If you fol­low my Twit­ter or Face­book you may know that I recently went down to Ran­cho San­tana, a Nicaraguan resort, to con­sult on their bar, train their bar staff and cre­ate their cock­tail menu. The El Mat­ri­mo­nio Clan­des­tino is a cock­tail I cre­ated for Ran­cho Santana’s restau­rant and bar, La Finca y El Mar. Cre­at­ing drinks for this client was a good oppor­tu­nity to explore the cur­rent trend of low alco­hol con­tent recipes. Con­sider this recipe for your next pool party because it can be made ahead of time in large batches*. It’s a refresh­ing low alco­hol con­tent cock­tail, per­fect for sip­ping pool­side all day.

I call this cock­tail El Mat­ri­mo­nio Clan­des­tino, Span­ish for The Secret Mar­riage, because it incor­po­rates two alco­holic ingre­di­ents of very dif­fer­ent lin­eages, the Sauvi­gnon Blanc and the Cachaca. The union of these two ele­ments from oppos­ing fla­vor fam­i­lies may be sur­pris­ing, but you won’t be able to deny their com­pat­i­bil­ity once you taste it. Con­sider this a trop­i­cal take on for­bid­den love.

Recipe

• 2 oz Sauvi­gnon Blanc
• 1 oz Cachaca
• 1/2 oz lime juice
• 1/2 oz sim­ple syrup
• 1/2 oz of fresh pineap­ple juice
• 6–8 mud­dled mint leaves
• 1 pineap­ple wedge for garnish
• 1 pineap­ple leaf for garnish
• 1 pineap­ple mint sprig for garnish

Add the Sauvi­gnon Blanc and mint to your shaker tin then lightly mud­dle. Add the rest of the ingre­di­ents to your shaker tin except the gar­nishes. Add ice and shake well. Dou­ble strain into a tulip glass filled with small pel­let ice. Gar­nish with a pineap­ple wedge, a pineap­ple leaf and a pineap­ple mint sprig.

Note: If you’re mak­ing this drink at home con­sider these fun cubette ice cube trays. Also, if you can’t find cachaca a white rum will work just fine. Below is a recipe for a large batch.

Batch Recipe

• 1 bot­tle of your favorite Sauvi­gnon Blanc
• 12.5 oz cachaca
• 6.25 oz pineap­ple juice
• 6.25 oz of lime juice
• 6.25 oz sim­ple syrup
• 50 mint leaves
• Since you are not shak­ing with ice and dilut­ing this cock­tail, top with club soda to taste.

Add a healthy amount of mint leaves, approx­i­mately 50, to a big pitcher and top the mint with a lit­tle Sauvi­gnon Blanc. Lightly mud­dle the mint to incor­po­rate the mint fla­vor. Then strain into a sep­a­rate con­tainer and dis­card the mud­dled mint. Add large ice cubes to your pitcher and then pour the strained Sauvi­gnon Blanc and the rest of the ingre­di­ents in (Larger ice melts slower). Feel free to add some cut fruit to the pitcher to enhance the visual appeal. Top with club soda to taste. Keep in mind the cock­tail will dilute the longer it sits on ice.