Posts Tagged ‘cocktail’

Last week at PubWest, standing around with a drink in your hand was a very popular activity for me. You go to mixers, out to dinner, meet for drinks, etc., and naturally, a cocktail is the accessory of choice.  Although I usually go the vodka cranberry route at those events because frankly it’s hard to screw up, I was craving nothing but Tom Collins(es) the entire time I was there.

I owe my affection towards Tom Collins (Have you met Tom Collins?) to my friend Sara Barnes. We met up for drinks when I was in DC a couple years ago and she ordered the fizzy, citrusy gin cocktail and thus introduced me to Mr. Collins. I wasn’t crazy about the drink then but retried it later after gaining a love of gin and now adore them on occasion. My biggest issue is 99% of the time when you order them at any bar, they’re made with overly sickly-saccharine sweet-n-sour mix (blech) and taste little like the pure, fresh version the original recipe is from. So here’s my ode to the Tom Collins.

Some would say I desecrate it by using lime juice in addition to lemon but I think it gives it a nice zing. Something I’d love to try is a similar drink I had at the Cup Cafe in the Hotel Congress while I was in Tucson: the “Indian Ice Water.” They used Tanqueray Rangpur, lime juice, sugar and soda. Sort of like a Tom Collins meets mojito. Yum.

So yesterday I got back from my fun little vacation to Charleston, SC. What a gorgeous place, inside and out. Just beautiful architecture, flora, people and food. Something I kept remarking on was how good the entire city smelled.  Like flowers and breakfast breads and salty air.  We had a ton of fun visiting some truly remarkable houses and sites, walking the city, eating lots of great seafood and just relaxing.  Here’s a (very) small selection of the photos I took – mostly the food since, well, that’s always my favorite part anyway.

It is too bloody hot in Boulder right now.  With the thermometer reading in the low 90’s today, the only thing on my mind during work was going home and making something cold and light for dinner (turned out to be a wedge salad) and a refreshing cocktail to go alongside it.

I’m not a fan of many froufrou drinks or cocktails out there.  Mostly I enjoy highballs, gin martinis or a good dark beer.  I usually steer clear of sweet drinks but there’s something about the fizzy, refreshing and clean taste a mojito has that I just can’t resist.  It’s my favorite summer drink next to Absolut Citron with cranberry juice and since the strawberries in my fridge were just begging to be used, I decided to make my usual mojito even more seasonal.

There are a multitude of ways to make mojitos, with most variations on what kind of sweetener to use.  You can go with plain sugar (granulated, superfine or powdered), honey, or simple syrup, which is my choice.  I like that it dissolves the smoothest and you can use simple syrup for so many other things, it never hurts to have it around.  Especially if you plan to make one of these every night while the heat blazes on.