Summertime cocktail recipes

I have been fortunate to live in a few places where we were able to join friends poolside on summer weekends and sip great cocktails.  Although one can enjoy cocktails any time of year, there is something very enticing about a refreshing adult beverage in the summertime. It has also become a passion of mine to discover or invent a new beverage concoction every summer and write about it on the Rockettman blog.

White port & tonic

During a recent visit to Portugal, we found that a cocktail of white port and tonic had become very trendy.  I lived in Portugal for a few years and return to visit often, but I do not think I had come across this cocktail combination before the recent visit.  My immediate reaction was that mixing white port with tonic was all wrong.  Port wine, which is fortified, is intertwined with the history of Portugal and its commercial alliances with the United Kingdom.  Mixing it with tonic seemed like dumbing down a venerable tradition.

But after a few tests I came around.  The combination of white port and tonic is delightfully refreshing.  It is best mixed in a high ball glass in a ratio of 1 part port wine to 2 parts tonic, with a slice of orange or sprig of mint as garnish.  The tonic should be upgraded to Fevertree, Q Tonic or Fentimans.  I have tried making my own tonic syrup but have not yet cracked the code.

Osmanthus wine & seltzer

Another type of spritzer I recently discovered on a visit to rural southern China involves mixing osmanthus wine with sparkling water.  Osmanthus wine is a floral alcoholic beverage, produced from some grain base, such as rice, and flavored with osmanthus flowers. – an evergreen shrub from the olive family. Our version has an ABV of less than 10%, but you can find stronger versions in the 35 to 60% range. It is best mixed in a rocks glass at a ratio of 1 part wine to 1.5 parts seltzer, with a slice of lemon as garnish.

Linie & ginger

An equally exotic option is Linie Aquavit, which is a potato-based spirit from Norway.  It is unique in that it is blended with Nordic spices, aged in sherry casks, and undergoes maturation at sea (crossing the equator twice).  According to Linie, the journey is said to “soften the spirit and enhance the flavor due to the fluctuating temperatures and rocking of the ship.”  The Linie ginger cocktail combines this extraordinary spirit with ginger beer at a ratio of 1 part aquavit to 2.5 parts ginger beer, with a splash of lime juice.

Saúde

Gān Bēi

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