Summertime Cocktails

I posted a little while ago on twitter on how glad I was that summer was over, making room for some wonderful stirred drinks… and pumpkin spice lattes from Starbucks that nobody seems to shut up about. I mean, they aretasty, much like a pumpkin beer with extra cinnamon on the ri– focus!– I love the fall. Not because I’m lazy and enjoy wearing sweaters and Uggs as much as possible, but because it’s the perfect time to go for a walk without the fear of melting onto the sidewalk, you can meet with friends and not have to cringe internally at their 3rd degree sunburns all around the contours of their sunglasses or better yet, you can stop drinking bud lite lime now.

This past summer, I kept cycling 3 cocktails at home that were tasty representations of summer. Each one with its own merit and nuance but all 3 of them incredibly refreshing and uniquely flavorful. Oddly enough, each one has spirits that I wouldn’t traditionally consider as “summery” but damn if they don’t all work in their own way. In a summer full of margaritas, juleps and bud Lite Lime, these were the ones I kept coming back for when it was time for a refreshment.

Dead Man’s Mule

Originally from Met Bar, London

Presented here as modified @ Drink, Boston

I’m a fan of mules. Not the ones that put little balloons full of drugs into their bodies but the kind that you drink out of a metal cup full of crushed ice. This is an odd drink and one that at first you may not like but damn if it’s not tasty as hell! At Drink they make their own delicious ginger beer but if you don’t want to be bothered with it, Fever Tree makes a mean one that works perfect with cocktails.

• 1 oz Green Velvet Absinthe
• 1 oz Wilks & Wilson orgeat
• 1/2 oz St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram
• 1/2 oz lime juice
• Fever Tree ginger beer to top

If you have a copper mug, now’s the time to use it.

Add crushed ice to the mug about 1/2 full (or 1/2 empty if that’s how you choose to see the world). 

Pour in everything except the ginger beer. Stir lightly (swizzle even!)

Add more crushed Ice and top with the ginger beer. 

Eulogy

Anvil Bar, Houston

This is my favorite one of the 3. It’s a bit sweet tho, which is why I add a bit of crushed ice to it so it doesn’t become that overtly sweet drink that you like at first but hate towards the end. Tons of flavor here. So much flavor here on the first sip. Such that I went out and bought a bottle of Strega and Batavia Arrack the very next day.

• 3/4 oz Batavia Arrack van Oosten
• 3/4 oz Jonh D. Taylor’s Velvet Falernum
• 3/4 oz Strega
• 3/4 oz lime juice

Pour all ingredients in a shaker with ice and show it who’s boss.

Strain into a rocks glass with crushed ice. Garnish with a lime wheel.

Art of Choke

The Violet Hour, Chicago

This is like a mojito that threw away its self tanner, stopped partying, went to college and got a job. If you’re a drink snob by now, then just reading that last sentence plus the the fact that this thing has Cynar as a main ingredient is making you salivate.

• 1 oz Banks 5 Island Rum
• 1 oz Cynar
• 1/4 oz green Chartreuse
• bar spoon of lime juice
• bar spoon of Demerara sugar syrup
• handful of mint leaves

Lightly muddle the mint in your shaker.

Add the rest and shake it with some large pieces of ice.

Double strain into a rocks glass with a single ice cube. Garnish with a small mint sprig.