Have you ever made a French Press Cocktail? No? Well, now is the time to start. Aside from its intended purpose of brewing delicious coffee, the French press is particularly well-suited to crafting spirited concoctions.
I’ve teamed up with Ottawa-based home decor, furniture, & accessories store The Modern Shop to style this recipe and we’re giving away a $250 CAD gift card to one lucky winner to use towards your next purchase from The Modern Shop – maybe you’ll want to snap up the beautiful French press I’m using here. Visit this Instagram post for details on how to enter, giveaway closes on November 6th!
The French press has many virtues as an instrument for preparing and serving small-batch cocktails. It has the ability to mix both hot and cold drinks; it can separate solid ingredients that were used to impart flavour into a spirit or mixture; and it allows you to spend less time shaking up one-off drinks and offers stylish table-side service for session drinking with friends.
If you’re dreaming up your own French press-friendly cocktails, keep in mind that there needs to be a component of the mixture that needs to be strained (in other words, some solid ingredients, like the pear and whole spices used in this recipe). Without some sort of fruit, nut, spice, herb, vegetable, or other ingredient that adds flavor or texture to the cocktail, serving the mix in a French press would only be for aesthetics.
The French press is perfectly-suited to muddled cocktails and cocktail infusions (like the one we’re doing in this recipe).
This post is sponsored by The Modern Shop.
I recommend using a beautiful, clear glass French press like this option by Yield available at The Modern Shop. This piece is form and function as it allows you to see the intensity of colour develop as your spirits infuse with the fruits and spices you’ve added to the vessel.
When using a French press for infusions, the most important thing to remember is that alcohol is a solvent, and the higher the ABV of the mix, the faster the spirit will extract flavour from whichever ingredient is being used. When using this method to infuse a spirit, it’s crucial to let the spirit and solid infuse by themselves without adding any ingredients of the cocktail that may lower the ABV (juice, citrus, liqueurs, etc.). This will ensure that the cocktail yields the best concentration of flavor.
I’ve been coveting this particular French press for quite awhile and am thrilled to have partnered with Ottawa-based home decor, furniture, and accessories store The Modern Shop in a new content series to inspire your high-style entertaining.
Blog readers and Instagram followers often ask me where I get my glassware, bar tools, and other decor items and I already sourced many of these items from The Modern Shop. The Ripple glassware Champagne saucers and highball glasses by Ferm Living are a perennial favourite which I purchased from The Modern Shop – pictured in this Clover Club Cocktail recipe and this Honey Blueberry Collins recipe respectively.
This Fall Harvest Sangria infuses pear eau de vie (brandy) and regular brandy with chopped ripe pear with cinnamon sticks, star anise, and fresh ginger in the base of our Glass French Press by Yield. The flavours will build in intensity the longer you let them macerate – give it at least 20 minutes. Once the brandies have developed the desired flavour, add a bit of freshly squeezed lemon juice and half a bottle of dry white wine.
Let that combination stand for at least ten minutes before depressing the plunger on your French press. Pour into tumblers like the beautiful pair of clear Sukat Makkaralla tumblers I’ve used here, which are made of mouth blown glass. The Sukat Makkaralla (Socks Rolled Down) series is designed by Anu Penttinen to bring joy to the dinner table with its playful and unique shape that is inspired by a sock leg, which has carelessly slumped down.
Make transport to the table easy by setting your tumblers on rainbow bright porcelain POP! coasters by Jonathan Adler, all nestled on colourful circular trays by Vitra.
The Modern Shop has a huge selection of barware, glassware, and serving vessels worthy of your next cocktail party. They ship across Canada and the USA so don’t be shy about visiting their website and hitting “Add to Cart”. Stay tuned for more creative entertaining and decor ideas featuring eye-catching finds from The Modern Shop!
Fall Harvest Sangria
This Fall Harvest Sangria is the perfect French press cocktail for Fall. This beautiful clear glass French press by Yield, available at The Modern Shop, is deal for a cocktail infusion and stylish table-side service.
- 1 ripe pear chopped
- 2 star anise
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 1 ” piece of ginger
- 1/4 cup St-Rémy VSOP brandy
- 1/4 cup pear brandy
- 1 oz lemon juice
- 1/2 bottle chilled dry white wine
- Club soda to top
- Garnish: star anise
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Add chopped pear, star anise, cinnamon sticks, and fresh ginger to a French press. Pour in St-Rémy VSOP brandy and pear brandy. Let infuse for at least 20 minutes or until desired flavour is achieved.
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Add lemon juice and 1/2 bottle dry white wine. Let stand for 10 minutes.
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Depress plunger on French press and pour into an ice-filled tumbler.
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Top with club soda, stir to combine.
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Garnish with one star anise.
