Last Friday was the first Friday of summer vacation. WHOO FREAKIN’ HOOOO! Summer vacation, no more crazy schedules, no more needing to be three places at once, no more homework.

Summer vacation, lots and lots and lots and LOTS of unstructured time. Wheeew Boy! Yep, Summer vacation (are ya gettin’ the mixed vibe?).

In honor of summer vacation, I whipped up a batch of Sangria for FNA. Most Friday nights, my neighbors host a gathering known as FNA – Friday Night Awesome. Someday I will try to blog about the awesomeness that is FNA, but for today, I’m going to blog about Sangria. This sangria, was, well, awesome. *AHEM* Maybe a little too awesome, but that’s my fault, not the sangria’s. There may have been a Facebook post or two about the almighty sangria, so to all those who asked for the recipe, here it is.

Summer Vacation Sangria

Note: This is the party version. If you aren’t serving a crowd, you can half the recipe.

2 lemon

2 lime

2 orange

1 1/2 cups rum (I used Captain Morgan’s Tattoo, Dark Spiced Rum)

1 1/2 cups blackberry Brandy

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 (750 milliliter) bottle red wine (I used BareFoot Sweet Red)

2 cups orange juice

Cut the fruit in to thin slices and place it to a 64oz. container

Add everything to the container except the brown sugar and mix.

Pour 1 cup to 1 1/2 cups of the liquid into a microwave safe measuring cup, add the brown sugar and stir. Warm briefly in the microwave to fully dissolve the sugar (I used my beverage reheat setting).

Add the sugared liquid back to the container and mix.

Chill for at least four hours.

It’s a powerful little brew. I brought ginger ale for those who might want to thin it some. I should have taken my own advice. The third glass did me in, but it sure did taste good!

For me personally, the mixture of wine and hard liquor isn’t always a positive thing. Next time, I think I’ll try substituting unsweetened grape juice for the wine and call it rum punch 🙂

However you enjoy it, I strongly recommend moderation but a designated driver is a non-negotiable requirement. Never drink and drive. Don’t mean to get preachy, but please be careful out there.

Happy Summer Vacation!