Queen’s Bee Storm

The Queen’s Bee storm is another in a series of quick to make champagne cocktails that are ideal for brunch. The drink is a riff on the Groovy Appeal, but it swaps aged Jamaican rum with Strawberry brandy for the main ingredient.

If you’re thinking: “why would I ever drink strawberry brandy, it sounds gross and artificially sweet,” then let me assure you friend, your skepticism is warranted. That said, I’d highly recommend you give Ventura Spirits Strawberry Brandy a whirl. The company is located between Santa Barbara and Los Angeles, just off the Highway 1. They specialize in local fruit brandies, like St. Georges. Their strawberry brandy looks like a freaking strawberry, pale red in color, which is due to aging in zin casks. It contains no other ingredients, and clocks in at 42.5% ABV. It tastes like fresh strawberries, and adds a lot of sweetness to the cocktail, despite the minimal residual sugar.

Ingredients

• .75 oz Ventura Sprits Strawberry Brandy
• .75 oz Grand Mariner, or other orange-flavored liqueur. I used Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao.
• 1 Dash Earl Grey Bitters
• 2 oz Champagne

Glass

Cocktail Glass

Instructions

• Add all ingredients to a mixing glass with ice.
• Stir and strain into a chilled Champagne flute.
• Garnish by dropping lemon twist into drink.