Cool Cocktails
 

So, on the heels of genuinegirly's http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/tilted-...er-drinks.html thread, here is a thread for all of our summer cocktails. This came about because I came across this delicious-sounding recipe for a cocktail I can't wait to try. I do enjoy a good cocktail once in a while. I tend to go easy on the booze, though.

http://everydayfoodblog.marthastewar...er-340x453.jpg

In a glass combine 5 thin slices cucumber and 2 ounces gin. Let sit for 10 minutes so the flavors can infuse. Stir in 1 ounce simple syrup. Top with soda and ice. Serve with a lime wedge and mint sprig.

From: Cocktail O’clock: cucumber cooler – Everyday Food Blog – MarthaStewart.com

So what are your favorite summer cocktails? Is it a classic highball such as a gin and tonic? Or do you like something fancier?

Another favorite of mine is called the "Big Mouse." It is basically a mojito with gin instead of rum. Yummy.

Mojito recipe:
- 1 1/2 oz light rum (for Big Mouse, 1 1/2 oz. gin)
- 1 tbs superfine sugar (or less, depending on your taste)
- Lime wedges
- Club soda
- Mint sprigs

Muddle mint leaves, superfine sugar and lime in a mixing glass. I usually muddle my mint and sugar almost into a paste, like I'm making a julep, before adding the limes. Add 1 1/2 oz light rum and ice. Here, you can either use a cocktail shaker and shake the mixture together, or stir it well. Top with club soda. Garnish with fresh mint sprigs. Simple syrup) can be used to replace superfine sugar. Superfine sugar is available in most grocery stores as C&H Baker's Sugar.

One of Mrs. TK's favorite drinks (I 'invented' it on our honeymoon with the ingredients available)

2 parts chilled pink champagne
1 part cold POM juice, Pomegranate-raspberry
1 small handfull of raspberries for garnish and flavor

Sip...enjoy.

I second the mojito. I'm growing mint; I should use it.

The classic summer cocktail for me, however, is a simple gin and tonic.

I normally just eyeball it. About 4 oz. of gin over plenty of ice in a old-fashioned (lowball) glass, and fill the better part of the rest of it with tonic water. Drop in a wedge of lime.

Alternatively, you can use a highball. Just keep at least a quarter of your drink gin. I suppose you could use lemon instead of lime as well.

I have so much mint right now, it's crazy! I am hoping some of it will keep going on into the fall, so then I can enjoy my favorite minty fall/winter cocktail, the Ray Cha'az (Ray Charles), although this does sound good right now, too:

mint
1 1/2 oz-2 oz. bourbon (traditionally, Maker's Mark in this cocktail, and I usually just eyeball it)
ginger ale

Muddle mint in an old-fashioned glass with ice. Pour in bourbon. Top off with ginger ale.

Ooh, nice.

I love to take the Cheesecake Martini and turn it into a summer drink.

1 part vanilla vodka (high quality... we use Stoli, actually)
3 parts diet cranberry juice
over crushed ice.
The Martini is a 1:2 ratio

Another variation is subbing diet lemonade for the cranberry juice (Lemon Chiffon Pie Martini, :lol:).

But my very favorite drink is the Baybreeze.
Straight up vodka and cranberry juice with a splash of pineapple.
In the summer over crushed ice with more cran than vodka... it's awesome.

Here's a good one for those hot, muggy days at camp or just wasting away in the heat on your front porch with some good friends.

Find any large vessel, a cooler, wash basin, a canoe, the old bathtub you keep by the outhouse that you've been meaning to install for better part of 5 years and a nice heavy boat oar.

You'll need
4 gal of Moonshine/White Lightning...whatever you want to call it (Everclear will work if you don't have any hillbillies or mountain folk on hand)
2 liter lemon juice
10 pounds sugar
8 liters Mountain Dew
(I've also seen people use chocolate milk, orange juice and sprite...quantities aren't that important, you won't really care in about an hour anyway)

Hose down the bathtub and start dumping the above ingredients in with reckless abandon, stir vigorously with the boat oar until good and foamy, let sit, once covered in black flies and mosquitoes it should be ready to serve, ladle into empty milk jugs, beer/soda bottles or into cups with ice (if that's your thing). Flies and mosquitoes are optional, either fish around them with the ladle or drink before they settle in...again in about an hour you won't really care anyway.

Best served while waiting out some bean hole beans, fishing, attending a tractor pull, a bonfire or block party. If blindness occurs dump batch and find better hooch.

Or if you don't really have the time or bathtubs available you can always try some good old Tennessee Tea (recipe from the JD distillery, if I remember right)

1 part Jack Daniels
1 part Triple Sec
1 part sweet and sour
2 parts soda (usually use coke)

Chill mason jar in freezer and wait until frosty combine ingredients in jar...enjoy?

Or if you're really pressed for time just use my all time favorite

Whiskey
Ice

Combine in glass...drink.

For a refreshing drink on a hot summer day, not much is better than this simple drink

2 parts lemonade
1 part gin

serve on ice - relax and watch the world go by

Jesus Fucking Christ! By my calculations, the resultant concoction (if made with everclear) is about 115 proof! If you want to make this concoction without a bathtub, (and to get a picture of how insanely undrinkable that must end up) you can make a scaled down version like so:

1 fifth (750mL) booze (everclear/moonshine/etc)
half a cup lemon juice
1/2 lb sugar
1 can mountain dew.
:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

I'm not sure I can drink a fifth of everclear cut with a SINGLE CAN of dew and a bit of lemon juice.

I call this my Happy Frappey:

1/3 Vanilla Vodka, (Smirnoff preferred)
1/3 Frangelico
1/3 Bailey's Irish Cream, Coffee flavor

pour all over ice in a blinder and blend till "frozen"

I sometimes add a teaspoon or so of instant coffee for earlier hours.... depending on how much of a coffee taste you desire.

Serve with chocolate covered coffee beans, strawberries, raspberries and blueberries, and a nice Nonni's on the side, yum.

You can also just simply serve this over ice or in your hot coffee during the winter or my fav is to fill an empty Starb's Frappuccino bottle and stick it in the cooler and just sip..... it is really fun to watch somebody take a drink anticipating not what it is..... over 21 that is, quite delicious.

Also, you can do this as shots, when combined with a lemon wedge dipped in sugar as an after bite, they call it a chocolate cake shot, it's amazing just how much it really does taste like a chocolate cake.... icing and all.

hahaha! HOLY SHIT I've never done the math on it, no wonder my liver and I aren't on speaking terms anymore.

To be honest I don't think I've ever made that exact recipe, I've made similar ones but even I don't usually have THAT much grain alcohol (nor sugar or mountain dew) on hand at one time. The above recipe I found scrawled on a piece of paper in the cupboard of my grandfathers old hunting cabin about 4 or 5 years ago...although I wouldn't be surprised if some of my crazy family members actually used to make and drink it before going out hunting. Anyway the recipe is kind of a running joke with my friends and I but never the less some variations of it I've whipped up aren't half bad...it sure does get you some drunk though if that's your aim (of course at that point you might as well just hit the mason jar and let it work its magic without rotting your teeth out of your head).

I ordered a mojito the other day. OMG delicious!

Here's one I enjoyed over the weekend:

Chocolate Mike (to be imbibed late in the evening while camping):
1 oz. (or so) vodka
1 oz. (or so) Kahlua
hot chocolate
splash of strongly brewed peppermint tea
Serve in tin mug.


And from:porch swing | smitten kitchen

Porch Swing

1 1/2 ounces (3 tablespoons) gin (Hendricks is specified; Tanqueray was used)
1 1/2 ounces (3 tablespoons) Pimm’s liqueur
4 ounces (1/2 cup) homemade lemonade (recipe below)
7-Up or another lemon/lime soda
10 paper-thin half moon slices of cucumber (I used an “English”, unwaxed, cucumber)

Pour gin, Pimm’s and lemonade into tall Collins glass, then add a few ice cubes and a splash of 7-Up. Finish with cucumber slices.

Lemonade

1 part freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 part simple syrup, or to taste (I will use perhaps 1/2 or 3/4 of a part next time, see Note above)
2 parts water

Some classics with gin:

Three gin cocktails for summer — Two classics and a newcomer :: by Jacob Grier :: Culinate

Tom Collins

1 1/2 oz. gin
1/2 oz. lemon juice
1/2 oz. simple syrup (mix equal parts hot water and sugar and let cool)
Soda

Pour the first 3 ingredients into an ice-filled collins glass, top with soda, stir gently, and enjoy.

Pegu Club

1 3/4 oz. gin
3/4 oz. Cointreau
1/2 oz. lime juice
1 dash Angostura bitters
1 dash orange bitters

Shake and strain into a cocktail glass.