Batch 007's La Niña summer cocktails
A wet summer forecast has inspired us to list six summer cocktails to make the sun shine from the inside out. When it comes to good booze, we're happy to have it whatever the weather. Bring it on, La Niña! Actually, let's make it a Hurricane.
Hurricane
This cocktail is credited to a New Orleans tavern owner. His bar allegedly started as a speakeasy with the password was "storm's brewin'". He poured the concoction into a curvy-shaped glass and gave it away to sailors to get rid of old grog.
- 50ml Blanco
- 1 passion fruit pulp
- Juice of one orange
- Juice of one lemon
Shake ingredients with ice, then pour into the glass and serve over ice.
Mai Tai
The Mai Tai became a rum cocktail so popular it depleted world rum supplies in the 1940s and '50s. According to booze lore, in 1944, Victor J. Bergeron tested a new drink on two friends from Tahiti, Ham and Carrie Guild. After the first sip, Carrie is said to have exclaimed, "mai tai-roa aé", which in Tahitian means 'out of this world - the best!'.
- 30-45 ml Soltera Blanco
- 15 ml orange curaçao or triple sec or Cointreau
- 15 ml orgeat syrup (sweet almond)
- 30 ml fresh lime juice
- 30 ml orange (or pineapple) juice
- a splash of cherry juice if it's handy
Add everything into a shaker with ice. Shake and pour into a double rocks glass or a highball glass. Garnish with a wedge of pineapple and a cherry.
The Caba Colada
We can't do a summer cocktail list and not include the quintessential summer holiday drink, the piña colada. With two of the best tropical fruits - the coconut and pineapple - a sip transports us to faraway beaches under swaying palm fronds. In Cabarita, our local bar throws in a shot of coconut tequila, which we think is pretty awesome.
- 45ml Soltera Blanco
- 15ml coconut tequila
- 120ml pineapple juice
- 30ml coconut cream (Coco Lopez)
- squeeze of fresh lime
Add a handful of ice to a cocktail shaker with all the ingredients, shake and then strain into your fave cocktail glass. Garnish with a pineapple wedge or a maraschino cherry.
Classic Daiquiri
We also can't go past a Daiquiri, quite simply because it's our favourite and offsets the light spice mix of Blanco so beautifully. The Daiquiri, in our opinion, is the most underrated cocktail around at the moment. It's punchy like a Sidecar and has the bite of a Margarita, but best known for its simple yet perfectly balanced flavours.
- 30ml Soltera Rum Blanco
- 35ml fresh lime juice
- 15ml simple syrup (to taste)
Add the ingredients to a cocktail shaker with ice and shake well. Serve in a chill martini glass with a slice of lime to garnish.
Air Mail
Essentially this is a daiquiri with champagne and a dash of honey. Its earliest known reference was a decade or so after the advent of air mail by Bacardi in a booklet about the many ways to use its rum. Then it appears in a 1941 cocktail book by W.C Whitfield who wrote, "It ought to make you fly high".
- 30ml Soltera Blanco
- 30ml fresh lime juice
- 20ml honey syrup, or simple syrup mixed with a bit of honey
- 30ml of bubbles (Brut)
Shake Blanco, lime juice and honey syrup in a shaker with ice. Pour into an ice-filled glass and top with bubbles. Seriously delish.
Light 'n Breezy
Like a Dark and Stormy, but with Soltera Blanco. This cocktail was named by our next door neighbour, Jane, who also happens to have a prolific lime tree.
- 45ml Soltera Rum Blanco
- 100ml ginger beer
- a very generous squeeze of fresh lime
First pour Blanco over a handful of ice in a glass, slowly add ginger beer and garnish with a wedge of lime.