From days at the beach and afternoons around the pool to leisurely picnics, at this time of year, all we want to do is be outside. And we’ve found that experiencing the great outdoors while sipping a cold cocktail is just that much better.
Last November, we asked talented bartender and Liquor.com advisory board member Aisha Sharpe to create two warm recipes that could be made ahead, serve a number of people and survive several hours inside an insulated container. Her tasty tequila-based Mexican Hot Chocolate and rye-based Hot Apple Cider kept us toasty all winter long.
The recent heatwave got us thinking: Maybe Sharpe could come up with a pair of portable and cooling concoctions for a brutal August afternoon? Fortunately, she was ready for the challenge.
Try filling a Thermos with her Peach Collins (pictured above), which calls for Lillet, Tanqueray Gin, lemon juice, club soda and, of course, peach nectar. Sharpe invented it during a shift at New York watering hole Mother’s Ruin on a sticky evening, when fellow mixologist Ivy Mix requested something refreshing.
And fix her Ooh Yeah that combines lemongrass-ginger syrup, lemon juice, watermelon juice and Leblon Cachaça. It’s adapted from a drink she devised with Katipai Richardson-Wilson, head bartender of acclaimed Manhattan restaurant The Breslin, for its menu.
You just may never leave home without one of them again.
- 1 cup Dried lemongrass
- 1 cup Chopped fresh ginger root
- 3 cups Water
- Sugar
PREPARATION:
Add the lemongrass, ginger and water to a small saucepan over medium-heat heat. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes. Strain into a large glass measuring cup, discarding the solids. (You should have about 2 cups of liquid.) Return to the saucepan, add a volume of sugar equal to the volume of liquid and simmer for 5 minutes more, stirring until the sugar dissolves.
