Forget the Mikes: Hard Lemonade

 

Summer stands for a few things. If you’re fortunate, you have an internship. If you’re lucky, you have one that pays. And if you’re a college student, you’re more than likely drinking, with the frightening possibility that your alcoholic intake during the next three months will exceed the quantity of hooch you normally down the other nine months of the year.

 

But for the love of the Twenty-first Amendment, do yourself a favor and skip those purchases of Natty Light 30-packs.

 

With help from CM’s resident Kentucky gentleman (alright, he isn’t exactly our “resident”), John McIntyre, we’ve compiled a formidable list of slightly more refined options for your need to get your summer drink on. A night production manager with The Baltimore Sun and a bowtie and bourbon connoisseur, the man knows what he’s talking about. Did we mention he’s from Kentucky?

 

So, boys and girls, quench your summer thirst with one of the following delectable drink delicacies. And if you must reach for the Natty Light, save it for July 4^th. You’ll need to be that tanked to make strapping that bottle rocket to your leg justifiable.

 

1. The classic summer drink is the gin and tonic—simplicity itself. Pour the quantity of gin you prefer over ice cubes in a tall glass, fill with tonic water, and add a squeeze of lime juice. You should use decent gin, such as Beefeater, rather than the rotgut kind. But save the Bombay Sapphire, Hendrick’s, and the other high-shelf gins for martinis rather than blur their subtleties with tonic.

2. The British favor the shandy, which is quite refreshing. It is a mixture, usually half-and-half, of beer and carbonated lemonade. A variant, the shandygaff, mixes beer and ginger ale or ginger beer. In Australia, the black shandy is made with stout rather than lager. Experiment.

3. If you are willing to fool with a blender, the mangorita, or mango margarita, is a tasty variant of the traditional recipe. Put an ounce and a quarter of tequila, an ounce of triple sec, an ounce and a half of freshly squeezed lemon juice, two ounces of simple syrup (I suppose you could substitute sweet-and-sour mix), and three-quarters of a cup of partially frozen, unsweetened mango into a blender. Blend it till the mixture is smooth and pour into a glass. It goes down with lethal ease.

 

4. Don’t neglect the possibilities of wine. Brancott vineyards in New Zealand produces the splendid (and cheap) Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, with an astonishingly tangy grapefruit flavor. Chill it, pour it, drink it. You will not be disappointed.

If you have not tried prosecco, the dry, sparkling white Italian wine, you will find few things better at the end of the day than to share a couple of glasses while you and another discuss the most crucial of questions: where and what for dinner.

5. If you are a traditionalist, particularly a Southerner, you will put a few ice cubes into a good squat glass with a heavy bottom, pour some good-quality bourbon over them—Maker’s Mark or better—and sip slowly as you watch the sun go down. Repeat.