, Mountain Dew, and spinach juice all glow phosphorescently under black light.
posted by rokusan at 12:18 PM on April 14

You could make a Death In the Afternoon with alcohol-free pastis, if it's that kind of event. I don't think it is. :)

The other traditional way around liquor licenses is to use soju for your base, depending on your local laws.
posted by kcm at 12:31 PM on April 14

Sorta answers:

Mulled wine is awesome.

And is Sake is rice wine -- I've seen a lot of places Sake cocktails when they don't have a liquor license. They're pretty good and easy to google.
posted by cestmoi15 at 12:43 PM on April 14

I have a friend who makes a semi- wine cooler using any box wine (e.g. Franzia) of your choice mixed with original Fresca. Serve over ice. The variations are pretty obvious. I really like this in the summer. I've seen this called a Ghetto Sangria. Though, never actually seen it in a ghetto, so...
posted by skypieces at 1:10 PM on April 14

Going from the punch suggestion, I remember having something described as "Tramp Punch" at a party once that consisted of a bottle each of rosé, vermouth and lemonade.
I do remember it actually being pretty good.
posted by lucidium at 1:10 PM on April 14

I was going to suggest sake cocktails also. They are quite good, and sake is legally classified as a wine. Some recipes from San Francisco sake bars (here's a sake cocktail menu); some recipes from Takara Sake.

Sangria recipes. Do you know about clerico? It's the white wine version of sangria--very popular in Argentina and Chile. This recipe seems reasonably authentic.
posted by Sidhedevil at 1:20 PM on April 14

I've had a Adm. Nelson's Blood which is champagne and port.
posted by mmascolino at 3:15 PM on April 14

Weineken - White wine and Heineken. A 50/50 mix, preferably with a sauvignon blanc or a semillon.
posted by hifimofo at 3:26 PM on April 14

You guys are awesome. I called a couple places around town asking for soju, and finally found one that carries several brands. Soju has the advantage of being Asian. And as everyone knows, everything in the future will be Asian.

Kalimotxos also sound totally awesome. I might try making some this weekend for my personal consumption.

I can attest that micheladas are in fact excellent, but next week is Fiesta in San Antonio (where I'm located) so everyone will be serving them, and we want to set ourselves apart a little bit.

Thanks for all the suggestions!
posted by hapticactionnetwork at 3:34 PM on April 14

Not wine, but there is the shandy, a 50/50 mix of lemonade and ale.

One the wine side, I can think of two things. It sounds awful, but 50/50 coke and red wine is quite tasty, as is a gespritzer, half some sort of sharp white wine (think pinot grigio or, more honest to the Austrian, a gruner veltliner) and half soda water.

And, of course, there is the Champagne Cocktail.
posted by Schismatic at 3:39 PM on April 14

How odd! I work in a liquor store, and just today when I got the mail I received a postcard advertising spirit flavored wine for people who only have wine and beer lcenses. I'm not sure why we got it, and I have no idea who makes it, but try googling it. If you'd like, I could get the brand name tomorrow when I'm at work. A word of warning, not all soju is rice. It's kind similar to vodka in the sense that it's a neutral grain spirit. It could be made from rice, sweet potatoes and other starches. .
posted by lizjohn at 7:02 PM on April 14