# Summer's coming, what's your Cocktail? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 14, 2007, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summers-coming-whats-your-cocktail/407944 "2007-06-14T02:35:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2007, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summers-coming-whats-your-cocktail/407944/61 "2007-06-19T01:12:36Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] I first encountered red beer on the farm in Kansas, many years ago. It was gross then and it’s gross now! [/QUOTE] Ha HAH! Given all the vitamins of eight separate vegetables in every glass of my beer, I shall BURY you! ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Bruin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2007, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summers-coming-whats-your-cocktail/407944/62 "2007-06-19T01:59:59Z")
[QUOTE=delphica] I love this, and if you’re not opposed to flavored vodkas, someone recently introduced me to using the Stoli blueberry flavor in the lemonade which I consider a very nice little twist for a great summer drink. [/QUOTE] I had plain vodka in the fridge so I made it with that, lemonade, and about 7 fresh strawberries - all blended. It’s a new standard already. One of my friends used the same idea except with blueberry Stoli and said it was fantastic. So thank you! Now, if I only knew what to do with the green apple vodka someone “gifted” me with…(more like a mathom) ---
**Author:** ![photopat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e95f7d/32.png) [@photopat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/photopat)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2007, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summers-coming-whats-your-cocktail/407944/63 "2007-06-19T03:21:42Z")
[QUOTE=Ukulele Ike] For those who don’t know what **blondebear** is talking about… Red Beer is a delicious, nutritious 50-50 mixture of ice-cold cheap beer and ice-cold V-8 juice. Don’t be grossed out until you taste it. For some reason, is seems colder and more refreshing than plain old cold beer. \*\*Blondebear \*\* must be from St. Louis. I learned about Red Beer from my St. Louis brother-in-law. Who touted it as a hangover cure. [/QUOTE] My father is in the Isaac Walton League in Des Moines and every time I visit and join him there for dinner, people drink red beer by the gallon in the bar. Blech. ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2007, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summers-coming-whats-your-cocktail/407944/64 "2007-06-19T19:18:07Z")
[QUOTE=Ukulele Ike] For those who don’t know what **blondebear** is talking about… Red Beer is a delicious, nutritious 50-50 mixture of ice-cold cheap beer and ice-cold V-8 juice. [/QUOTE] I hate to quibble, but in my neck of the woods red beer is beer and tomato juice, not necessarily V-8. My father drinks red beer by the quart, I assume adding tomato juice to kill the taste of the Bud Lite. Actually, it was in _your_ neck of the woods that I was introduced to an appalling variant: the Clamato Beer, which is beer and clamato juice. (FYI for those who don’t know, and I didn’t, “clamato juice” is tomato juice with, yes, clam juice added to it.) It’s like liquid horror. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2007, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summers-coming-whats-your-cocktail/407944/65 "2007-06-19T22:03:55Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] **Anaamika** , what recipe do you use for your sangria? We usually just dump a bunch of sliced fruit into a cheap red wine and call it good. [/QUOTE] My mom uses fresh-squeezed orange juice, red wine (jug, box, whatever) and her secret ingredient is…brandy! My summertime drink would be Campari and tonic. It’s my father’s pick for summer and he used t make me one too. ---
**Author:** ![Scubaqueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@Scubaqueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scubaqueen)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2007, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summers-coming-whats-your-cocktail/407944/66 "2007-06-20T02:44:12Z")
[QUOTE=Hunter Hawk] A French 75: 2 oz. Plymouth gin 1 oz. fresh-squeezed lemon juice Enough simple syrup Shake & strain into an 8-oz. flute. Fill with champagne (it will take about 4 oz.) Twist of lemon. Optional: Add a dash of bitters. [/QUOTE] my gawd. so you’re the other french 75 drinker! 😃 no bitters for me, tho. ick. i also partial to g & t, altho i prefer tanqueray and tanqueray 10 to sapphire. extra lime, please. beer: blue moon w/an extra-big orange wedge. yum… this summer i’m going to learn how to make a decent martini. so far, it isn’t going well at all. 😛 evidently, i have no talent for them. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2007, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summers-coming-whats-your-cocktail/407944/67 "2007-06-20T03:18:20Z")
[QUOTE=Scubaqueen] this summer i’m going to learn how to make a decent martini. so far, it isn’t going well at all. 😛 evidently, i have no talent for them. [/QUOTE] Let me teach you how to make my wife’s favorite martini: 2 jiggers ice-cold Ketel One vodka 1/2 jigger Noilly Prat white vermouth one splash olive juice Combine in shaker with fresh ice, lots. Shake until your fingers freeze. Pour into chilled martini glass. Garnish with three olives stuffed with bleu cheese or jalapeños. ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Bruin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2007, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summers-coming-whats-your-cocktail/407944/68 "2007-06-20T04:06:57Z")
I make martinis 3 or 4 parts gin (I prefer Plymouth or Sapphire for martinis, but Boodles is a superior G&T gin IMO) to one part Noilly Prat. Per the excellent advice offered me in a long ago thread I started, I actually make them in bulk, then store in a glass bottle in the freezer. There’s a bottle of Noilly Prat in the fridge door, and quite a different one in my freezer. Pour into a chilled glass, add olives to your taste, and down the hatch. That way you always have the proportion right, and only have to adjust for quantity. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Mikemike2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikemike2/32/305_2.png) [@Mikemike2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikemike2)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2007, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summers-coming-whats-your-cocktail/407944/69 "2007-06-20T04:27:05Z")
Our version of the Sombreros we loved so much in Mexico: Blend Vodka, sugar, vanilla extract, cream and ice. Gently pour over coffee liqueur in a martini glass. ---
**Author:** ![Hunter\_Hawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2007, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summers-coming-whats-your-cocktail/407944/70 "2007-06-20T05:39:43Z")
BTW, another thing you can try is making a margarita with gin instead of tequila and adding a dash or two of bitters (this is a modified Pegu Club). I tend to use a lower proportion of gin than tequila so it comes out sweeter; otherwise, I think it ends up with too much of a medicinal taste. ---
**Author:** ![Scubaqueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@Scubaqueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scubaqueen)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2007, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summers-coming-whats-your-cocktail/407944/71 "2007-06-20T19:29:11Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] Let me teach you how to make my wife’s favorite martini: 2 jiggers ice-cold Ketel One vodka 1/2 jigger Noilly Prat white vermouth one splash olive juice Combine in shaker with fresh ice, lots. Shake until your fingers freeze. Pour into chilled martini glass. Garnish with three olives stuffed with bleu cheese or jalapeños. [/QUOTE] hmm. i may have just spotted the glitch: my gin (don’t care for vodka) and vermouth aren’t residing in the fridge. :eek: are these cardinal sins one and two in making The Perfect Martini? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2007, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summers-coming-whats-your-cocktail/407944/72 "2007-06-20T19:58:36Z")
[QUOTE=Scubaqueen] Are these cardinal sins one and two in making The Perfect Martini? [/QUOTE] In my book, yes. In other books…yes. 😃 The base liquor should be kept in the freezer. We have found that a fifth of Ketel One fits quite nicely in the upper part of the ice cube tray rack. The key to a truly great martini is that it be served freezing cold. Some may consider it heresy, but you also can make a martini too dry. If all you want is gin on the rocks, fine. But don’t call it a martini. I also recommend the “dirty” variation, that is, adding a splash of juice from the olive jar. It gives the drink a bit more depth of flavor. Also, if you own any of those 16 oz. giant martini glasses, throw them out or relegate them to serving shrimp cocktails. A proper martini is served in a much smaller glass, so you can finish it before it gets warm. ---
**Author:** ![Scubaqueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@Scubaqueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scubaqueen)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summers-coming-whats-your-cocktail/407944/73 "2007-06-21T17:05:18Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] In my book, yes. In other books…yes. 😃 The base liquor should be kept in the freezer. We have found that a fifth of Ketel One fits quite nicely in the upper part of the ice cube tray rack. The key to a truly great martini is that it be served freezing cold. Some may consider it heresy, but you also can make a martini too dry. If all you want is gin on the rocks, fine. But don’t call it a martini. I also recommend the “dirty” variation, that is, adding a splash of juice from the olive jar. It gives the drink a bit more depth of flavor. Also, if you own any of those 16 oz. giant martini glasses, throw them out or relegate them to serving shrimp cocktails. A proper martini is served in a much smaller glass, so you can finish it before it gets warm. [/QUOTE] uh-oh. :smack: most humble apologies to the martini experts here. you can sure tell i don’t have much experience with them! i’ll ice down the appropriate ingredients and report back either success or failure at a later date. uh, do i need to use a real martini glass? because i don’t own one. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Bruin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summers-coming-whats-your-cocktail/407944/74 "2007-06-21T18:03:00Z")
Champagne glasses work fine for martinis as well. Some use cordial glasses I believe. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summers-coming-whats-your-cocktail/407944/75 "2007-06-21T19:21:47Z")
Proper glassware adds to the experience, but don’t let that stand in the way. But you really need something stemmed so that your hand doesn’t warm up the drink. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summers-coming-whats-your-cocktail/407944.md?page=3)