Summer Cocktail Season is Here!

Victoria Day is behind us, June is here, and that means (most) serious thought is hereby suspended until after Labour Day. And though it's really, really tempting to take a few cheap shots at Tim "Bits" Hudak, instead, just like last year, I'm going to use my blog over the summer mainly to post drink recipes.

My goal this year is to provide you with a new cocktail recipe each Thursday, so you'll be all set to kick back on the following weekend. And each week's drink will highlight a different fruit flavour: orange, pineapple, lemon, lime… twelve fruits in all, one for each of the next twelve weeks.

There are a lot of flavoured liquors out there, particularly flavoured vodkas and rums (gin is the original flavoured vodka), and there's nothing wrong with them. It's just that if I took that approach, you'd end up with a cabinet full of bottles and an empty wallet.

So instead, our recipes will rely on basic liquors like vodka, gin, rum, and tequila, and fresh or frozen fruits and juices.

Also, each cocktail will contain no more than four ingredients (not counting ice) so you can spend less time mixing and more time sipping.

Our first recipe's coming up next Thursday, but I thought I'd take this opportunity to direct you to some of last summer's posts, partly because there are some good drinks there that you might like to try, but also because, in those posts, I shared what I'd learned over the last few years about ingredients, techniques, and barware that will help you make better cocktails.

• Margarita. Using real fruit juices versus powdered mixes.
  
• Sangria. My own recipe.
  
• Aprodite. (a pineapple drink). Good quality ice and the cocktail shaker.
  
• Long Island Iced Tea. Making your own sour mix.
  
• Frugal Cocktails. More than a dozen cocktails you can make with a few basic bar ingredients.
  
• Mojito. Simple syrup.
  
• Mint Julep. Bourbon basics.
  
• Peach Daiquiri. Plus a peach sorbet recipe.
  

Just mouse over the name of the cocktail and click on it to go to the post. Click on your browser's back button to return to this post.

Cheers!