The Perfect Sundowner Cocktail Menu Is 5 Simple Hacks Away
Typically, a sundowner is a drink enjoyed after a day of hard work. You pour yourself a dram of whisky or Scotch and sip on it lounging on a comfy sofa before heading out to dinner, or heading into the kitchen to prepare a meal. In contemporary parlance, a sundowner drink has acquired the connotation of enjoying a drink while watching the sunset too. No matter its multiple meanings, a sundowner constitutes an elegant drink, crafted simply and sipped on at a leisurely pace as you wind down and relax after being on your feet all day.
As mixology has evolved, so too sundowner drink menus have begun to feature lots of cocktail mixes in their roster. These include bringing together different colourful and vibrant flavour pairings in the creation of cocktails that are as tasty as they are boozy. You can enjoy these while sitting out on the patio or gazing outside a window of your home that overlooks the skyline so you can take in the glowing reds, yellows and oranges of the setting sun. And when you are playing host to a sundowner cocktail evening, you can also pair these drinks with a host of delicious foods which go well with the cocktail offerings.
Read on below to know more about how you can craft a perfect sundowner menu, ideal for hosting a cocktail evening at home:
Keep It Simple
The most effective way to plan your home hosting endeavour for cocktail evenings is to keep it simple. When guests head to your party after a day of work, they are looking for an uncomplicated yet delicious drink that they can sip on without having to think too much. Offer classic mixes like palomas, bellinis, gin and tonic, mojitos and berry coolers for their refreshing and zesty flavour profiles which provide your taste buds with a very fresh and rejuvenating feel. Serve these cocktails in fun glassware with colourful fruity and herb-forward garnishes for a more informal touch.
Aperitifs Galore
In many regions across the globe, aperitifs are celebrated for their vibrant tastes and their place in culinary fares as a pre-dinner drink which boosts your appetite. When you are hosting cocktails followed by dinner you might want to serve negronis, or pastis and absinthe-heavy cocktails which act as spirits to be savoured before a meal. The orange hue of a pastis or the deep green of absinthe are also attuned to the shades you would find in nature, making these drinks the perfect concoctions to sip on when you watch the sun set in an autumnal twilight.
Spirit-Forward Drinks
Another direction to take while crafting your sundowner cocktail menu is to go for drinks which are a tad more spirit-forward. You can craft rum punches and mojitos and other intensely flavoured drinks like whisky sour or a French 75 because these boozy cocktails are best consumed before dinner. This way, you can savour a glass or two of your favoured concoction without worrying about a hangover the next morning because the drink will be followed by a sumptuous meal.
Seasonal Fruits
While using seasonal produce to make cocktails is a handy trick for any mixologist, it works all the more in the process of crafting sundowner drinks because this is the time guests can actually revel in the seasonal shifts like pleasant breezes of autumn or the warmth of summer. And as they enjoy the season, so too they can sip on drinks featuring fruits like strawberries, pineapples, pears, apples, mangoes which appear at different moments in the year. Make sure you are using produce that is fresh and ripe to extract maximum flavour.
Food Pairings
To make your sundowner cocktail party a success, you need food pairings which go well with aperitifs, spirit-forward drinks and even sweet and sour mixes featuring lots of fruits. According to the changing seasons, you might want to set out soft cheeses like brie and camembert, charcuterie boards, fruit platters and crudites among other appetisers. As well, consider phyllo cups stuffed with assorted mixes, caprese skewers, bruschettas and other small bites because canapés are excellent food offerings for sundowner cocktail evenings.
