The Fan Zone - March Madness Drinks

Hey there!

A few weeks ago we made some yummy nibbles for our March Madness gathering. Well, you certainly can’t have nibbles without drinkies. If you are like me, you like easy to create drinks made with things that you have at home. I pulled two beverages recipes off the internet and then changed them to fit my needs. Then I created a wine spritzer that anyone can assemble.

I always have vodka on hand so when I found this Basil Lime Gimlet drink (that called for gin) I switched to vodka and poured it into a martini glass.

Vodka, a lime, simple syrup (water and sugar mixture recipe below) and some basil is all you need for this drink. I muddled the basil and lime juice, added simple syrup, poured it into a martini glass and added vodka to taste. That’s really it. I cut a lime slice and basil leaf for looks and then took my swig. It’s pretty refreshing.

I ALWAYS have wine chilling in my fridge so a Green Apple Sparkler is a perfect drink. You need a granny smith apple, a lime, club soda, simple syrup and vodka, gin or wine.

I deviated quite a bit from the recipe. I didn’t want 9 drinks so I made a recipe that would suit 2 people instead. I warmed some water on the stove and added equal parts sugar (about ½ of a cup each), making a simple syrup. Instead of stopping there, I chopped up a forth of the granny smith apple and added it to the simple syrup. While it cooled, I took a fork and mashed the apple a bit to get the muddle affect. Once it cooled, I strained it to remove the pieces of smashed apple.

I juiced half of a lime and added it to a third of a glass of wine. I then added 1/8th of a cup of the cooled apple simple syrup to the glass and a splash of ginger ale. I had a taste tester on hand and she loved it.

My last drink was probably my favorite. I didn’t have a recipe for it. I wanted a fun twist on a white wine spritzer. Did you know that there are tons of nectars besides your standard peach? I went to my local farmers market and I picked up a can of plum nectar. I added 1/4th of a cup of plum nectar to my glass and then added wine and a splash of ginger ale. Because limes went on everything else, I added a slice to the rim.

If you want to make it really fun, pick up several different cans of nectar and let your guests add their own flavor combination!

All of my drinks were easy and took no time at all. The hardest part was creating the apple simple syrup but you can create that ahead of time.

Having a great March Madness party should be fun and creating fun drinks for the crowd should be easy. Pick one of these three and your party will be a hit, even if your bracket is a bust!