I still clearly remember the first time I tried a dragon berry. I saw them in a grocery store and I was awed by the strange way they looked. They are about the size of a mango, colored rosy to bright red with hues of pink spread throughout. The fruits have little green petals growing upwards, toward the top of the fruit, in what looks like an entirely unnatural direction. It looked like something straight out of the original series of Star Trek. I thought “I have to try this.” That is the same feeling I got when I first heard of dragon berry rum.

This rum is a blend of strawberry varieties with dragon berry, also known as pitaya, which grows as the fruit of a cactus native to central and South America (as well as being cultivated quite widely in southeast Asia). The cactus only blooms for one night before wilting in the morning light. Each plant does this just four to six times a year. Its flavor is a little like a cross between a mango and a kiwi, but not quite as sweet.

The rum has a very strong fruity aroma and taste. There is no doubt that one is drinking a fruit-infused rum. This may actually be its biggest flaw in my book – the aroma and flavor are perhaps a bit too strong. I would have enjoyed it even more with a little less of the strawberry and dragon berry goodness. Or, since pitaya have a mellower flavor than strawberries, perhaps going to a blend heavier in dragon berry might offer a mellower flavor.

This rum is going to be wonderful for summer drinks – mixing well with nearly any fruit juice, Sprite, lemonade, triple sec, or any combination of many summer beverages. Try a shooter of dragon berry rum, pomegranate juice, lime juice, and triple sec. Or, how about a martini of this spirit with limoncello, amaretto, simple syrup and lemon juice? Another idea is to serve it as a cocktail with mango syrup, pineapple juice, orange juice, and lemon-lime soda. One unique use for this rum might even be to try it in your favorite fruit smoothie (although, for use with alcohol, I prefer the ice cream to the yogurt variety of smoothies, especially in summer).

If you like fruity drinks, and you enjoy rum, do yourself a favor and try dragon berry rum at home or at your favorite bar.

Always drink responsibly and cheers!

But I digress. The daiquiri, lamentably, has an undeserved reputation as a frou-frou drink, but it didn’t start out that way. Rather, it was one of the many elementary cocktails that developed by taking a base liquor (in this case, rum) and adding something to tart it up (lime juice) and something to sweeten it (sugar, originally, though a half-measure of triple sec would do just as well.) The daiquiri was designed to tame (or, at least, subdue) rum, one of the most elemental spirits out there (and, before the advent of  vodka, the closest you could find to pure ethanol.) Rum has always been big in America, seeing as it’s made from sugar cane, and there are sugar-cane producing climates and economies not too far from here. Wikipedia, that great anthropological source, tells me that rum was always plentiful, but was considered a drink of sailors, ne’er do-wells, and the lower class until World War II. Then, wartime rationing made other spirits scarce, but the ready supply of rum from our “Good Neighbors” kept those stateside good and buzzed. Hemingway loved ‘em, though you can say that about almost any spirit, concoction, or other consumable, and it would be just about as true. (Don’t believe me? Look up the recipe for Death in the Afternoon sometime. He drank those, too.)

Daiquiri

• 2 oz. rum
• Juice of 1 lime
• 1 tsp. sugar, or 1 oz. Cointreau or triple sec

Combine ingredients in a cocktail shaker over ice, and shake thoroughly. Strain into a cocktail glass, or into a rocks glass packed with ice (shaved, if you have it, though cracked will do in a pinch.) No garnish is needed, though if you insist, an extra wedge of lime perched on the rim of the glass wouldn’t hurt anybody.

P.S.: If you’re reading this recipe and thinking it sounds a lot like a caipirinha — it is. It’s exactly the same drink, but made with cachaça, a Brazilian liquor that is basically rum by a different name. Caipirinhas are usually made slightly differently, with the sugar, rum, and squeezed lime all combined in the same rocks glass with ice, but the end result is the same.

After a long winter, rhubarb is now in season.  Is there a way to use this first sign of the growing season in a cocktail?

You ask a very worrisome question. I’m sure you’re aware that rhubarb leaves are poisonous, so before we start talking about anything else, we need to start with a disclaimer; trim leaves from your rhubarb stalks as soon as you harvest them, dispose of the leaves immediately, and wash the stalks, your hands, and your tools thoroughly.

Now that that’s taken care of…

Rhubarb stalks are going to act a lot like celery would act in a drink, which is to say that while it could be a fun garnish, it can’t add a lot of flavor just by its presence. You can’t muddle up rhubarb like you would a softer, juicier fruit; it won’t impart any of its flavor that way. Rhubarb needs to be cooked to extract its flavor.

I’d suggest a couple of approaches, both of which are a bit more involved:

• Make a rhubarb simple syrup. Slice your rhubarb into thumb-sized pieces, stack them in a stock pot, cover them with water, and boil covered for at least an hour. When finished, strain all liquid from the fruit, and press the fruit to extract whatever juices you can from the flesh. (Once you’ve done that, you can discard the pulp.) Measure the liquid you’ve poured off the rhubarb, return it to the stock pot, and place it on the stove top. Add an amount of sugar equivalent to the liquid, which you’ve just measured (so if you measured 1.5 cups of water off the rhubarb, add 1.5 cups of sugar.) Stir the sugar into the liquid under low heat, turning off the heat as soon as the sugar has dissolved completely. Once the syrup has cooled, you can add anything from 1/2 oz to 1 oz of the syrup to cocktails.
• Make a rhubarb jam, either by itself or with other fruit. This option will only appeal to you if you’ve already made jam or preserves before, and if you think you could use your rhubarb preserves for something other than cocktail making, so I won’t spend too much time rolling out a recipe here. Whatever recipe you do use, shake a tablespoon or so of the jam into a cocktail.

Here are a couple of sample recipes using both approaches.

Rhubarb Sidecar

• 2 oz. brandy
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1 tbsp ( .5 oz) rhubarb syrup

Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker over ice; shake to combine. Strain into a cocktail glass; garnish with a cherry.

Rhubarb Collins

• 2 oz. gin
• 1 tbsp rhubarb jam
• Juice of 1/2 lime
• Soda water

Combine gin, jam, and lime juice in a cocktail shaker over ice; shake thoroughly to combine. Fill a highball glass with ice. Pour mixed cocktail into highball glass, and top with soda water.

At its core, though, the Cosmo is a model of the blueprint we use to create just about every flavored martini. There’s a long pour of a base spirit (in this, and many cases, it’s vodka.) There’s a smaller pour of a liqueur to add or change the flavor, and a splash of one or two juices — enough to change the flavor and color of the drink without diluting its strength. The same model, with a couple of tweaks, can give you a peach martini, a sour apple martini, a chocolate martini, and countless other derivations. (In fact, by this model, just about any cocktail — Sex on the Beach? Bay Breeze? — could be made into a martini by doubling the amount of liquor and reducing the amount of juice added.)

Cocktail purists could argue (quite successfully) that none of this should be called a martini. They’re certainly not the same as a classic 5-1 gin martini. You can even argue that flavored martinis are ruining their namesake. Witness the rise of the dirty martini, a “standard” martini with a measure of salty olive brine added. (Depending on the customer, most bars now carry much bigger martini glasses to accommodate cocktails with a decent portion of juice added to them, and many customers (especially younger ones) are used to the idea that they should be able to drink martinis that taste like candy. (I’ve had customers send back actual martinis — as in, martinis with vodka and vermouth as the only ingredients — complaining they taste too much like alcohol, so something must be wrong.)

But enough of all that — the Cosmo. So long as you use quality ingredients, it’s a good cocktail. That means more than just springing for good vodka. Make sure you’re using a quality cranberry juice, along with a good orange cordial like Cointreau instead of triple sec. (You can substitute fresh-squeezed lime for the Rose’s lime juice if you like a drier cocktail.)

Cosmopolitan

• 2 oz. vodka
• 1 oz. Cointreau or triple sec
• 1 oz. cranberry juice
• 1/2 oz. Rose’s lime juice, or, the juice of 1/4 lime.

Now, I get it. We’re all trying to cut back on calories, and alcohol contains an unfortunate amount of our daily recommended amount of fuel.  Every drink is the equivalent of sucking down  a glass of sugar water. But is some sort of mass-marketed calorie-light substitute really the answer?

Let’s look at Bethenny Frankel’s “Skinny Girl” Margarita Mix. The concoction, at 12.7 percent alcohol by volume, is purported as a way for calorie-conscious consumers to enjoy a bit of alcoholic indulgence and diet at the same time.

Is it? The main problem the Skinny Girl line presents is the alcohol level — which is fairly low, for something that’s meant to be consumed as a cocktail straight from the bottle. Which isn’t to say you should drink solely for intoxication.

But the alcohol content is the main factor that drives the calorie count in most cocktails. And a normal margarita — with an ounce of tequila at 40 percent alcohol by volume, a half-ounce of triple sec at about 20 percent alcohol by volume, and around 3 ounces of mixer, comes up at around 13 percent alcohol by volume.  The Skinny Girl margarita mix is 12.7 percent alcohol by volume… and while it boasts a 100-calorie-per-serving figure, that’s really not much different from a normal ‘restaurant’ margarita.

I’m not saying the moniker is a lie, but I guarantee you, most of the low-calorie benefit is in the marketing. If you plan on having more than one “Skinny Girl” cocktail, you’ll find you’re taking on almost as many calories as someone ordering a normal drink.

Want to make a truly low-calorie margarita? Go back to what the original recipe would have been — tequila, orange liqueur, and pure lime juice. The resulting cocktail is sharp, strong, and delicious — and while it won’t make you skinnier than any other cocktail, it does cut the added sugar you’d get if you used a pre-made margarita mix. Plus, chances are, there’s so much flavor in this recipe, you won’t feel the need for a second.

Real “Skinny” Margarita

• 1 oz. tequila
• 1/2 oz. Cointreau or other orange liqueur (like triple sec)
• Juice of 1/2 lime (about 1 tsp.)

Combine ingredients in a cocktail shaker, and shake thoroughly to combine. Rim a cocktail glass with salt, and then strain the margarita into the glass. Garnish with a lime slice, and serve.

So why are we talking about kamikaze shots? Well, the jingoistic name aside, they’re slightly more refined than your average shot recipe. They feature real liquors and liqueurs (sure, you could use imitation triple sec, but at least Cointreau, a real orange liqueur, exists… in shots that use sour apple or peach schnapps, there IS no “better” bottle to substitute. ) Mainly, I mention kamikazes because if you ARE planning a party, and you DO want to serve shots, but you DON’T want to serve straight liquor, these are about as good as you can do.

Kamikaze shots

• 1 oz. vodka
• 1/2 oz Cointreau or orange liqueur
• 1/2 oz Rose’s sweetened lime juice

Combine ingredients in a cocktail shaker over ice. Shake to combine and chill, and strain into a shot glass.

Note that you can make flavored kamikaze shots by either using flavored vodka, or by using a different flavored liqueur instead of Cointreau (Midori would make a melon kamikaze, Chambord would make a raspberry kamikaze, etc.) Just remember, more than one or two of these will have exactly the effect you think they will. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. I take no responsibility for what happens, and remember — each of these counts as a full drink. So drink responsibly, never drive drunk, and have a great New Year. We’ll see you in 2012.

Now, we’ve talked about rum cocktails before, and as we discussed then, the Zombie can be hard to decipher from just about any other strongly mixed rum grog. As a singular recipe, though, it’s hard to beat. The drink is almost all liquor, but deceptively fruity – obviously, a dangerous combination that should not be taken lightly. And that’s the main quality a Zombie has — its smooth, lethal strength. The combination of rums doesn’t impart any particularly interesting flavors, and while papaya juice is a somewhat strange ingredient, it doesn’t do much for us here. (You can even use lemon juice instead.)

So we have an unremarkable, yet very strong cocktail here, named after sufferers of a mindless, subhuman state. Remember, drink names are usually intuitive. With that warning, though, it can be a fun party drink for Halloween. If you want to be especially cruel to your guests, you can whip up a whole punch bowl of these, with a couple of pieces of dry ice floated in for effect. But before you do that, make yourself a single and try it out.

Zombie

• .75 oz. light rum
• .75 oz. gold rum
• .75 oz. dark rum
• .75 oz. apricot brandy (or Amaretto)
• .5 oz. 151-proof rum
• 1 oz. pineapple juice
• 1 oz. papaya juice (or lemon juice)
• 1 oz. grenadine

There’s a new cocktail recipe that I want to try.  One of the ingredients is fresh-squeezed lemon juice.  Can I use the bottled juice instead?

You can – one tablespoon of bottled lemon juice is equal to the juice from half a medium-sized lemon. But…

It’s not going to taste quite as good.  See, lemons contribute two specific flavors to a cocktail.  There’s the big, acidic tartness of the juice from the lemon’s fruit – that’s captured pretty well in the bottled juice. But there’s also the refreshing, zesty kick that comes from the oils in the lemon rind. Those flavors are VERY important to many vodka and gin cocktails. (In fact, drinks like the Cosmo are usually served with just a twist of lemon peel, to add in the subtle flavors of the lemon zest without the clumsy sour blast of the lemon juice.) We wrote about all the advantages of working with fresh lemons in this recipe for a Tom Collins.

Sadly, the flavor from lemon zest is nonexistent in the bottled juice you can buy at the supermarket.

That’s not to say I don’t use bottled lemon juice. I do – both at work and when I’m making drinks at home. There are plenty of advantages to the bottled stuff. It keeps forever, whereas lemons don’t have a shelf life of more than a week or two. It’s a lot less expensive than the equivalent amount of lemons you’d need to make that much juice.  I keep a bottle of it in my fridge, and it really helps to stretch out the cocktail menu you can put together with whatever’s in your home bar. And of course, you don’t have to squeeze lemons.  You’re just trading a bit of quality for a lot of convenience.

At work, when I’m busy, I’ll cheat – I make my drinks with bottled lemon juice, then throw a couple of real lemon wedges (with peel) into the cocktail shaker to add a bit of flavor from the lemon zest. I’d suggest something similar at home – go ahead and make your cocktails with bottled lemon juice, but squeeze in a bit of fresh lemon as well. You’ll get the best of both worlds.

This is all less of a concern for lime juice, since lime peels are thin and don’t give much flavor to cocktails at all. Feel free to use pre-squeezed, bottled lime juice with impunity. (Just make sure you’re using 100 percent lime juice, not Rose’s Lime Juice, which is a premade mixture of lime juice and simple syrup. Not bad stuff, but it’s a different ingredient.)

This week’s cocktail has a foot in both worlds. We’re using applejack, which is a great warming liquor during the winter (and was also probably one of the first liquors made in America.) The spices are a classic harvest combination and would be at home on your Thanksgiving table later this fall. At the same time, the rum and lime offer a few last traces of summer before our thoughts turn to whiskeys, toddies, cordials, and other things you’d want to sip next to a fireplace. So this cocktail wouldn’t be out of place at a summer barbecue next to a gin and tonic, or at a fall dinner party next to an Oktoberfest.

This is a drink I’ve worked up to feature applejack, which aside from having a nice history, is an inexpensive, interesting bottle to keep around the house or bring to a party. (It’s also a somewhat bracing shot, if you and your party guests go in for that sort of thing. Just picture George Washington taking a belt or two to steel himself before crossing the Delaware.) We’re calling this drink a sidecar, and not a martini, because applejack is technically a brandy.

Apple Pie Sidecar

• 2 oz. applejack (Laird’s and Calvados are the main brands you’ll find; Calvados is imported from France, so the Laird’s will probably be a better deal.)
• 1 oz. spiced rum
• Juice from 1/2 lime
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 1 pinch each cinnamon and allspice

However, I look forward to summer heat.  There is something nice about being able to sit on your front porch swing at the end of the workday and enjoy an ice cold beverage.  The warmth of the air envelopes your body, while the chill of your beverage coats your throat.  A wonderful sensation, as far as I am concerned.

So, to enjoy one of these lovely summer nights, I decided to do a little muddling and incorporate some fresh fruit into my cocktail.  With a bowl full of fresh honeydew melon on hand, it was an easy decision.  The rest of the ingredients all played upon one another.  I added melon liqueur to intensify the melon flavor, lime juice to temper the sweetness, coconut rum to add more flavors to this drink, seltzer to lighten the drink, and salt on the rim for contrast.

After a long Monday at our offices, both my husband and I found this to be a refreshing and flavorful drink.

Honeydew on the Rocks

lime wedge

kosher salt

6 small cubes honeydew melon

2-1/2 oz. coconut rum

1/2 oz. lime juice

1 oz. melon liqueur

seltzer

Rub rim of margarita glass with cut edge of lime.  Pour salt onto a small plate, and dip rim in salt to coat.  Put several ice cubes in glass.  Place honeydew cubes in a martini shaker, and muddle.  Add 4-5 ice cubes, rum, juice, and liqueur, cover, and shake well.  Remove shaker top, and pour contents through a fine sieve strainer into prepared glass.   Top with seltzer.

For our special dinner, we usually try to choose a theme, whether it be based on a certain ingredient, an ethnicity, or style of cooking.  A few weeks ago, we decided to make an assortment of Thai dishes.  I have not done much Thai cooking, so it required a little research.

I found great recipes for chicken satay and spring rolls.  However, the beverage component of the meal left me wondering.  What sort of cocktail or martini could I serve that would fit the Thai genre?  A little more searching led me to mangoes.  A popular fruit in Thailand, I could use mango juice in our drink.

Although a mango cocktail sounded delicious, I didn’t want the drink to be heavy because of the juice.  Adding champagne would produce a lighter, sparkling drink, which made it the perfect addition to our dinner.

Mango Cocktail

3 oz. mango juice

1/2 oz. lime juice

1-1/2 oz. vodka

1/2 tsp. sugar

champagne

Fill a martini shaker with ice, and add mango and lime juices, vodka, and sugar.  Shake well.  Pour into a martini glass, and top with champagne.

Having been inspired by some of the bartenders at local restaurants we enjoy, I have come to realize that much like cooking, ingredients are an important part of a good drink.  So, when my mother-in-law told me that she wanted to try a coconut and lime margarita recipe, I asked her to share the ingredient list with me.  One of the main ingredients in her suggested drink was cream of coconut.

As I am not a fan of a heavy drink, the words “cream of coconut” gave me the shivers.  Once I saw the nutrition label on the package, I knew it was not an option for my drink.  With almost 250 calories in 2 ounces of this thick liquid, it seemed obscene.  However, the idea of coconut and lime mingling with some tequila was intriguing.  Being a diligent researcher, I created a couple different recipes until I found one with the correct balance of sweet, sour, and tequila.

Served over ice in a glass with a salted rim, this drink could fill all of your salt and sweet cravings.

Put the Lime & the Coconut in the Margarita

2 oz. gold tequila

1 oz. triple sec

1/2 – 1 tsp. sugar

2 oz. lime juice + 3 additional oz.

4 oz. coconut rum

lemon-lime seltzer

ice

kosher salt

Fill a martini shaker with ice.  Add tequila, triple sec, sugar, 2 oz. lime juice, and coconut rum, and shake well.  Pour 3 oz. lime juice in a small rimmed plate and kosher salt in another small rimmed plate.  Dip the rim of a margarita glass in lime juice, and swirl to coat well.  Then dip the rim in kosher salt, and press firmly to allow the salt to adhere.  Repeat with second glass.  Fill each glass with ice, and pour half of tequila mixture into each.  Fill to rim with seltzer, and stir gently.

In fact, I take issue with people who make comments, such as, “You were a cheerleader!” with a laugh of disgust.  Because in addition to my sport of choice in high school, there are other pieces to who I am.  I was intelligent enough to attend a well respected college on a full academic scholarship.  I am capable of solving household problems with a drill or hammer.

So, while I may have “pretty, pink” qualities, I also can deliver a punch.  When served this drink, you shouldn’t judge it by its look.  Yes, it is pretty and pink, but with the combination of ingredients, there is a punch that comes with it.

Pretty and Pink with a Punch

1 oz. peach schnapps

2 oz. vodka

1 oz. cranberry juice

1/2 oz. lime juice

1 oz. diet lemon-lime soda

Fill a shaker with ice, and add schnapps, vodka, and cranberry and lime juices.  Shake well.  Pour into a martini glass, and top with soda.

As fall is in full swing, I have been in a cranberry frame of mind when it comes to meals and drinks.  Last week I enjoyed a delicious turkey sandwich that included cranberry sauce.  I also have been incorporating cranberry juice into my drinks.

Although, I do like the classic combination of cranberry juice and vodka, I thoroughly enjoy creating new beverages.  I mull over ingredients, seeking the flavors that best complement each other.  For this new drink, I wanted the tartness of cranberry to be contrasted with the sweetness of raspberry.  Once shaken and poured, I decided it could be lighter, so I added a float of lemon-lime seltzer.

And with that, I had created a drink that had a subtle hint of fall, containing just enough cranberry to make a drink with raspberry liquor taste like a fall classic.

Martini with a Hint of Fall

2 oz. vodka

2 oz. raspberry liqueur

1 oz. cranberry juice (preferably 100% pure)

1/2 oz. lime juice

1/2 oz. simple syrup

1 oz. lemon-lime seltzer

Fill a martini shaker with ice.  Add vodka, liqueur, both juices, and syrup.  Cover, and shake well.  Pour into martini glass, and add seltzer.

Ingredients:

• 1 Part fresh lime juice
• 1 Part Cognac
• 1 Part spiced rum
• Splash of simple syrup

Combine all the ingredients in a martini shaker filled with ice and shake well. Serve over ice in a highball glass garnished with fresh mint.