Month: April 2026

🍸 Drink of the Week #2

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Sips

(It’s a Wonderful Life)

By Dahni
© 2026, all rights reserved

Drink No. 81

Warm spice, dark rum, and red wine — a surprising holiday toast inspired by a wonderful life.

Ingredients

Juice of 1 fresh lime 🍈

1 jigger Ginger Jazz (homemade) or ginger liqueur

2 jiggers claret or Cabernet Sauvignon

4 jiggers dark rum

(Add simple syrup to taste if you prefer it sweeter.)

Directions

Add the lime juice, Ginger Jazz (homemade) or ginger liqueur, claret (or Cabernet), and dark rum to a

shaker filled with ice.

Shake well.

Pour into chilled wine glasses (place glasses in the freezer beforehand).

Makes two libations, one to share and one for you.

ENJOY! 😉 Drink your “Sips” responsibly! 😂

From Sips with Susan — A Gathering Place Companion 🍸

🎥 Some drinks from Sips with Susan are demonstrated on our YouTube channel, with more to come.
Visit here: https://www.youtube.com/@the_gatheringplace

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🍸 Drink of the Week #3

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‘A Pistachio Moment & Smoked Charcuterie’ 

By Dahni
© 2026, all rights reserved

Today, for this week’s Drink of the Week, I thought to do something a little different.

Below is a YouTube video featuring a drink that, although not in the present offering of Sips with Susan, could certainly find its way into a future volume.

Makes two libations, one to share and one for you.

ENJOY! 😉 Drink your “Sips” responsibly! 😂

From Sips with Susan — A Gathering Place Companion 🍸

🎥 Some drinks from Sips with Susan are demonstrated on our YouTube channel, with more to come.
Visit here:
https://www.youtube.com/@the_gatheringplace

📖 Curious to explore more?
Preview a FREE sample from Sips with Susan — A Gathering Place Companion:
https://payhip.com/b/K32Bv

🍸 Ready to bring the full collection into your kitchen?
Get your copy here:
https://payhip.com/b/Sq59W

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🍸 Drink of the Week & Drink#1

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By Dahni
© 2026, all rights reserved

Ginger Jazz

(House Ginger Liqueur)

By Dahni Hayden © 2026

 

Introducing Drink of the Week


Each week, we’ll share one recipe from Sips with Susan — A Gathering Place Companion. Some will be simple, some a little more involved, but all are meant to be shared — one to enjoy and one to pass along to a friend.


We begin where many of the drinks begin — with Ginger Jazz. Drinks in Sips with Susan feature ginger liqueur — often shown using a familiar commercial bottle. Ginger Jazz is our homemade version, crafted right here at The Gathering Place.

Ginger Jazz is a bright, spicy house liqueur that brings warmth and character to your cocktails. Once made, it quickly becomes a favorite to keep on hand.

Ingredients

  • 2–3 oz fresh ginger root
    (2 oz = milder | 3 oz = hotter)

  • 1 whole vanilla bean

  • 1 cup orange blossom honey

  • 1 tsp cinnamon (ground)

  • 1 tsp cardamom (ground)

  • Zest from ½ orange

  • 1⅜ cups water

  • 1⅜ cups V.S.O.P. brandy

  • ¼ cup neutral spirit (190 proof grain alcohol = 95% alcohol)
    (see note below for substitute)

Directions

  1. Peel ginger and slice thin.

  2. Slice vanilla bean lengthwise.

  3. Add ginger, vanilla bean, water, and honey to a pan and simmer about 20 minutes.

  4. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

  5. Pour cooled syrup into a sealable jar.

  6. Add orange zest, cinnamon, cardamom, brandy, and neutral spirit. Shake well.

  7. Seal and steep 24 hours.

  8. Remove vanilla bean and steep another 24 hours.

  9. Strain through fine mesh lined with a coffee filter into a bottle.

  10. Allow to mellow 24 hours before use.

Makes approximately 2½ cups of Ginger Jazz.

⚠️ Note on Neutral Spirits

Grain alcohol (190 proof = 95% alcohol) is extremely strong and should never be consumed straight. It is used in small amounts to help extract flavors during infusion.

If neutral spirits are unavailable or not preferred, substitute:

¼ cup mixture made from:

  • ⅛ cup water

  • ⅛ cup brandy

Finished Ginger Jazz averages about 56 proof (28% alcohol) once diluted.

ENJOY! 😉 Use your Ginger Jazz responsibly! 🍸
From Sips with Susan — A Gathering Place Companion

🎥 Some drinks from Sips with Susan are demonstrated on our YouTube channel, with more to come.
Visit here: https://www.youtube.com/@the_gatheringplace

 

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Why We Started Sips with Susan

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By Dahni
© 2026, all rights reserved

Sips with Susan — Volume 1 A Gathering Place Companion

Some books begin with an outline.

Sips with Susan began with a habit.

Not a business plan.
Not a publishing goal.

Just an evening… a glass… and a willingness to try something a little different.

At The Gathering Place, drinks were never just drinks.
They were conversation starters.
Excuses to sit longer.
Reasons to laugh one more time before calling it a night.

It started with a Moscow Mule — changed just enough to make it ours.

Then another variation.

Then another.

Before long, we were doing what creative people often do without realizing it — we were keeping track.

Not because we planned a book…
but because we didn’t want to forget.

Names were given.
Tweaks were made.
Favorites were repeated.

And somewhere along the way, the number quietly reached one hundred.

That’s when the idea finally spoke clearly:

Maybe this isn’t just a collection of drinks.
Maybe it’s a collection of moments worth saving.

That thought became
Sips with Susan — Volume 1.

Not as a commercial product first —
but as a memory preserved.

Today, the book exists.
But more importantly, the gathering continues.

If you’d like to explore the finished collection, you can find it through I-Imagine Press, where it is available in both free and paid editions.

And if you’d like to see where the drinks truly live —
where new ones are still being created —
visit The Gathering Place, where the stories behind the glass are still unfolding.

Because in the end, this was never just about cocktails.

It was about connection.

And connection, like a good drink, is best when shared.

— Dahni

Explore Sips with Susan — Volume 1:
➡ https://I-ImaginePress/products

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