Hi friends and happy Monday to ya! I thought I’d start the week off with a cocktail recipe.

Yesterday, Tyler and I wanted a cocktail (because that’s what you crave amidst home renovations and a cranky baby) so I rummaged through our very limited liquor cabinet to see what I could come up with.

We already have a basement full of homemade wine, so I thought maybe a nice summery sangria would do the trick. Plus, our fridge is always stocked with fruit because Wes is a fruitaholic. Perfect!

Then I remembered we still had a full bottle of Haskap Liqueur that we picked up at Okanagan Spirits while on our honeymoon a few summers back. Oooh, this was going to be good.

Prior to our tasting at Okanagan Spirits, I had never heard of haskap berries. They’re basically taste like a cross between raspberry, blueberry and black currants. Really sweet with a tangy finish. Yum! (If you click on the link above you can even read more about how they’re HEALTHY for you. So basically, this is a healthy sangria).

After a few minutes of deep thinking- haha riiiight- I came up with what resulted in one of the best sangrias I’ve ever had.

Ingredients

• 3 oz haskap liqueur
• 1.5 oz cherry rum
• 8 oz red wine (I used our homemade shiraz cabernet)
• blueberries
• lime

Instructions

1. Fill a shaker cup with ice and add first three ingredients. Shake well.
2. Prepare two glasses with ice, a handful of berries, and a slice or two of lime.
3. Pour contents from shaker cup into two glasses and garnish with lime wedge.

Of course you could play around with different liqueurs and rums and fruit. I don’t think sangria is ever meant to follow a certain guideline! And if there is one, then that’s stupid because sangria could have dirt in it and I’d probably still drink it. The dirt might be a result of me drinking too many on a patio and stumbling into the garden, but whatever.

Oh, and the haskap liqueur is perfect over vanilla ice cream too. In case you were wondering.

I will be making many more of these this summer until our supply of haskap liqueur runs out. And then I’ll just have to plan a trip back to the Okanagan so I can get more! Tough life I tell ya.