Mixology

As you might have noticed, if you live your life in the DFW Metro area, it's damned hot here lately. Mowing the lawn, grilling and other related outdoor chores/activities have become increasingly difficult, due to the unbearable temperatures. When it's this hot outside, sometimes you need a cocktail instead of a beer for your post outdoor activities, so, I started experimenting.

I tend to have a lot of booze around the house, but for the most part drink beer, with the occasional bourbon and coke, gin and tonic or scotch thrown in the mix for varieties sake. I don't do a lot of vodka or rum based cocktails, but do have these liquors on hand most of the time.

#1 -- The Cape Cod type Summer Beverage.
Your standard Cape Cod is vodka, cranberry and a squeeze of lime. I like the Cape Cod, but it doesn't really excite me the way it used to. So, I decided to play around with it a bit. I had some pomegranate/cranberry juice in the fridge, so I substituted that for the straight cran -- It's delicious. Added a splash of lime, and hooray, it's a non-boring Cape Cod. At the same time, I thought it could be lighter/less sweet. So, add a splash of club soda, and you have quite the refreshing cocktail.

#2 -- The Fruit based Rummy Drink
You've heard us extol the virtues of Pyrat Rum here at BeefRobot. It's sweeter and more complex than most of your rums, and quite delicious. I don't do much with the Pyrat, other than drink it straight or on the rocks. I was thinking to myself the other day that I need to develop other beverages with the Pyrat as the base liquor.
Enter the slightly over-ripe Nectarine. I took said nectarine, cut it into wedges and dropped half into a shaker. Muddled this with the end of a wooden spoon, and looked to see that I had about an ounce or more of pulp and juice. I added a splash of cranberry to this, and an ounce and a half of Pyrat. I poured this over crushed ice and added club soda (3 ounces or so) to fill the glass. Delicious. I highly recommend this cocktail, as the tanginess of the nectarine is softened by the sweet rum. I do not think this would work with your garden variety light rum, you're going to have to spring for the good stuff.

Two cocktails for your summertime enjoyment. I hope they help to keep you cool.

*Please Note -- If you're going to make this in mass, you should probably use a blender to grind up your nectarines. However, if you're going to use a blender, you'd be wise to peel them, as the skin can be quite bitter, and no one wants that. If you're just doing single servings, the peel stays fairly intact while you muddle, so there's less bitterness.