Year-Round Refreshing Drinks

Keeping hydrated is important for maintaining overall health. As the need to drink more fluids increases as it gets warmer, quench your thirst with these refreshing beverages.

Ingredients - Pineapple lemonade
This take on a summertime favourite will make you want to set up a stand at the end of your driveway and sell it for pennies a glass like you did back in the day.

1.2 L sparkling water 
250 mL water
950 mL pineapple juice 
120 mL lemon juice
250 g granulated sugar
710 g ice cubes

1. In a saucepan, mix together the sugar and the water. Heat on medium heat until the sugar is entirely dissolved.
2. Fill a large pitcher with the ice. Slowly pour the sugar syrup over the ice to cool the syrup down.
3. Add the pineapple juice, lemon juice, and sparkling water to the pitcher. Stir with a long spoon to combine. Place in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Ingredients - The Arnold Palmer
Created by and later named after the golfing legend, this beverage is good with or without a shot of liquor.

120 mL iced tea
60 mL lemonade

1. Pour the lemonade and iced tea into a tall glass filled with ice.
2. Stir well. Garnish with a slice of lemon.

Ingredients - Classic Sweet Tea
When you go south of the Mason-Dixon line and ask for iced tea, you'll get a variation of this in your glass.

12 individual bags of black tea
250 g granulated sugar

1. Bring 950 mL of water to a boil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Remove from heat.
2. Dunk the tea bags a few times in the water to fully hydrate, then leave them submerged with the strings hanging over the side of the pot. After 5 minutes, remove the bags and discard them.
3. Add the sugar and stir until it's completely dissolved.
4. Pour the tea base into a large pitcher. If using multiple pitchers, divide the tea evenly between them. Add more water to the tea base and stir to combine.
5. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or, ideally, overnight.
6. Pour the sweet tea into ice-filled glasses. Add a sprig of mint or a slice of lemon to each, if desired.

Ingredients - Roy Rogers
The cola version of the classic Shirley Temple, this mocktail is named after movie star Roy Rogers, known as the "King of the Cowboys" in the 1940s, and John McClane's alias in the first "Die Hard"; yippee-ki-yay, indeed.

your favourite cola
60 mL grenadine syrup

1. Fill a highball or pint glass with ice. Add the grenadine syrup.
2. Gently top with cola, and stir.
3. Garnish with maraschino cherries.

A Martini for Cinco de Mayo

Cinco de Mayo is known on this side of the border more for being a day of drinking than for an 1800s Mexican victory against French forces. For whatever reason you choose to celebrate, a spicy avocado martini would be a change from the usual margaritas and Corona.

Ingredients for two drinks

1 large avocado, slightly mashed with a fork, but not pureed
1 lime, cut into wedges
chili powder (use Mexican chili powder or Taji with lime if available)
60 mL gin
45 mL dry vermouth
30 mL club soda
15 mL lime juice (fresh if possible)
200 g sugar
1.5 g chili powder
240 mL water

1. Combine the sugar, water, 1.5 grams of chili powder, and the avocado in a small pot over medium heat until the sugar dissolves and the liquid comes to a slight boil. Remove the pot from the heat and let the flavours infuse for 30 to 60 minutes. Strain the liquid into a sealed container and put it in the fridge to allow it to cool completely; it will keep for up to a week.
2. Run a lime wedge along the rim of each glass, and rim each glass with the chili powder. Set the glasses aside.
3. In a martini shaker, combine the gin, vermouth, 15 mL of the avocado syrup in the fridge, lime juice, and more chili powder to taste. Pour some into the martini glasses and top with the club soda. Garnish with lime (or a slice of avocado if you're not saving it for toast) and serve.

Mother's Day Limoncello

Just because everyone's favourite Hallmark holiday is several weeks away doesn't mean it's not a good time to think about what you should give dear old Mom as a present. And what would be better for the woman who fed you, and put up with so much of your crap, than a homemade lemon liqueur popularized in Italy over a century ago. Traditionally made from the zest of lemons, it is steeped in grain alcohol until the lemon oil is released. The resulting yellow liquid is then mixed with a simple syrup. Served chilled as an after-dinner digestivo, it`s perfect for sipping after the dinner you made or took your mom out to, or for when you and mommy are sitting around shooting the breeze on a warm day.

20 lemons
1.75 L Everclear or 100-proof vodka
sugar
water

1. Wash and peel the lemons with a sharp paring knife to remove all the white pith from the inside of the peel (it gives the limoncello a bitter taste), or a microplane to remove the zest from the lemons. Put the skins or the zest in a clean glass or plastic container large enough to hold at least 2.5 litres.
2. Add the alcohol and seal the container. Wrap it in plastic and then in aluminum foil (to shield it from the light), and let it sit in a cool place in the back of the cupboard or in the basement for 2 to 4 weeks (the longer, the better). Shaking the container at various times isn't necessary, but it won't hurt.
3. After the infused alcohol has sat for a period, make a simple syrup by combining 475 mL water with 400 g sugar in a saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring frequently, for 2 to 3 minutes. Let the syrup cool completely by placing the pan in an ice bath.
4. Strain the peels out of your alcohol mixture (you will have to do multiple strainings if you used lemon zest) and stir in the simple syrup. Divide your limoncello into bottles, seal, and let them sit for 7 to 10 days to let the syrup marry with the lemon-infused alcohol.
5. Store your homemade after-dinner drink in the freezer, and serve in pre-chilled glasses or small ceramic cups.

Harry Potter-themed shooters

Thanks to the good people over at Graphic Nerdity, you can now distinguish your Halloween party from all the other muggles this year with these drinks inspired by everyone's favourite Hogswart alumnus. Be warned - like Bertie Bott's Every Flavour jelly beans, some of these shots are an acquired taste; please remember to drink responsibly.

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Summertime Rum Punch

Hot summer days like the ones Ottawa has been experiencing lately require a tasty beverage to make the most of your relaxing during these lazy, hazy times. This recipe for rum punch is based on a formula used by both my Barbados-born father and a woman my wife met at the Wine and Food Show some years ago. This drink can pack quite a punch, so take the necessary precautions.

Ingredients
1 750 mL bottle of rum
240 mL citrus juice (lime or orange are good choices)
240 mL water
120 g white sugar
120 g brown sugar
nutmeg
cinnamon sticks
cloves
1 jar Maraschino cherries (optional)

"One part sour, two parts sweet; three parts strong, four parts weak."

1. Pour the citrus juice into either a large punch bowl or pitcher. Set aside.
2. In a saucepan combine the sugar, some cinnamon sticks, a few cloves, a dash of grated nutmeg, and the water. Bring everything to a boil, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Allow the syrup to cool before mixing it with the juice.
3. Add half the bottle of rum and stir until everything is mixed together. This is where you can add more rum if you want a stronger punch, or some of the juice from the Maraschino cherries if you prefer a sweeter drink.
4. Add 4 cups of ice to your bowl or pitcher to keep the drink cool, and serve the punch with ice. Add a cherry for garnish.

Bacon Whiskey

I'm planning on going camping with some people who enjoy their bacon as much as they enjoy their booze, so I'm bringing some bacon-infused whiskey for the nights around the campfire. I'll be using a technique called fat washing, a process of using fat to “wash out” undesirable molecules. The flavoured fat will bind with the alcohol molecules, creating flavours that you wouldn't normally get in traditional infusing.

Ingredients

1 package bacon (you will need to cook about half the package to produce the required amount of bacon fat)
1 bottle (375 mL) of whiskey or bourbon

1. Take 4 teaspoons (20g) of filtered bacon fat, and mix it with the entire bottle of whiskey. If you have an immersion blender, this would be a good time to use it.
2. Let rest at room temperature for at least 12 hours. 
• Longer times and higher temperatures will yield a stronger infusion, so you’ll want to experiment. As good as it was, I was a bit disappointed that I didn't get hit in the mouth with bacon when I tried the Hogsback Brewing Company's Aporkalypse Now oatmeal bacon stout. For this experiment, I've added several pieces of the cooked bacon to the batch, and will be letting the mixture sit for 10 days.
3. After the infusing has been completed, place the mixture in the freezer until the fats have solidified. Filter the alcohol, through a coffee filter, or by other means, for as many times as you see fit. It is now ready to be used in your beverage of choice.

How did this batch turn out? Stay tuned...

UPDATE: I started the straining process on the 29th, using the best strainer and coffee filters money can buy from the dollar store. I may have lost about a third of the whiskey during the straining process, but it did remove the top layer of fat that you see in the above image, and all the fat particles and tiny pieces that came off of the bacon. It made a smooth whiskey and cola, you can really taste the bacon flavour in the last few sips. I would recommend giving your mixed drinks a good stirring or shaking to get the bacon whiskey's full flavour.