Eclipse Cocktails to Toast the Total Solar Eclipse

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CHEERS and Salute’ for the total solar eclipse spanning across the States on April 8th, 2024!

Now, I’m not scientist, but I do love intriguing stuff about the universe and planet earth.  And unless you live under a rock, a really big thing is happening in the universe for many of us to ‘see’.   Shall I repeat myself?  The darn solar eclipse my friends.  For any great event, who doesn’t love a great party with a delicious cocktail in hand?  Even enjoying virgin cocktails is nice (most of the time to avoid the extra calories from the booze)!

Most of the time I just stick to the basics of simple cocktails mixed with only one booze ingredient and one juice ingredient (sweet or savory) . . . nothing more except garnish.  Nothing gimmicky . . . but that’s just me.  Pure and simple, period.

But with all of the hoopla going on about the eclipse taking place across the country and with the purchase of our ‘oh-so-geeky’ sunglasses to view the event, I thought that it would be fun to conjur up one of the specialty cocktails that I found cruising around the web that honor the celestial event.

So whether or not this event is for fun, for your kids’ science project, or for some adult ‘research’, it’s time for celebration.

Now just in case you don’t know this (right!):   a solar eclipse takes place when “the moon passes between the sun and Earth and blocks out all or part of the sun for up to about three hours, from beginning to end”.  And that’s according to the big dogs at NASA.  During an eclipse, the longest period when the moon completely blocks the sun from any given location along the path (of totality–total darkness) will be just around  two minutes and 40 seconds.   I remember back in 1979 when my family viewed the ‘shadows’ moving through a hole of one paper plate on top of another paper plate.  Remember, we’re not supposed to look directly at the thing and ‘back then’ we didn’t have special glasses as we do for this eclipse.   

So it’s cocktail time!

For specialty cosmic eclipse cocktails to toast the total eclipse, there are lots of options for your imbibing enjoyment.  Take a peek at the most interesting ‘eclipse’ cocktails that I found on the web:

The “Eclipse”

photo and recipe from ‘diffordsguide.com’

How to make the “Eclipse”:

• 12 fresh raspberries
• 2 oz. bourbon whiskey
• 1 oz. black raspberry liqueur
• ½ oz. freshly squeezed lime juice
• 2 oz. cranberry juice
  • Add the raspberries to the base of a cocktail shaker.
  • Add all other ingredients and fill shaker with ice.  
  • Place lid on shaker and SHAKE  vigorously.
  • Strain into a tall “Collins” glass filled with crushed ice.
  • Garnish with lime wedges, raspberries and mint sprigs.
    • NOTE:  This is the signature cocktail of the Eclipse Bars in London, England.

The “Lunar Eclipse”

photo and recipe from ‘liquor.com’

How to make the “Lunar Eclipse”:

• 2 oz. turmeric-infused vodka*  
• 1 oz. carrot juice
• ¾ oz. honey
• ¾ oz. freshly-squeezed lemon juice
• 2 dashes of angostura bitters
• Garnish:  celery sticks

*Turmeric-infused vodka: Combine 1 stick chopped turmeric and 750 ml vodka, and let infuse for 24 hours. Check to taste, and let infuse longer as needed. Strain.

• Add all of the ingredients into a shaker with ice, and shake until chilled.
• Strain into a rocks glass over ice, and garnish with a celery stick.
  • Note:  This beautiful cocktail was created by bartender Matt Ragan of the Victor Tangos pub in Dallas.  

The “Solar Eclipse”

photo and recipe from patrontequila.com   

From the Patron XO Cafe, comes this delicious sparkling and sweet cocktail, Solar Eclipse!  I love this because of the strong orange flavor!

How to Make the “Solar Eclipse”:

• 1.5 oz. Patrón XO Cafe tiquila
• ¾ oz. freshly squeezed lemon juice
• ½ oz. simple syrup
• 4 oz. (¼ cup) Aranciata (Italian orange) soda
• Garnish:  half slice of blood or Valencia orange

  Fill a highball glass with ice and add all liquid ingredients.

  Garnish with half a slice of blood orange or Valencia orange.  

Enjoy these eclipse cocktails to toast the total eclipse!

Cheers, and enjoy the celestial show!  

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For other cocktails that are truly superb, check out these recipes on La Bella Vita Cucina:

Cool Summer Tropical Cocktails

Cocktails for Celebrations

and here in South Carolina (the final path of the ‘total’ eclipse for primo viewing),

2017 pathway over South Carolina

August 21, 2017