Easy does it summer mixes
All those cocktails are great. But if you first need to take out a mortgage to buy a few exclusive bottles of booze for your DIY mix, it’s a lot less fun. That’s why we’ve got three fresh, easy-does-it summer mixes with simple ingredients.
Calvados tonic
Of course, the G&T remains a brilliantly simple and refreshing (summer) cocktail. But by now, we sometimes feel like something else, too. At the recently opened Frenchette restaurant in New York, where French classics are being dusted off, they don’t serve G&T, but C&T: calvados (apple brandy from Normandy) with tonic and lots of ice cubes. The tonic adds a lightly bitter note, while the calvados keeps it fresh and apple-y. Ideal for summer. And that bottle of calvados was still gathering dust somewhere at the back of the drinks cabinet anyway. No calvados? Or would you rather go alcohol-free? Then try our take on the German apfelschorle: apple juice with tonic and a little lemon juice, plus a lemon slice on the rim of the glass.
Gimlet
Gimlet is an old drink that was consumed at sea to protect sailors from scurvy. This disease, caused by a lack of vitamin C and common among seafarers, was fairly easy to remedy with citrus juice. And it went down better thanks to the gin. In the early twentieth century, when the gimlet first became a bar sensation, they added sickly sweet lime syrup to the gin. Freshly squeezed lime juice is better, optionally with a little lime liqueur, after which you top up the glass with soda. It also works with vodka or genever instead of gin.
Bergamot spritz
Bergamot is a green, warty cross between a bitter orange and a type of lime. It’s a fruit with an edgy flavor that works very well in cocktails: slightly bitter, slightly sour. If it suddenly makes you think of Earl Grey tea, that’s not surprising. Original Earl Grey does indeed contain bergamot zest, although these days it’s usually a chemical copy. Don’t have bergamot liqueur—or, preferably, fresh bergamot, whose juice you can add to your Aperol spritz? Then hang a quality Earl Grey tea bag in it for extra depth of flavor and freshness. At Loverboy bar in NYC, they call something similar a royal tea spritz. We’ll stick with bergamot or Earl Grey spritz.
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