Jeremy’s birthday was a few weeks ago. For his birthday he and his brother did The Savage Race. He was excited about doing the race, and I was excited for him, but I really wanted to have a few people over.
The weekend after the Savage Race we had a few people over to celebrate. I love having a reason to invite people over for a good time, and what a better time then Jeremy’s birthday. I bought some giant games for the backyard, Giant Connect 4, and Giant Checkers. Of course the weekend we decided to have people over there was like a record heat wave in Charlotte. We still had a great time.
A few weeks prior we went out for dessert and Jeremy ordered a drink that was made with strawberries, vodka and ginger beer. He really liked it, and asked me if I could recreate it, so of course I set out on my mission to recreate this drink he had. One thing I remembered when I tasted the drink was that the ginger flavor wasn’t super strong, so I knew that when I made it I wanted the ginger flavor to come through. The ginger beer alone wouldn’t do the trick. I made a ginger simple syrup. As I always say, the longer the spice sits in the drink the stronger it will be. I made the simple syrup a few days earlier, and let the ginger sit in the simple syrup so the ginger really had a chance to infuse into the simple syrup.
This drink was very simple to make. I blended some frozen strawberries along with some water on high in the blender. I poured the strawberry puree into a pitcher, and added the vodka and simple syrup. I let that chill, and right before our company came I added the ginger beer. I didn’t want to add it too early because I thought the fizz from the soda would go away. The drink was a hit.
Strawberry Ginger Punch
Makes about 1 Gallon
Ingredients
4 cups frozen strawberries
5 cups water
2-1/2 cups vodka
2 cups ginger simple syrup
5 cups ginger beer
Directions
- Pour water into the blender, add the frozen strawberries. Blend on high.
- Pour strawberry puree into a pitcher.
- Add vodka, and ginger simple syrup.
- Pour in Ginger Beer before you serve.
Ginger Simple Syrup
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
2 inch ginger, peeled
Bring water and sugar to a simmer in a sauce pan.
Add ginger.
Remove from heat, infuse simple syrup with the ginger for about 2 hours.
** If the simple syrup is made the day before the flavors blend together and has a more powerful taste.
