Haamonii (harmony) ShochuLow calorie cocktails – only 35 calories per serving

Haamonii Smooth Shochu is proud to announce it’s involvement with Raise the Flag at Five, a benefit for Japan earthquake relief.  We will be pouring cocktails for the crowd from 3:00 pm PST to 7:00 pm PST on Saturday, April 16th in the Main Square in Japantown, San Francisco.  100% of all donations and proceeds will go directly to the Northern Japan Earthquake Relief Fund, founded by the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California (JCCCNC) at http://www.jcccnc.org.

Please come join us and help support an awesome foundation doing everything they can to help Japan in this time of crisis.  From the Raise the Flag press release:

During the 1906 earthquake, known as San Francisco’s darkest hour, the country of Japan was the largest contributor to San Francisco aid relief and was an integral partner in rebuilding the city of San Francisco, restoring this great city, giving it the chance to become what it is today.

Help us give back to Japan.

For event details, please see:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=179622745418650

This week’s cocktail was inspired by the gorgeous weather in San Francisco and the possibility of a picnic in the near future. My friends requested a cocktail that would be appropriate for a picnic, and so I went looking for something interesting. I came across the “Harvard Cooler,” a brandy-and-lemon concoction that is apparently rather popular in Japanese bars, and I’m sure you all are aware of our love for Izakaya.

I decided I wanted to San Francisco-ize this East coast cocktail and make it something worthy of a picnic in Golden Gate park or Baker Beach. Tart, refreshing, and bubbly, everything I’d want to sip on in the sunshine.

The City College of San Francisco Cooler (where everyone is welcome)
Makes 1 cocktail

Ingredients:

2 oz Haamonii Smooth Lemon
1 oz Calvados or other Apple Brandy
1/2 oz Meyer Lemon Juice
3 oz Club Soda
Grenadine
Lemon Twist

In a tall, chilled glass, pour the Haamonii Lemon, Calvados, and lemon juice over ice. Stir with cocktail spoon to combine. Pour club soda over the lemon mixture. Float a few dashes of grenadine over the top of the cocktail to taste. Serve with a twist of lemon. Alternately, forgo the club soda and serve chilled.

Only 150 calories in this delicious spring-has-sprung cocktail as compared to 240 calories when made with premium vodka.

FitSugar recently honored us with being the featured spirit on the landing page for their article “Healthy, Low-Cal, Eco-Friendly Alcohol Brands to Make Happy Hour Even Happier.” We were featured along with 9 other “healthy” or “low-calorie” spirits from around the world.

Taken from their article:

American made Haamonii Shochu is usually the easiest to find in the States, and comes with the street cred of having earned a bunch of awards. Use it as a substitute for gin and vodka in your favorite cocktail recipes or try it in our Asian Bloody Mary.

We’d like to thank FitSugar for featuring us in their article.  We are incredibly pleased to have been included with many top-of-the-line “healthy” spirits and big industry players.

FitSugar’s full article on healthy spirits is available here.

We were recently featured in 7×7′s article on the up-and-coming trend of “Izakaya,” the Japanese equivalent of a local pub. We were featured along with several other Bay area companies focusing on similar Izakaya-type foods. We are incredibly grateful to be featured in such an awesome, high-quality publication like 7×7 and are excited to see our name in its pages!

“Once you’ve had all the sake you can handle, try Japan’s other traditional drink: shochu, a low-alcohol distilled spirit. Created in SF, Haamonii Shochu promises to be so smooth that a hangover is impossible. We dare you to test it out. $28 at D&M Wine and Fine Spirits, 2200 Fillmore St., 
415-346-1325.”

The full article can be found at:

http://www.7×7.com/eat-drink/bring-japanese-pub-grub-home

Today’s cocktail was inspired by a recent trip with friends to a favorite Mexican restaurant of mine. I was seated on the patio, and for the first time in months, the weather was nice enough to not need a scarf, gloves, jacket, boots, etc. I had a delicious, smokey grapefruit cocktail that I adored, and decided I wanted to recreate Haamonii-style.

I was headed to the grocery to get my grapefruits when I was (quite literally) smacked in the face by the scent of ripe strawberries (not many better smells exist, in my opinion). I then remembered that strawberries were just coming into season and decided I absolutely HAD to include them. Lucky for you, I think their addition accentuates the awesome, unique smokey quality that this cocktails has.

It is doubly perfect because yesterday was a typical, blustery San Francisco day, but today it is 8 zillion degrees and sunny, the perfect weather for a cocktail like this.

I hope this cocktail invokes a hot summer day for those pining for warm weather, and refreshes those dealing with the heat.

M-, m-, m-, my Paloma
Makes 1 cocktail

Ingredients:

3 oz Haamonii Smooth
Juice from 1 Ruby Grapefruit, skin reserved for garnish
3 ripe Strawberries
1/8 teaspoon Smoked Paprika

In a two piece shaker, muddle the strawberries until they release their juices. Pour fresh grapefruit juice and Haamonii over the strawberries. Add smoked paprika. Add ice, shake until very chilled. Strain into glass of your choice, garnish with grapefruit twist. Alternately, serve with fruit pieces over ice.

About 130 calories in this sweet summertime cocktail compared to 315 calories when made with top shelf tequila.

I love Mimosas. Actually, I adore Mimosas. Does that make me a 67-year-old woman out to brunch? Absolutely not. I’ve always been of the opinion that the very limited availability of the Mimosa is entirely unfair to those of us who actually enjoy drinking these delicious, simple concoctions on a pretty regular basis; most certainly more often than the once-in-a-blue-moon brunch excursion with girlfriends.

This week’s cocktail is my answer to the discrimination against the Mimosa; my own personal rebellion against only being allowed to have this sweet, invigorating beverage between the hours of 10:00 am and 2:00 pm on Saturday and Sunday.

It also happens to be full of spring-like flavors, which is particularly appropriate as the Bay area (and beyond!) begins to open up and blossom. It’s nice to see the sun again! Take this cocktail outside for the first picnic of the season.

The Anti-Brunch Mimosa
Makes 1 cocktail

Ingredients
3 oz Haamonii Lemon Shochu
1 oz Champagne (I used Sofia Blanc de Blancs)
5-6 ripe Kumquats, halved
1 stalk Lemon grass, halved lengthwise and sliced thin
1/2 teaspoon chopped candied ginger

In a shaker, muddle the kumquats, candied ginger, and lemongrass together until the kumquats have released their juices. Add ice and the Haamonii Lemon, shake vigorously. Strain into a champagne flute over a little ice. Pull a few pieces of kumquat and ginger from the shaker and drop into the cocktail. Float the champagne on top, garnish as desired.

Approximately 140 calories in this light, refreshing cocktail!

This week’s cocktail was inspired by a trip to an awesome new restaurant over the weekend. Namu, a Korean-New Californian fusion place, was an awesome experience for all 5 senses and featured some delicious flavor pairings that I wouldn’t have even dreamed of trying together.  Until I came here.  I learned many new things, but also a new golden rule:

Everything is better when it’s spicy.

This new culinary adventure I went on got me thinking about cocktails and how I could apply what I learned to the process of creating new and interesting things to drink.  I decided I would try to step outside the box of flavors I am familiar and comfy with.  While I was looking around in my local produce market, I immediately keyed in on the bright, shiny new watermelons that had just come in (I don’t really eat watermelon, the texture wigs me out).  I grabbed one.  I decided I should also follow my new golden rule and picked up some chili peppers, and randomly decided mint was a good idea.  Failing was a distinct possibility, but I said “Meh. Let’s roll with it.”

What I came up with is surprisingly awesome. The flavors work together incredibly well and it is definitely not a “run of the mill” cocktail.  Also? Super low calorie!  Also? Quite pretty and easy to make [read: impress your date!].  Enjoy (and let me know if you hate it)!

The Haamonii Watermelon, Like Woah.
Makes 1 cocktail

Ingredients:
3 oz Haamonii Smooth Original
1/2 oz Haamonii Smooth Lemon
2 oz strained, fresh Watermelon juice (strain if you hate the graininess. If you don’t care, save yourself the trouble)
1 oz Pellegrino, chilled
3 sprigs fresh Mint, 2 for muddling, 1 for garnish
1 Serrano Chili, seeds removed. 1/2 minced, the other for garnishing.

In a large shaker, muddle 2 sprigs of mint with the minced Serrano chili. Add ice to shaker and pour in both Haamonii measures and the watermelon juice.  Shake well.  Rub the rim of a large cocktail glass (margarita, etc) with the reserved Serrano half.  Strain the cocktail into the glass, drop in the reserved Serrano chili half, and float the 1 oz of sparkling water on top.  Garnish with a fresh mint sprig if desired!

Approximately 145 calories in this gorgeous, interesting cocktail as compared to 265 when made with top shelf vodka.

This week’s cocktail was inspired by a weekend full of random tomfoolery and general misbehaving, with a solid dose of acting like a college frat boy thrown in (weekends like this are few and far between, but sometimes you just can’t resist that Irish pub’s beer pong tournament). I also noticed that my past few weeks of cocktails have been increasingly foofy, and I feel as though I should show how rambunctious Haamonii can be.

Enter the Seppuku Bomb.

We’ve all heard of the “bomb.” Sake bombs, Jager(meister) bombs, Irish car bombs, zwack bombs.. the list goes on. If you haven’t ever participating in a bombing, though, I’ll break it down for you:

Step One: Pour 6-8 oz of beer into pint glass.
Step Two: Pour 2 oz shot into of whatever “hard” alcohol is going into your particular bomb into shot glass.
Step Three: Drop the shot into the pint glass
Step Four: Drink as fast as possible before your glass foams over, catches on fire, or whatever exciting thing is happening in your bomb.

They are great fun and an exciting way to spice up your normal happy hour festivities. These are particularly good after long days at work or for celebrating accomplishments.

The Seppuku Bomb is similar unto a sake bomb, but taken up a notch (because that’s how we roll).  I used a special kind of Japanese beer (low-calorie red rice ale) for mine, but if you can’t find it, Kirin or Sapporo will also work!  Use caution, because these are dangerous.  Tasty, low calorie, super easy to make and execute, and fun to do with friends, these are a great happy hour option!

Kampai, everyone!

The Seppuku Bomb
Makes 1 bomb

Ingredients:

6 oz Hitachino Nest Red Rice Ale
2 oz Haamonii Smooth Lemon

Pour the ale into a normal-sized pint glass.  Pour 2 oz of Haamonii Lemon into a standard shot glass.  When ready to drink, drop the shot glass into the pint glass and drink!

Only 100 calories in this fun cocktail as compared to 170 when made with normal beer and premium grain spirits.

This week’s cocktail is pretty awesome, I’m not going to lie.  I was very pleased by the result, especially after the pain I underwent (in true San Francisco style, details follow) to make it happen.  I’d mentioned in previous posts how I try to get inspired for Haamonii cocktails by fresh produce, and this week’s ingredient couldn’t get much fresher: Prickly Pears I urban-foraged/harvested [read: borrowed/stole] from my neighbor’s cactus.

I’m from the Midwest. We don’t have cacti, let alone the Prickly Pear variety.  So, in a moment of pure wisdom and zeal, I “harvested” the Prickly Pears.  Bare-handed.  I would not recommend this technique for the harvesting of cacti, especially ones with sharp, hurt-ey micro-needles.   Lucky for you, prickly pears can be procured at many groceries already de-needled, so you can avoid the pain of tiny filaments poking up your fingers.

Needless to say, after the above, I was ecstatic when this week’s cocktail came out beautiful, simple, delicious, and incredibly good for you (so says research).  Prickly Pears are a gorgeous, deeply pigmented magenta color on the inside and maintain that color when mixed, and are also an up-and-coming “super food” incredibly high in very important nutrients.  It’s also been used for generations as a folk remedy in the Southwest for everything from fresh cuts to glaucoma, and is actually under trial presently as an option to treat diabetes.

I made my Prickly Pear sauce from scratch, though pre-made syrups and liqueurs are available and would also work, though reduce the amount by 1T as a pre-made will be more heavily concentrated.

Happy Cocktail is Happy
Makes 1 cocktail

Ingredients:

3 oz Haamonii Smooth Shochu
2 oz Your Favorite Sparking Water
3 T Prickly Pear Sauce (recipe follows)

Fill a tumbler about 3/4 with ice.  Spoon the 3 tablespoons of Prickly Pear Sauce over the ice.  Pour the Haamonii Smooth over the sauce and stir a few times to combine.  Finish the cocktail with sparkling water and garnish!

Only about 165 calories in this gorgeous cocktail as compared to 300 when made with premium vodka!

To Make the Prickly Pear Sauce
Yield: 8 Tablespoons

Ingredients:

6 medium-sized, ripe Prickly Pears (a little larger than a kiwi, should be firm but give to the touch with no black spots)
1 small blood orange, juiced
8 T raw sugar

1. Take your de-needled prickly pears (if not de-needled, WEAR GLOVES and roll pricklys around in salt/sugar vigorously and then give them a quick wipe down with a paper towel) and remove the skins. I found the skin to be quite tough, but using a plain veggie peeler and wiggling it back and forth while I pulled made it very easy. After you have removed the skins, chop into pieces and throw into a food processor.

2. On HIGH, puree until quite smooth (seeds will remain).

3. Using a metal sieve on top of a mixing bowl, push the prickly pear mash through the sieve using a rubber spatula.  This will remove the seeds and the bigger chunks that you don’t want.

4. Dump the strained mash into a medium saucepan over medium heat.  Add the blood orange juice and the raw sugar. Bring slowly to a simmer and cook for about 7 minutes. 

5. Remove from heat and use!

..is caffeine.  At least for me.  If I have to be up anytime before noon, I need me some coffee/tea/energy concoction ASAP or I quickly devolve into shuffling-zombie status.

In my unending quest for my next best morning pick-me-up, I stumbled upon a pretty awesome non-profit coffee roaster out of St. Louis, called Three Avocados.  100% of the net proceeds benefit clean water projects in Uganda. Three Avocados is a great example of a responsible company doing their part to make the world a better place.

Aside from being a pretty cool company, the coffee they produce is top notch.  After I placed my order for coffee, Joe at Three Avocados got in touch and said they were delaying my order slightly to get some fresh-outta-the-roaster beans for me (awesome customer service)!  The coffee was so good that it needed to be something more than a humble morning ritual.. it needed to get dressed up, which lead me to a Haamonii-Three Avocados Coffee Martini, a skinnier option for those who love those decadent espresso dessert martinis but don’t want the extra calories.

The Iced Grande Nonfat No-Whip Spiced Skinny Latte Martini (for the Starbucks Lovers)
aka The Haamonii Coffee Martini
Makes 1 cocktail

Ingredients:

3 oz Haamonii Smooth Shochu
.5 oz Coffee Liqueur (I used Araku)
2 oz freshly brewed strong coffee (I used my Three Avocados!)
4 dashes Angostura Bitters

Pour the Haamonii, coffee liqueur, and coffee in a shaker with a lot of ice.  Shake very, very vigorously for about 80 shakes.  Strain into a chilled martini glass making sure to get the foam created by the shaking out of the shaker.  Carefully drop four drops of bitters on top of the foam, and use a toothpick to gently run through the middle of the drops, creating latte art (little hearts for me)!

Only 135 calories in this great dessert beverage as compared to 301 calories when made with premium vodka. Our version has less than half the calories