Published: July 17, 2007 03:32 pm            

Make cool summer drinks on your own

JOPLIN, Mo. — It’s mid-afternoon in Havana.

It’s hot and when you step into the open-air bar, you feel a cool breeze as the large ceiling fan stirs the air. You breathe in a mixture of fresh fruit and Cuban cigars as you stand in the doorway for a second to let your eyes grow accustomed to the darkness of the room. You look around the bar and finally spot him, so you walk over to his table.

The famous burly, white-haired and bearded American writer smiles as you approach. Then “Papa,” as he likes to be called, turns to a waiter and says: “Dos mojitos, por favor.”

Suddenly, a child’s voice cries out and jolts you out of your Caribbean daydream.

“Dad? Dad? Mom wants to know when you’re going to finish mowing the lawn.”

OK, so you’re not in Havana throwing back tropical drinks with Ernest Hemingway. That doesn’t mean you can’t stop and indulge in a little taste of the tropics. It’s summer. Time to pull out the drink recipes, crack open the rum, crank up the Buffett and mix yourself a pitcher of something cold.

Well, after you finish mowing the yard.

Yep, there is just something about the summer that lends itself to cold, island drinks. In part, it’s the heat, of course. But according to Morgan SweetGoodfellow, who can be found behind the bar at Crabby’s Restaurant in Jopin, it’s the seasonal availability of fresh ingredients that makes the classic summer drinks come alive.

“Good summer drinks are refreshing, light and cold. It’s summer and you have fresh fruit. In the winter, you have squash, and that’s not good,” she said with a laugh.

Morgan has a point. Next to the liquor itself, fruit is the most important ingredient in most of your classic summer drinks. From daiquiris (actually Hemingway’s favorite) to mai-tais, hurricanes and margaritas, fruit tends to be front and center in most summertime libations.

SweetGoodfellow, who has been mixing drinks for almost 10 years, says a good summer drink tends to be colorful, fruity and cold. Because flavor is foremost in summer drinks, the liquors used in them tend to be light — rums, vodkas, tequilas and gins — rather than dark bourbons or heavy wines. And although many people like their summer drinks frozen and run through a blender, SweetGoodfellow says they are better served either straight up or on the rocks. Frozen drinks tend to get watered down and lose their flavor, she said.

Late last week we asked SweetGoodfellow to whip us up a few classic summer drinks. She picked three: a flirtini, made with Hypnotiq, a vodka/cognac liqueur; a hurricane, served Crabby’s style; and the previously mentioned mojito.

The drinks are indeed colorful, garnished with fresh fruit, and at least one of them comes with the signature umbrella at the top of the glass. They’re the type of drink that you want to sip on your backyard deck as you lean back and listen for the island music.

Assuming you got that yard mowed.



Mike Pound writes for The Joplin (Mo.) Globe.







Flirtini

2.5 ounces Hypnotiq liqueur

1 ounce pineapple juice

Champagne

Shake over ice and strain into a chilled martini glass. Float small amount of champagne on top. Garnish with a pineapple slice or an orange twist.



Crabby’s hurricane

3/4 ounce vodka

3/4 ounce gin

3/4 ounce rum

3/4 ounce triple sec

1 ounce sweet and sour mix

2 ounces pineapple juice

1 ounce grapefruit juice

2 ounces cranberry juice

Shake into pint glass or shaker filled with ice. Turn twice and pour into a 20-ounce hurricane glass. Fill with ice and float a small amount of grenadine on top of the drink. Garnish with orange or cherry and a tiny bar umbrella.

SweetGoodfellow says to slightly break the umbrella to show that it’s been in a hurricane.



Mojito

3 lime wedges

8-12 fresh mint leaves

3/4 ounce simple syrup (made by mixing sugar into hot water normally at a one-to-one ratio)

1 1/2 ounces light Bacardi rum

Club soda

Using a pestle, muddle the lime, mint and simple syrup together and pour into a tall glass. Add rum, fill with ice and top off with club soda. Garnish with mint and limes.

        

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