Not the wildest of reactions, but it’s the one you want when you take that first sip of a summer cocktail after baking at the beach, playing a round of 18 or, let’s face it, coming out of an air-conditioned car that you drove from your air-conditioned office to your air-conditioned home. (One can really work up a sweat darting between all those AC’d cocoons.)
Despite what you might have experienced in the past with blenders and syrups and frozen fruit and umbrellas, the road to refreshing summer drinks doesn’t need to be a long and winding (and sticky) one. Consider the simple vodka soda. Gin and tonic. Rum and coke. Even the names are refreshing.
But just because something works, that’s no excuse to fall into a routine. It’s time you thought about expanding your summer drinking palate. This is a plentiful season for things that go perfectly in cocktails: fresh mint, citrus, berries—any fruit, really. . .