The willPower & Emily

Good afternoon, Thirsty Readers! Today's drink is being brought to you before the (mostly) obligatory 5PM because it is a Mock-tail. And as such, it can be consumed by anyone, with abandon, at any time. The willPower & Emily is a very fresh, watermelon, mint, and lime soda, carbonated with dry champagne yeast.

The willPower & Emily is named for Emily Mallory. She and the beverage share several lovely qualities. Both are fresh, pretty, delightful, bubbly, and smart. (Yes, this is a smart soda because it is free of anything artificial!)  Emily is not yet 21 - soon, though - so her namesake cocktail is sans hooch.

And...drumroll please... Emily is now a certified willPower and Grace (R) instructor, having passed her exam this week. Congratulations to Emily! If you haven't tried a willPower and Grace (R) class, do it at the first opportunity. It's an outstanding and fun workout.  I did it this morning and believe-me-you, I've earned my evening cocktail. Tonight, I think I'll have the tried and true, Cranberry Crush.

Thirsty readers of drinking age, feel free to add some gin or vodka to the willPower & Emily.  I haven't tried that yet, but I might not get the chance because my bottle of this delicious brew might be gone by 5PM.

A couple of things about the method here.  You'll need an empty 2 liter soda bottle. It's not elegant, but it does the trick. If you want to transfer the soda after fermentation/carbonation, leave me a comment and I'll send you instructions on how to do it. It's not hard, you just need a chopstick, a funnel, and a flip-top bottle.

Here is the beautiful brew in a fancy bottle. It would make a nice hostess gift, no?

Fresh ingredients, macerating before being pureed. I'm ridiculously proud of my homegrown mint.

I got the recipe from a book called, True Brews by Emma Christensen.  The only change I would recommend is to add some extra lime juice. As you have probably gathered by now, I like an edge to my beverages. The extra lime cuts the sweetness in a way that is just right. Don't be intimidated by the whole home-brewing thing. This is simple to do and will make you look really impressive to everyone you know. And after all,  looking really impressive can be pretty satisfying.

The willPower & Emily

4 pounds seeded and cubed watermelon (11-12 cups from a 6 pound watermelon)

1/2 cup packed fresh mint leaves

1/2 cup (or more) freshly squeezed lime juice

1 cup water, plus more to fill the bottle

9 T white granulated sugar (next time, I'm going to cut this back and see what happens)

pinch of salt (don't be shy)

1/8 tsp dry champagne yeast (if you live in Bloomington, get this at the Butler Winery store on N. College Ave)

1. Combine watermelon, mint leaves and lime juice in a large bowl.

2. Bring the cup of water to a boil. Remove from heat. Add sugar and salt and stir to dissolve. Pour this over the watermelon and mint. Mix it around and let it be for about 10 minutes.

3. Puree the mixture in a blender or food processor. Work in batches. Strain the puree through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl.

4. Pour the juice into a clean 2-liter plastic soda bottle, using a funnel. I suppose you could eat the solids, but I think they are just too sweet. I tossed them. Top off the liquid in the bottle with water, leaving at least 1 inch of headspace. You can add more lime juice now, or wait and add it to the finished beverage on a glass by glass basis, which is what I do.

5. Add the yeast. Screw on the cap and shake the bottle gently to distribute the yeast. Let the bottle sit at room temperature, away from direct light,  for 12 - 48 hours until the bottle feels rock solid with very little give. It usually takes about 12 hours in my experience.

6. Refrigerate overnight or for up to 2 weeks. Open VERY slowly. I mean, VERY slowly, to avoid it fizzing all over everything.

Pour over ice and garnish with a mint sprig.  Enjoy your soda, and the feeling that you are really cool for having made it yourself.

Cheers!