Templeton Rye Squeeze Play

We have long been fans of “America’s team,” the Atlanta Braves, so named because the team's games were broadcast on the nationally-accessible TBS from the 1970s until 2007, giving the team a nationwide fanbase. Each year we begin the baseball season early by watching Spring Training games played in Florida’s Grapefruit League. Our beloved Atlanta Braves, who have been training in Florida since 1906, moved to their current home in Disney’s ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in 1998.

What is the Grapefruit League, you ask? In 1915, aviator Ruth Law threw the grapefruit from her airplane to then Brooklyn Dodgers manager, Wilbert Robinson. When Robinson tried to catch it, the grapefruit exploded in his face. This became the accepted version of how the "Grapefruit League" got its name. That same year, the Philadelphia Phillies began training in Sunshine Park. When they won 14 of their first 15 games of the 1915 season and went on to win the National League pennant, Florida's reputation as the nation's premier training ground was sealed and in the years leading up to the great Florida boom of the 1920s, the famous Grapefruit League took shape.

What better way to honor the Grapefruit League and our beloved Braves than a citrus-inspired cocktail with grapefruit juice (of course) and some “good stuff.” Templeton Rye, officially labeled as “The Good Stuff,” and the whiskey of choice for the infamous Al Capone (who was also a baseball fan!) seems the perfect addition to this baseball-inspired adult beverage.

Squeeze Play Cocktail
2 oz. Templeton rye
2 oz. grapefruit juice
1 tablespoon lemon oleo-saccharum
Flamed orange peel

Flame orange peel by squeezing the peel over a lit match and strongly pressing out a lot of oil quickly. Rub the peel around the rim of the glass and coat the rim with sugar. Drop the twist into the glass.

Shake rye and grapefruit juice together with crushed ice, and pour into the glass before garnishing with lemon balm or thyme.

While sample products were complimentary; the recipe, photos and narrative included herein are original and opinions are honest and unsolicited.