Melon Mania: Refreshing, Iced Cantaloupe And Vodka Spritz For Summer Pool Parties
Cut up slices of sweet and sour cantaloupes in a fruit platter during summer make for vibrant and bright tasting notes that contrast the heat of the warm season. Such tropical fruits which are in season during summers are often added to alcoholic and non-alcoholic mixes to introduce their rejuvenating qualities into the drinks to combat the sweltering heat.
During summers, cocktails are often crafted using the clear, crisp vodka because it has a malleable flavour profile that makes it an excellent boozy addition to any fruity concoction. Most fruits go well with vodka, yet there are some like the cantaloupe whose flavours are far more pronounced and heightened when they are added to this liquor. Making a vodka spritz using this variety of melons is then perhaps an interesting way to celebrate the summer fruit while revelling in the joy of a light buzz brought on by a chilled drink in warm weather.
Iced Cantaloupe And Vodka Spritz
By its nature, a spritz can be an alcoholic mix containing a booze topped with soda so the blend gets a bubbly, sparkling quality. Spritzes are inevitably very light and bright spirits and can be savoured as a vibrant tipple just before dinner because of their refreshing flavours. A vodka spritz is a similar concoction prepared by bringing together a quality liquor like Ciroc Ultra Premium Vodka with some club soda and a lime twist.
Flavouring the spritzer with a seasonal fruit brings into the cocktail a tropical element reminiscent of the warm and humid sea shores where you can lounge at a shack sipping on drinks containing tangy, sour and sweet tastes of summer fruits. And a cantaloupe is one of the more interesting pairings for such a spritzer because it balances out the intensity and slightly bitter finish of the vodka with its distinctly sweet yet sour flavour. The drink then becomes a very layered mix full of the citrus and tart notes of vodka and the sweet and tangy qualities of the melon coupled with a splash of simple syrup that lends a light, sweet touch.
Flavours
Adding a dramatic textural flourish to the cocktail is of course club soda that blends with the melon puree to deliver a bubbly and airy effervescence highlighting all the different flavours in the cocktail mix. Such a drink has to be garnished with mint leaves so their sharp, spicy and fresh characteristics undercut some of the overt sweetness coming through the simple syrup and sweet melons. The cocktail can also be garnished with a maraschino cherry for enhanced sweet notes and a bright pop of colour.
You can craft the vodka and melon spritzer with plenty of ice as a chilled welcome drink to serve your guests when they arrive at a poolside party or a garden barbecue. Find out below a simple recipe to prepare the sparkling iced drink that is best enjoyed as a light pre-dinner tipple at a summer party:
Ingredients
1 cup fresh, chopped cantaloupe
45 ml Ciroc Ultra Premium Vodka
15 ml simple syrup
15 ml lime juice
Soda water or sparkling water as required
Ice cubes
Fresh mint leaves and melon ball (optional) for garnish
Method
1. Add the freshly diced cantaloupe to a blender and blend until it turns into a smooth puree.
2. Next, in a cocktail shaker, add the vodka, simple syrup, lime juice and 1-2 tbsp of cantaloupe puree. Adjust the amount of the puree according to how strong you want its flavour to be.
3. Shake the mixture well.
4. Fill up a highball glass with ice cubes and pour in this mixture. Top it off with sparkling water or soda as required.
5. Garnish the cocktail with mint leaves and the melon ball. Your iced cantaloupe vodka spritz is now ready to be savoured.
