Recipe 31 - Grape Lime Rickey

Whenever I think of Lime Rickey, I think of an Arctic Circle commercial from the late 80's that featured a spoof of the 1981 song "Mickey", so naturally I just expect that Lime Rickey is so fine that it'll blow my mind.  Yes, now they're forever intertwined in your head, too.  Sorry.

This was also a request from a friend to mimic the Arizona Lime Rickey flavors, (of which I have only tried the grape, but very interesting to find lemon, cherry, and mango thrown into the line as well).  When I tasted the Arizona product, I had the sensation of drinking a carbonated grape snow-cone.  Not bad.

Mine doesn't taste exactly like a snow-cone, it's a bit more true-to-fruit for that, but it's still pretty tasty.  It seems to have become somewhat cliche now that I absolutely love anything with lime in it, but I must say this ranks as one of my favorite recipes.

8 oz grape juice concentrate
Zest and Juice of 2 limes or 1/2 c lime juice and 1 drop lime oil.
1 1/2 c sugar
1 gallon carbonated water

1. Steep the zest in 1-2 cups water and strain to remove, set aside. (skip if using lime oil)
2. Bring the grape juice concentrate and sugar to a boil, then remove from heat and add the lime water or oil and the lime juice to the syrup.  Top up with carbonated water.

Be careful boiling the grape juice concentrate with the sugar, if it goes two far it will burn or destroy the flavor of the grape juice.  It's also not necessary to serve this with a giant lime wedge as seen above, but no one will complain if you do!